[sue]

Hi

My daughter is studying at an International School and studies both the UK and Spanish curriculum. Due to the way the GCSE options have been constructed, which has assumed that first language Spanish students will get history via Spanish Sociales and will not be interested in British History, she may be unable to study history at school. She loves the subject and does well. We are considering employing a private tutor (if we can find one) or looking at online courses, either for her alone or for a small group of similarly minded children. However, this would obviously limit the opportunties for debate. Do you think very small groups/individuals can still achieve good results?

Thanks for your help

[MrJohnDClare]

It is quite possible, with the help of a private tutor - or even a motivate parent - for a pupil to do GCSE History home-tutored.
You will need the school the organise the exam entry/ admin etc.

If you choose Modern World History there is everything you need for your daughter to do AQA GCSE History B on my website at http://www.johndclare.net. The site was not designed for home-tutoring, but there is evidence on home-tutoring evidence that it can be used and is being used for distance-learning and home-tutoring courses. It presents the information in a number of different ways, provides opportunities for further research, and (for most topics) provides actual work exercises.

This site is a home-tutoring website which describes how a father got his son through GCSE History using my website.
And a couple of years ago I got two lovely emails from mothers who had guided their children - one desperately ill from ME, the other agoraphobic - through the course using the materials on the website. One of them ended up with an A grade, the other with an A*, so you will appreciate that I was delighted.

You can read the current AQA specification here - though you will want to confirm with the Board that they will be offering that examination in 2010, because at the moment they only have the specification up to examination in 2009.
Even if they change the exam, however, I will be changing my website to accommodate any changes.

At the moment, the course involves:
1. A study on International Relations (1900-1950 or 1919-1963)
2. A Depth Study of TWO coutries (my website offers German, Russia and America)
3. A study of Britain in WWI or WWII (my website offers WWII)
4. Two pieces of coursework (my website offers Haig and Suffragettes)

And you can always post requests for help and information on this forum.

All you need is a History tutor with the knowledge of how to do History, and all the content and resources they will need are on the http://www.johndclare.net website.

[mike tribe]

I don't see why not... After all, an increasing number of students are "home-schooled" these days, and, depending on the students, small groups can be great... It also seems rather short-sighted of the school not to offer IGCSE history as well. Most international schools in Spain do... If there's a big enough group interested, maybe the first option would be to try to persuade the school to offer it... Whereabouts in Spain are you?

[sue]

Hi all and thanks for your help

the school offers history as follows (summarising from options booklet so hope it makes sense)

CIE
Paper 1 External
Paper 2 External
Paper 4 Alternative to coursework

Paper 1 Section A Core Content 20th Century History
Section B Depth Studies
The school studies Germany 1918-1945 under 4 headings
1. Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?
2. Why was Hitler able to dominate Germany by 1934?
3. The Nazi regime:How effectively did the Nazis control Germany 1933-1945?
4. The Nazi Regime:What was it like to live in Nazi Germany?

Paper 2 20th Century examination in depth of prescribed topic from core content
Paper 4 answer one sectiob sourse based question on depth study

Syllabus out line
Peace Treaties 1919-1923, The League of Nations, The collapse of peace by 1939, The Cold War, The USA's role in containing the spread of communism, the USSR's control over Eastern Europe 1948 to c1989, The United NAtions


At the moment it is not possible to take this course as well as the first language Spanish. which she needs for other reasons, although we are trying to persuade the school to run it outside of normal hours. If this fails, I am sure if I had the correct resources plus access to a tutor we could cover the material and the school would submit my daughter for the exam. I suppose I just wanted to ensure she could still acheive a good result (she is used to marks in the 95-100% range). We are based in the Costa Blanca and any help re local tutors experienced in this syllabus woud be great.

Regards

[MrJohnDClare]

Most of these topics are dealt with on my website, though your tutor would have to advise about the style of questions that she would meet.

Can the school not provide after-school lessons with one of the teachers?

As for good local tutors in the Costa Blanca, I' afraid I can't help, being based in County Durham in England myself - perhaps your school will be able to advise.

[mike tribe]

And I'm in Madrid. A bit closer than Co. Durham but still not much use! If the school can't help out, you could try asking on the Teaching Overseas section of the Times Educational Supplement teachers' forum. I know there are quite a lot of history teachers who read it and who are based down there at the seaside!

http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/lis...ing+overseas%2f

Good luck...

[Mr Moorhouse]

Where abouts on the Costa Blanca are you? My mother in law did a bit of teaching (English GCSE) in San Miguel de Salinas and may know of someone who would be suitable to help with tuition.

[sue]

Well this is all really encouraging! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions and Mr Clare, have had a look at your site and it's very comprehensive! I'm really impressed at the amount of information available through people like yourselves. Mr Tribe, it's a shame you're so far away but will check out the TES. Mr Moorhouse we're in Northern CB, near Denia. I am starting to think that if I can't get the school to do something or can't find a willing, qualified, local tutor I may even be able to pull something together myself. Yikes, it's been a long, long, time since Miss Atkinson's class!

[Mr Moorhouse]

Northern CB... try http://www.naulearn.com/index.htm who are based in Javea. They do IGCSE via a combination of distance learning and tutorials. They have a Historian as they offer AS/A2 History, though I didn't notice ICGSE listed. At worst, they'd be able to give you advice that was relevant to the area.

[sue]

Hi Mr Moorhouse

Yes, these people have suddenly popped up here, advertising on the local radio, offering initial consultations in a hotel. Haven't been able to find much of substance about them anywhere though, other than a link with a company who can prepare professional CVs. They certainly aren't established here. Do you know anything about them? Don't want to be negative but always a bit wary as people/businesses do tend to come and go here, and things are not always what they seem!

Anyway, I appreciate all help!

[Mr Moorhouse]

I'm afraid I know very little about them. Going through the website offers a few ideas though:

- Parent company is an established one (in the UK) though not, as far as I'm aware, all that established in education.
- Principal has loads of letters after his name that mean nothing to me but I guess they're qualifications from outside the Uk that I'd not recognise.

I guess the best way of finding out if they can help is to give them a call. If they're a dodgy outfit they'd struggle to answer relatively straightforward questions about the IGCSE curriculum etc.