[senco-forum] Inclusion and league tables (English GCSE)

Hi Lorraine
  As a secondary SENCO and English teacher, I am very sympathetic to what you say.
  However, I don't think that Shakespeare need be a problem for pupils with learning difficulties and poor reading skills.  We only have to do that as coursework so no need to revise it for an exam.  We tend to use 'Romeo and Juliet', show the Baz Luhrmann version and then look at one short scene using a cartoon book version.  I've got pupils up as far as an E grade like this.  Same for the prose reading - choose something short like 'Of Mice and Men', read it to them and get them to respond to a question about relationships in the novel.  Plus you can assess reading for coursework through talk for one out of the two assignments.
  To me the issue is far more about the exam paper.  Yes it tests reading so you can't read them the reading part of the paper.  However, you can read them the writing part of the paper now AND they can dictate responses, which is a major improvement which only came in two years ago.  Before that they were entirely on their own.
  BUT anyone else tried teaching the poetry to pupils aiming at grades F and G?  Or tried to explain that the exam paper names one poem but you have to choose another one and it must be the right one?  Or made sure they know that you answer only one of the essay questions?  The paper itself is a nightmare.
  AND I have been looking for an entry level certificate which does not say that pupils can only attempt a piece of work once and that the work must be time limited.  In the maths entry level done at my school there are five versions of each test and if they fail they can take a second version two weeks later.  In AQA Entry Level English, I must make my pupils take time limited tests which they can't repeat - and some have to be submitted as part of the portfolio.

  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

Bill Graham <williamgraham at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
  I've just read the article mentioned in a recent posting. How true it is! 
I was upset yesterday because I really think that our kids get a raw deal especially in secondary where KS4 courses are concerned. It seems that it's not every child who matters but every school! I thought the spirit of inclusion was built around making kids feel valued it seems not - they are forced into unsuitable/ inappropriate exam choices because the data counts - the numbers of GCSEs they get is vital. 

I feel particularly aggrieved over English because they have to do this and get a GCSE without the help of a reader. It's not only the course content (shakespeare etc) which is bad enough but it's being faced with an examination they just can't access. It must be totally demoralising doing this and I don't see how a grade G does them any good - except for the school. Yes we do entry level but they still have to be entered for GCSE. What makes it worse is data predictions - I have a kid who has great difficulties in reading and writing and the data suggests he should be getting grade Es jiust because it's based on KS2 levels in ma and science where he had a reader.

I feel torn between the devil and the deep blue sea - I have outside agencies saying these kids shouldn't be entered and the school saying they have to be. When will government realise if they want inclusion in mainstream schools then something has to give - otherwise inclusion becomes exclusion.

Incidentally - if there are any secondary sencos out there - what do your schools to do to overcome this problem (esp in Eng) or are we all in the same boat? Suggestions welcome.

Lorraine

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall