Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Human Biology IGCSE

Friday, August 13th, 2010
Coloured image showing human genome

Human Genome

Oxford Home Schooling is pleased to announce that we now have an exciting new course for IGCSE Human Biology. This follows the recent release of our new course for IGCSE English Literature.

The new course is designed to match the Edexcel 4HB0 specification for examinations in June 2011, June 2012, or later years.

Candidates are required to sit two written examinations. There is no coursework although some familiarity with experimental procedure is required. The specification is designed as ideal preparation forA-level Biology or Human Biology study.

The OOL course is divided into five modules that follow the structure of the Edexcel specification:

Module 1: Cell Processes

Module 2: Human Physiology A

Module 3: Human Physiology B

Module 4: Reproduction and Heredity

Module 5: Microorganisms, Disease and Environment

The Edexcel requirements are a little more “academic” than the equivalent GCSE but our course aims to make the study of Human Biology engaging and practical for students of all abilities.

Human Biology IGCSE may be studied on its own, alongside other Science IGCSEs or as part of a full range of IGCSE studies.

GCSE or IGCSE?

For the home-educated and distance learners in general, 2010 was the last year in which it was possible to stake a “standard” GCSE in Human Biology or Human Physiology and Health. From 2011, GCSE students are required to undertake a controlled assessment which is not practicable unless you are in a supervised classroom. So IGCSE is the only viable choice in this and and a number of other subjects. But there are plenty of IGCSE exam centres up and down the country so it is relatively straightforward to enter the exams, especially with no coursework involved.

IGCSE qualifications are accepted as at least the equivalent of GCSEs in all sixth form colleges, FE colleges, universities and other HE institutions.

IGCSE test centres world-wide

If you are looking to study for IGCSE exams outside the UK, you do not need to visit the UK to sit your exams.  You can find your nearest international exam centre by visiting Edexcel International.

If you are interested in studying this or other IGCSE programmes with Oxford Home Schooling, please contact one of our Student Advisers today.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Controlled Assessment and Coursework, Distance Learning, Examinations, Home Education, Human Biology, IGCSE, Qualification, Science, Uncategorized | No Comments »

IGCSE and State Schools

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Today’s Guardian includes the headline: ‘International GCSE offer rejected by the majority of state schools’.  Jessica Shepherd’s report notes that only 16 state schools have signed up to teach IGCSEs from this autumn despite the fact that they are now free to do so (after the announcement in June by the schools minister, Nick Gibb).

The report is midsleading in a  number of ways.  Only 16 have told the Cambridge board (CIE) that they will be offering the exams but Cambridge is not the only board offering IGCSE. Edexcel has designed a set of IGCSE specfications which are intended to be better suited to the needs of UK state schools.  It is also rather too early to tell how many schools will offer IGCSE this autumn as there is no requirement to notify a board in advance and many are still making plans.

But the Guardian does not make the obvious point. State schools are in no position to offer IGCSE programmes because those programmes are not funded. Only when IGCSE courses are funded at the same level as GCSE courses will we see a large scale shift away from GCSE and towards IGCSE. The government has not yet told us whether (or when) IGCSE programmes will be funded. Until that happens, IGCSE will remain the preserve of the private sector. But the very fact that so many private schools intend to offer IGCSE this year is clear evidence that IGCSEs are seen as a better and more demanding preparation for A-levels and university courses.

Martin Ward, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, has said that the low figure shows state school teachers have “clearly decided that there is no virtue in their pupils taking IGCSEs”. This is complete nonsense and he knows it. There are some schools where the teachers are aware of the IGCSE option who have decided that it would be too tough for most of their pupils and that it represents a risk to their GCSE rankings, but most have not considered IGCSE at all because of the absence of funding.  A party divide has opened up on this issue and it is clear that the ASCL is toeing the Labour Party line.

But there are much wider issues at stake here. Should we compel state schools to deliver a National Curriculum which is carefully controlled by the government? Or should we trust exam boards and universities to set the exams that students, schools and universities want? IGCSEs are currently unregulated but there is no doubt that they are harder than GCSEs. If they become state-regulated, will exam boards start competing (as they have done with GCSE) to make them ever easier in order  to attract a higher proportion of state schools? It may be some time before all these issues are satisfactorily settled.

Dr Nicholas Smith,

Principal, Oxford Home Schooling

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Controlled Assessment and Coursework, Distance Learning, English, Examinations, GCSE, Government Policy, Home Education, IGCSE, Mathematics, Uncategorized | No Comments »

IGCSE and State Schools

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has just announced that state schools will be able to offer IGCSEs (International GCSEs) in all subjects from September.  As he says, this will allow pupils at state secondaries to compete on a level playing field with their privately-educated peers.

At Oxford Home Schooling, we welcome this development, but it is only a first step. It provides implicit acknowledgment of the academic credibility of IGCSEs but this was rarely in doubt within universities and colleges. Yet until IGCSEs are funded on the same scale as ordinary GCSEs, no state school will, in practice, be able to take the plunge. They cannot offer courses with no funding, however superior they seem, especially when the costs of re-training staff and re-educating parents are included.

Equivalent funding needs to be granted as soon as possible. The fear for many in the state education sector is that a two-tier system will develop, like the old split between CSE and O-level, and that GCSE will become increasingly marginalised.  But the difference between GCSE and IGCSE is not just one of academic rigour;  it is also a matter of convenience and accessibility. The controlled assessment required for most new GCSEs has disenfranchised whole categories of students, including home learners and distance learners, and it is vital that a practicable alternative like IGCSE, without all the coursework baggage, is suitably recognised and validated.

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says that IGCSEs do not meet the rigorous standards of normal GCSEs.  I know of very few disinterested educationalists who share this view. Anyone who has compared an IGCSE specification with the equivalent GCSE specification in any subject (and I have looked at many) has come to the conclusion that IGCSEs require equivalent breadth and greater depth across the topic areas. This is easiest to judge in subjects like Maths and Science where IGCSE specifications (e.g. set by Edexcel) include all the  “normal” GCSE topics, plus a range of extra topics that most state school pupils do not encounter till A-level.   My impression is that IGCSEs offer much better preparati0n for A-level and higher education.

I believe that most teachers share this view and would like to make the switch to IGCSE. The pressure will grow on the government to ensure that IGCSEs are funded on the same scale as GCSEs but no one knows for sure what impact this will have on GCSEs. Some interesting times lie ahead!

(Dr) Nicholas Smith,

Principal, Oxford Home Schooling

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Controlled Assessment and Coursework, Distance Learning, Educational organisations, Examinations, GCSE, Government Policy, Home Education, IGCSE, Mathematics, Uncategorized | No Comments »