Qualifications

[Mad Cyril]

You don't get good at anything without practice.

I hate to think how many of thousands of hours of my own time I have taken to acquire the skills to succeed in my chosen career.

 

[Mad Cyril]

But at the end of the day.

Winner takes all.

 

[OldBlueLady]

But at the end of the day.

Winner takes all.

Loser's standing small....

 

[hockleyeast1964]

Well something has gone wrong that's for sure - I see kids of 19 and 20 at my place of work with A grades as long as your arm but they simply can't spell! How are they achieving these high grades I just don't know. Already most of our good universities are insisting on additional entrance exams as they obviously don't trust the present GCSE and A level marks. Telling someone they are great is easy actually becoming great is something all together different.

My niece just got a c grade in english,she can retake it to get a better grade,then pay £11.75 to retake again.Hmmm i wonder why all these kids have a grades.

 

[steveo]

Haha, I got an o-level in Religious Education.

To this day I have no idea why I took it. I do find religion interesting but Im 100% atheist and I have no recollection in why I did it, other than I knew Id pass it.

I got an O'Level in Sociology. i took it becasue the alternate class had a double sociology lesson then double games. We had the other way round and the Games teachers alternated. So you could just about get away with doing double ames and double games most weeks. Didnt go to many classess, didnt really know what it was about but its an O Level.
Also got an O Level in German and I can still remember two words.
Auf Weidersein.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I've got an O-Level in Geography which is slightly bizarre as on the exam paper I picked a topic I had absolutely no knowledge of. The more things change.......

 

[McNasty]

You can have all the qualifications in the world but if you a non personality no mark who is as dull as dishwater and can't sell it in a interview then YOU ARE ****ED!

Human first
Qualifications second

I take it YOU ARE ****ED. :hilarious:

 

[southend4ever]

I take it YOU ARE ****ED. :hilarious:

Presume that is why he set up his own company?

 

[Firestorm]

Qualifications used to be a good indication of someones ability to learn and recall what they had learnt in a pressure situation. Now there are more an indication of ability reasearch and then copy what has been found.
A lot of work is doing stuff the youngster will have no idea about so the requirements are for an ability to listen learn and recall.
Initiative and the ability to adapt is another.

I dont know whether algebra is still taught but that is one example of adapting what you are taught at school into a work enviroment. Particularly if you use spreadsheets

 

[Davros]

I think I've mentioned it somewhere else, spelling isn't the focus. If a child can punctuate, that seems to be far more important than the ability to spell. You get to 3 spelling corrections in a piece of writing.....that's about it. Any more spelling problems highlighted is deemed as demoralising! It's a tricky job....keep praising the child for a wonderfully written, beautifully visual piece of work or tell them they've spelt every other word wrong?!

Children largely write as they speak, some can recognise that and adapt their writing, others can't.

Overpraising children is wrong though. Wasn't there a study carried out in America that using the phrase 'Clever' etc and 'thats amazing' in the long term damaged a childs self esteem and work ethic, and that it was better to praise 'hard work', as this would mor elikely motivate them to work harder, whereas those who had already been told they were clever didnt feel they had to work as hard, and were also more likely to lie about future test scores etc, as they felt the pressure of being deemed 'clever'

 

[Napster]

Overpraising children is wrong though. Wasn't there a study carried out in America that using the phrase 'Clever' etc and 'thats amazing' in the long term damaged a childs self esteem and work ethic, and that it was better to praise 'hard work', as this would mor elikely motivate them to work harder, whereas those who had already been told they were clever didnt feel they had to work as hard, and were also more likely to lie about future test scores etc, as they felt the pressure of being deemed 'clever'

You are right David.

 

[londonblue]

I would imagine that by 13 a teacher would know what route would best suit a child. Schools seem to want to pander to the lowest common denominator these days. A friend of mine's teenage son is a clever kid and when she asked why he doesn't get any homework the response was "well it won't get done by the troublemakers".

Take those troublemakers out and give them the option to learn to fix cars/plumb houses/plaster walls etc etc.

Not sure I agree with this. I have a friend who is originally from Harlow. He left school at 16 with no qualifications because his school decided he wasn't up to it. He got a job as a receptionist at the local Dolland and Aitchison.

