Alternatives to GCSE provision

This is the text of a Guardian article by Sarah Marsh looking at alternatives to GCSE provision that was stimulated by a consideration of the provision being developed at  Bedales school.

Here is some of an email that I wrote to the Guardian when they asked me about alternatives to GCSE provision. 

But yes, there is certainly a perception amongst some people  that iGCSEs are easier and I believe that a significant proportion of (particularly independent) schools offer them as an alternative.  I don't know enough about the independent sector  to comment in detail, and I have no first hand experience, but I believe it may be the case that independent schools  do  try to offer extra curricular or enrichment or extension activities  to their pupils, designed to develop skills such as problem solving, negotiation,  leadership, and thinking skills.     There are, of course,  a number of reasons why it might be easier for independent schools to offer this kind of curriculum than for schools that are not in the independent sector. 

However, it is not just the independents that are doing this - I know of some  'free' schools  and academies, as well as state maintained schools, that are trying to develop the curriculum in this way.  There is a raging debate about free schools and academies, as you know, and there are all kinds of issues about them which you won't want to put into your article, I am sure.  But what I do think is that the best teachers and leaders in education are often critical of the 'banking' model of education and are  constantly trying to  develop curricula which are about balancing process and product,  and which are also concerned about praxis (in Freireian terms, praxis is about informed, committed actions which are  concerned with enhancing community and building social capital,  and which can shape the world in a dialogic fashion). 

The 2017 GCSE changes will have an effect, yes.   I couldn't even begin to speculate on what might be happening by then, to be honest.   Quite what the general election will bring, who knows, and if Hunt is our next education secretary, then there will be more calls for him to think carefully about the education system.  In education, the world is moving so fast  that the issues we are considering and thinking about are changing  even as they are being worked on.  

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