News Article 14

GCSE'S TO BE SCRAPPED?

The head of the CBI says a date must be set in the next five years to scrap GCSEs and introduce an exam system with equal status for vocational subjects.

John Cridland, director general of the employers' group, says England's exam system is narrow and out of date. He proposes a system in which the most important exams would be A-levels, including both academic and vocational subjects, taken at the age of 18. Ministers are pushing for all pupils to take a core group of academic GCSEs.

"By the end of this parliament, I want to see the date for the last GCSEs circled in the secretary of state's diary," said Mr Cridland, who warns of a "false choice" between academic and vocational lessons. In a speech at the annual Festival of Education at Wellington College, Mr Cridland will set out an employers' blueprint for improving schools. He says that for too long "we've just pretended" to have an exam system that values vocational education, when in practice, exams have operated as stepping stones towards a university degree.

"GCSEs are past their sell-by date and should be retired." He says that the only purpose they serve now is to allow measurement of schools through league tables.

The proposal to scrap GCSEs comes as ministers are pushing for an even greater emphasis on academic GCSEs, with plans for all pupils to have to take core academic subjects. This announcement "misses the point that we need curriculum reform, not just exam reform", says the CBI chief. "The government must make a start on a full review of 14-to-18 education by the end of the summer."

How I feel about the news article:

I understand where John Cridland is coming from because many teachers at secondary schools are very concerned about their league tables which may be one of the reasons they pressure their students to do so well in their GCSE's. However, I believe they should not be removed as they are quite important for progression to A-levels and secondary school may be a waste of time if there are no exams at the end of the five years. 

A2 Coursework: Proposed Research Idea

The question: To what extent do video games demonstrate negative representations of women? 

The key areas I will be focusing on: 

• The sexualisation of women
• 'The damsel in distress' 
• Discrimination of women in games and the gaming community
• Advertisement of games 
• The impact of our dominant ideology 

Ideas for my approach: 

For my primary research, I would like to focus on the sexualisation of women and the 'damsel in distress' stereotype. I am thinking of backing them up with the case studies of Grand Theft Auto V and Princess Peach in the Mario series. For GTA V, I will focus on the iconography associated with females in the game (strippers, prostitutes, housewives) and I may look at the poster because it sexualises women and portrays them in a negative light. I will focus on the narrative of the Mario series and how the goal of the protagonist is mostly always to rescue Princess Peach, discussing how this may impact a young audience's beliefs on how women should be treated. 

For my secondary research, I plan on looking at the audience reception to my case study games and how their responses may be triggered by the negative representation of women. I will look at a variety of websites, newspaper articles, interviews and presentations in order to triangulate my sources and to have enough evidence to back up my points. 

News Article 13

Scottish schools have no black or Asian headteachers



This is how BBC news represented the story:

Scotland does not have any head or deputy head teachers from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background, according to Scottish government data.

There were also only 18 black or Asian principal teachers out of 5,403 secondary principal teachers. The statistics have been highlighted by the Liberal Democrats, who described them as "staggering". The Scottish government said it wanted to see a diverse workforce at every level of the education system. The issue was also raised by the EIS teaching union at its AGM last week. Despite there being tens of thousands of ethnic minority pupils across Scotland, the figures showed there were no black or Asian head teachers or depute heads at any primary, secondary or special schools.

Scottish Lib Dem education spokesman Liam McArthur said: "It remains too often the case that those holding top jobs in most sectors are not reflective of the diverse nature of our society. By better reflecting our diversity at primary and secondary education level we can make a positive change which lasts for generations. This is a staggering revelation. It warrants a detailed response from Scottish ministers."

How I feel about the news article:

I feel it is very important to have a range of ethnicities and races across the teachers working at the schools in Scotland as it helps to express diversity within their society and the actual teaching curriculum. As many of the pupils are likely to be black or Asian, I feel there should definitely be more teachers of the same because then their parents will display a much more positive attitude towards the schools and their relationship with the teachers.