As a supply teacher I have found that science teachers from several
schools struggle to decide between a safe C and a risky B for
slotting pupils in years 10 and 11. If we are constructivists, if we
believe that 'intelligence' is fluid (and not fixed) and if we
believe that teachers' low expectations can cause demotivation among
pupils, shouldn't we do away with tiering GCSE Science and do what
Exeter University's Mathematics Programme has been doing for the last
few years:Non-tiering GCSE. Their report says:
...modified tiering arrangements with all candidates taking two
compulsory papers for awards up to grade C and an optional extension
paper for higher grades has been well received by teachers as greater
fairness, more motivation and less confusion.....
This will reduce the flood of dumbed-down textbooks in the market.
Isn't tiering one of the numerous relics of behaviourism still
strangling our education?
Puni Selvaratnam