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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 48m

International GCSEs have a modular version now which does this too. Pros and cons but there are definitely some kids who find it much more enjoyable and achievable. And the end learning is the same, which is supposed to be the point.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 51m

It’s a not unheard of thing in home ed - take foundation as a ‘practice run’/backstop and then move on to higher. However costs are a factor.

Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 53m

I spent about 6,000 words proposing this sort of thing in a Pearson consultation some time ago. I think it would require more of a systems shift that I understood at the time but I do still basically like the concept.

Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 2h

Absolutely this. And it is complicated - baking in (possibly unfounded) expectations *is* a risk. Bit so is the detrimental effect of being told you are failing time and time again before you get a chance to succeed at something.

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

sp1ngirl.bsky.social @sp1ngirl.bsky.social · 3h

As a parent, academic outcomes are secondary to improving mental health and feeling that they actually belong at the school. The constant drumbeat of the importance of getting good exam grades in schools does not help either. The pressure it generates is enormous.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 2h

There is an impact in maths and English. Not the intention, but the perception is that if you get a 3 you *have* to resit GCSE, if you get a 2 you “get to” do functional skills instead. And some colleges require a number of passes at grade 3 for vocational courses.

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 3h

Yes this is important. It isn't soft bigotry of low expectations to say that the successful drive to raise standards hasn't also had some undesirable consequences too. Emphasising the importance of good grades has also made it feel a much more serious problem if you don't achieve these.

sp1ngirl.bsky.social @sp1ngirl.bsky.social · 3h

As a parent, academic outcomes are secondary to improving mental health and feeling that they actually belong at the school. The constant drumbeat of the importance of getting good exam grades in schools does not help either. The pressure it generates is enormous.

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 14h

This is another good example of a fundamental important compromise being made in favour of the already most advantaged.

Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 14h

This is perhaps a minor point, but I do think that a 3 or a 4, compared to a maximum of 9, *feels* a lot worse than a C or D with a maximum of an A did. But they are supposed to be set at the same levels.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 14h

This is perhaps a minor point, but I do think that a 3 or a 4, compared to a maximum of 9, *feels* a lot worse than a C or D with a maximum of an A did. But they are supposed to be set at the same levels.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 16h

The need for someone to blame is *so* corrosive - and so human.

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

Nancy @nancygedge.bsky.social · 17h

So, the SEND system has become emblematic and in that sense, it is not so much practice, accommodations, blah blah blah that is the problem, but the cultural expectations put upon parents (mothers in particular) and children.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 17h

And that's not because there isn't the same range as elsewhere - OK maybe with some skew - just that variation and difference, and picking different priorities in life is much more part of the culture, I think.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 17h

A new family will come along to group, or post online, and offer a raft of explanations about behaviour and diagnoses and it's like - it's fine. You don't have to do that here. That's all just normal to us.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 17h

Yes. And it's so interesting how much that is just *absent* in the long term home ed world.

Whether that's cause or effect, and what wider impact it has, I don't know, but it's something I've noticed a lot.

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 1d

I think it was @hannahfearn.bsky.social who was asking what's up with the govt's ability to read the room ...
In what world is the response to high-profile and vocal groups of parents raising concerns about teens and smartphones to propose digital ID for teenagers?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Government to consult on digital IDs for 13-year-olds

There has been a backlash to the announcement a UK-wide digital ID scheme will be introduced by 2029.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 1d

My children used to do a spirited rendition of Sam Hall (“damn his eyes”).

Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 2d

It just feels unsustainable - sometimes for different reasons in different schools but the mismatch between what is expected of you and what you can realistically achieve is soul crushing.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 2d

It’s so hard when you’re put on the spot like that - the instinct is to assume *of course* the other person is right and you are somehow in the wrong, and moreover, must Fix It Right Now. Even when a beat later - slightly too late - you realise that’s not what was going on here at all.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 3d

We *loved* the apparatus and used it regularly. Mind you our playground equipment consisted of a giant concrete tube in the middle of a paved concrete area so it is fair to say health and safety was not top of the primary school’s priority list.

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 3d

Been to the youngest’s harvest assembly.
Theory: every primary school built pre about 1980 in Britain has some version of this equipment. It is referred to as something like ‘the apparatus’.
No one has any memory of it ever being used.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 3d

“The light is always on in your fridge”.

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

Claire Harley @claireharley.bsky.social · 4d

This week is baby/pregnancy loss awareness week.

Resharing this story of loss in the hope that it normalises supportive conversations in schools.

www.researchtoclassroom.com/post/it-isn-...

It isn't the time.

We never seem to have any time. Despite the numerous bank holidays, I’m having a lot of conversations about trying to fit everything in with colleagues and friends at the moment. The past two months, ...

www.researchtoclassroom.com

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Reposted by Katie Finlayson

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 4d

Punchy opening from Tom Tugendhat, who says the move of young voters from centrist parties is "a logical series of outcomes for an economic system that has effectively become a Ponzi system for the old", eg the pension triple lock.

"Guess what? They have worked it out," Tugendhat says.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 5d

This is basically the problem for anyone governing, isn't it? People no longer seem prepared to accept trade-offs, so politicians who pretend there won't be any get rewarded.

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Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 5d

Yes, there is that!

Katie Finlayson @learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social · 5d

I half wonder if a Senedd win next year (which is on the cards) gives an opportunity to demonstrate this on a large scale before the next UK-wide elections. Not that I'm super keen on my nation being the demonstrator here.

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