Like most big companies, D & A have a policy of improving their staff, so he had to go on training courses to learn the basics. He did well in those, and worked his way through all of their courses. He used those as his entrance "qualifications" to college to study dispensing optics, and become a contact lens practitioner. He did well enough in those to be able to use them as his entrance to university, where he studied optometry.

Needless to say he got his degree, and then went to work as an optician. He passed his pre-reg (professional qualifications) first time, even though they have a 70% failure rate.

After a time he took over a couple of D & A francises and worked as an optician for a few years, whilst also doing a Masters in Clinical Optometry. In the end he decided it wasn't for him, and went to live in Australia where he is now a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology and a research fellow at the University of New South Wales, where he was awarded his PhD.

You simply can't know how people will turn out, especially from a young age.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Overpraising children is wrong though. Wasn't there a study carried out in America that using the phrase 'Clever' etc and 'thats amazing' in the long term damaged a childs self esteem and work ethic, and that it was better to praise 'hard work', as this would mor elikely motivate them to work harder, whereas those who had already been told they were clever didnt feel they had to work as hard, and were also more likely to lie about future test scores etc, as they felt the pressure of being deemed 'clever'

I agree with you completely. and that is the problem with a lot of kids these days. They've had so much praise that when they're actually facing up to something where they're failing, they go to pieces as they can't cope with perceived failure.

My point was though, that the marking of work nowadays doesn't focus on spelling unless that is the focus of the lesson.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Not sure I agree with this. I have a friend who is originally from Harlow. He left school at 16 with no qualifications because his school decided he wasn't up to it. He got a job as a receptionist at the local Dolland and Aitchison.

Like most big companies, D & A have a policy of improving their staff, so he had to go on training courses to learn the basics. He did well in those, and worked his way through all of their courses. He used those as his entrance "qualifications" to college to study dispensing optics, and become a contact lens practitioner. He did well enough in those to be able to use them as his entrance to university, where he studied optometry.

Needless to say he got his degree, and then went to work as an optician. He passed his pre-reg (professional qualifications) first time, even though they have a 70% failure rate.

After a time he took over a couple of D & A francises and worked as an optician for a few years, whilst also doing a Masters in Clinical Optometry. In the end he decided it wasn't for him, and went to live in Australia where he is now a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology and a research fellow at the University of New South Wales, where he was awarded his PhD.

You simply can't know how people will turn out, especially from a young age.

All very well but we've missed out on a brickie :dim:

 

[southend4ever]

I agree with you completely. and that is the problem with a lot of kids these days. They've had so much praise that when they're actually facing up to something where they're failing, they go to pieces as they can't cope with perceived failure.

My point was though, that the marking of work nowadays doesn't focus on spelling unless that is the focus of the lesson.

How you determine what is too much praise though is debateable.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

So now we're getting new style A-Levels as well as EBaccs for 2015.

All of this is done without much consultation, and least of all with schools.

I'm all for driving up standards, removing mediocrity from our schools and genuinely rewarding those who work hard.

On here we have a range of academics, skilled workers, parents, students etc...

What would be the best qualifications schools could offer to best prepare all students? What would have worked best for you? Want do you want for your kids?

National service and the three Rs. And no left-wing pantywaists as teachers.

 

[OldBlueLady]

National service and the three Rs. And no left-wing pantywaists as teachers.

In all seriousness, I've said for a while that I think there should be some kind of National Service, it might help instil some discipline and respect that is sadly lacking in some youngsters' lives. I don't think it needs to be 2 years like it used to be, but certainly the idea of doing a year, on leaving school, whether that is at 16 or 18 sounds worthwhile.

 

[Pubey]

In all seriousness, I've said for a while that I think there should be some kind of National Service, it might help instil some discipline and respect that is sadly lacking in some youngsters' lives. I don't think it needs to be 2 years like it used to be, but certainly the idea of doing a year, on leaving school, whether that is at 16 or 18 sounds worthwhile.

What about if students are going into higher education?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

What about if students are going into higher education?

Most of them shouldn't bother. They are better off learning a trade - the trade of killing people.

 

[OldBlueLady]

What about if students are going into higher education?

Gap year, a lot do it anyway. It just delays things for a year.