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=Educhanges=

This is a wiki for gathering together news items and other info about changes in the UK education system following the election of the coalition Conservative-Liberal Democrat government in May 2010.

The wiki is not going to be organised into anything very coherent for a while

=Links= Simon Schama's appointment as History tsar (or equivalent) was discussed in the Guardian together with some additional information about the government's plans for an overhaul of the curriculum as given out in Conservative conference by Michael Gove: the link is here and the main points were: This story is also covered in the Telegraph, in this article Patrick Dillon (link to his book) approves the general thrust of History's reconnection with students' own past, but raises the obvious issue of which story would you pick from 'Our Island Story' - the 1905 book by H.E. Marshall is not going to be a relevant approach now that there are so many different British histories to connect with:
 * History**
 * 5 October 2010: return to narrative British history and info on Eng lit, science and accuracy changes**
 * Gove wants to see more narrative History, more on inspiring tales from 'our island story'; Churchill etc
 * As well as changes to History, English will also get a revamp with big names from English lit bigged up: Pope, Shelley, Hardy, Dickens etc
 * Ofqual will have a role ensuring that students are penalised for poor spelling and grammar
 * Science will be beefed up to improve challenge and rigour of what's being asked in exams
 * Schama hoping to reconnect students to their ancestry

'Any //Story of Britain// has to captivate Glaswegians and Asians, a village school and a class of Cardiff teenagers, and mean something to all them – to take each of their stories and stitch them into a broader tapestry in which they all feel proud to clothe themselves. That, as Michael Gove will discover, is no easy feat'

Dillon also points out that not all British history reflects very well on the British: would those stories be included too or rather obviously left out?

Story also covered in Telegraph (conference coverage) which describes Gove as saying a major overhaul of syllabuses is required to get subjects back in the business of teaching students knowledge, with rigour and challenge etc. He is described as saying that maths and science examinations will benchmarked against the most rigorous tests in the world.

A conference is being held on 14 Oct on the theme of Building a Better History Curriculum: this link has attached articles about the progress towards planning so far.
 * Information on new history curriculum**

More on the results of the conference here: links on this site too for the 'Better History Report', which summarises key recommendations for a new curriculum: compulsory history as part of an English bacc, continuous history from KS3 through to GCSE (to help prevent decline of History at KS3), extensive curriculum rather than narrow and prescriptive one, end to source-based exam assessment and instead focus on using real sources or as near to real as poss, exams that reward wider reading and creative thinking rather than adherence to the badged book and the cautious mark scheme. Authors recognise this would be a very different sort of History in schools!

AQA announces an exam-only assessment route for GCSEs - can choose whether you want modular approach with coursework or exam-only. Done in response to lifting on ban for IGCEs, which Edexcel and OCR both offer. Maths, English literature, biology, chemistry, physics, geography and history from September 2012, with some subjects possibly ready by 2011.
 * 27 Sept 2010: Exam-only assessment option for AQA**

Analysis of diploma take up and future from BBC.
 * 25 September: Reaction to diploma threats**