[Adam Warkman]

Hi,

I am looking into a short course in GCSE Humanities that we could do with Year 9 students in one year. Does anyone do this and which boards offer this under the new specs?

How does it work and what impact has it had on results ?

Any info on this would be great.

many thanks

Adam.

This post has been edited by Adam Warkman: 17 April 2009 - 01:04 PM

[Sarah D]

We do WJEC full course Hums with our top sets Year 9 in a year. Some other schools that do this I know follow this with the whole year group and enter the less able for the ceritificate - not sure were short course fits in. We run it on 3 lessons a week - 1 his, 1 geog, 1 RE so they have 3 different teachers. They get taken off t/t for the cw. Our results are usually in the 60% A*-C. The new specs won't have too much of an impact on us for this - t wll actually be better as they've cut down the cw. The spec is quite detailed and easy to follow. Works well!

[NeilM]

Adam Warkman, on 17 April 2009 - 02:04 PM, said:

Hi,

I am looking into a short course in GCSE Humanities that we could do with Year 9 students in one year. Does anyone do this and which boards offer this under the new specs?

How does it work and what impact has it had on results ?

Any info on this would be great.

many thanks

Adam.

Hi Adam.
GCSE Humanities is a fantastic course. I'm puzzled as to why you/your school is introducing it to end-of-KS3.... I suspect its the endless drive for results and an exponential CVA?

Many schools have recently introduced it for lower ability students with mixed reports and varied results. I think this is in part due to the message such a decision promotes - a special course just for thickies! Or used as a tool further down the school to further the schism between the intellectually supple and the plodders.

Whilst we may play to our loftiest expectations we all know that the kids have a very sharp perspicacious eye for seeing the real game that's being played out.

The full course is truly amazing, and with any ability range they are able to discuss wide-ranging and interconnected topics across RE, Hist, Geog, citizenship, politics and sociology and philosophy. Even Set 6 students who couldn't otherwise string together a paragraph....they absolutely love it.

[jbassett44]

Hi Adam.
GCSE Humanities is a fantastic course. I'm puzzled as to why you/your school is introducing it to end-of-KS3.... I suspect its the endless drive for results and an exponential CVA?

Many schools have recently introduced it for lower ability students with mixed reports and varied results. I think this is in part due to the message such a decision promotes - a special course just for thickies! Or used as a tool further down the school to further the schism between the intellectually supple and the plodders.

Whilst we may play to our loftiest expectations we all know that the kids have a very sharp perspicacious eye for seeing the real game that's being played out.

The full course is truly amazing, and with any ability range they are able to discuss wide-ranging and interconnected topics across RE, Hist, Geog, citizenship, politics and sociology and philosophy. Even Set 6 students who couldn't otherwise string together a paragraph....they absolutely love it.
[/quote]

This sounds great. What board do you go with? How many lessons per week?