Why I’m not bothered that I failed Edexcel’s OSCA2 Lead IV certification

I got the email at the end of last week – I failed Edexcel’s OSCA2 lead IV examination.  Am I bothered? No! I’ve been following BTEC Science for a few years now (this being the last) and in that time I’ve been subject to repeated external verification and a Quality Review & Development review. From …

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The search for a suitable science exam for my SEN students

  I teach students with special needs, many of whom have good science skills.   It was customary until recently that all students did entry level qualifications, but I decided to challenge my students more and push them into GCSE equivalent examinations.   First of all we tried AQA Core science (modular multiple choice), thinking that …

Is handheld and spoon fed BTEC the sort of science assessment we want for our pupils?

Running a site like this means I get a constant stream of emails from teachers who are teaching BTEC Science.  I’m fortunate that I also get out and about to visit lots of schools in my locality, and talk to many teachers that I meet through the ASE.  I have spent time working with schools …

Science APP – one approach to managing the paperwork

I get quite a few contact requests asking about APP.  Whilst I have used APP and indeed still do, it is only one one of the assessment tools I use, since I am required to report back internally using NC levels. I found this site whilst searching the Internet, from a Science teacher called Stewart …

Is the push for better results always in the best interests of the child?

Image © dcJohn @ Flickr I teach BTEC Applied Science (level 1) in the special school where I work.  I introduced this course because I had students who were working at the bottom end of GCSE ability and had seen how previous cohorts of students had been failed by the language and literacy demands of …

Getting students to prepare for exams–There’s an app for that!

We all know that students are notoriously bad at preparing for exams.  Pearson (owners of the Edexcel exam board) think they have a solution – an app (for Apple devices). http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf From launching the app with the ‘My Exams’ icon, you come the my exams page where you enter the dates and subjects of any …

What you thought should follow a two year key stage 3 Science curriculum

I posted a request for feedback asking people what they thought should follow a two year KS3 course (in my case Wikid Science). Thank you those people who took the time to respond – I’ve posted a brief summary of the responses below. Only 14% of respondents took three years to complete KS3 57% of …

Key stage 3 in two years–what then?

I followed Wikid Science thinking it would be a three year course but it evolved into a 2 year course because many people are starting GCSE in year 9.  I teach in a special school (which ability wise isn’t that far removed from the lower ability end of a mainstream comprehensive) and I’m now in …

Science teaching in England–an overview

The intention of this post is to give an introduction to the state of science education in England.  I am interested in how science education works in other countries and was hoping that this could be the first in a series of blog posts comparing science education around the world. (Since devolution of power to …

Science APP – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Followers of my blog know that I like APP.  That’s not to say that I don’t realise its limitations and problems, and I know it has got a lot of bad press because of the way some schools have chosen to implement it.  I still maintain that APP has a lot going for it – …