Wednesday, September 21, 2016

New A Degree Timings

After examination flavor is over, I hold off that Heads of Maths too Key Stage five Coordinators all over the province volition endure making plans for delivering the novel Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 aeroplane from September.

Timings at Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 aeroplane e'er brand me nervous. I loathe having to rush my teaching. Linear Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 levels are meant to ameliorate the situation, but I'm non convinced that at that spot volition endure much gamble to boring down.

My schoolhouse (a suburban comprehensive schoolhouse alongside a large Sixth Form) has nine hours a fortnight teaching fourth dimension at Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 level. I of late did a poll on Twitter to discovery out how this compares to other schools. Here are the results:
At my previous schoolhouse I solely had 8 hours a fortnight too it worked fine, mainly because the vast bulk of my students got an A* inwards their maths GCSE. I at 1 time convey a lot of students who got a B inwards their GCSE, then the starting fourth dimension of the twelvemonth has to become at a relatively slow pace. Instead of briefly revising surds, indices too quadratics, many students remove these topics taught from scratch. The same volition in all probability endure truthful of marker 6 students starting Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 aeroplane maths this September.

Later inwards the year, fourth dimension is lost to internal exams - at my schoolhouse nosotros convey multiple rounds of 'PPEs' (pre-public exams), amounting to at to the lowest degree vi weeks off timetable over the course of education of Year 12 too 13. Although I exercise come across some benefits to formal internal exams, I'd prefer to come across to a greater extent than of this assessment occur during lessons then that loss of teaching fourth dimension is minimised. 

If a burn downwardly warning goes off when I'm teaching Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 aeroplane I desire to cry! The fourth dimension pressure level is such that every lost hr is a worry. Lessons are too lost to inset days, banking concern holidays too schoolhouse events, then a marker of flexibility has to endure built into schemes of work. 

By my calculations, I volition convey some 270 hours inwards which to deliver the novel Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 aeroplane over 2 years. This assumes that I volition learn correct upward until the halt of Apr 2018. 

Edexcel's scheme of work recommends 360 hours. So I'm ninety hours under. Eek.

Daniel Fox (@danielfox66) told me that his schoolhouse has applied a 2 thirds reduction to all of Edexcel's suggested teaching times inwards social club to brand things fit. I recall my schoolhouse volition in all probability convey to exercise something similar. Hopefully that volition too move out some fourth dimension for revision too in-class assessment throughout the 2 twelvemonth course. 

Having looked through the system of work, at that spot are some topics where I definitely wouldn't desire to cut back Edexcel's recommended timings. But, for example, their proffer of vii hours inwards Year 12 on binomial expansions could easily endure reduced to 4 hours. We volition remove to become through the system of operate inwards detail, theme past times topic, too operate out where hours tin endure cut. I think it's feasible, it simply requires a chip of work. 

Once the timings are sorted, the adjacent draw of piece of job is to operate out how to sensibly dissever the content betwixt 2 teachers.

I'd similar to listen how other schools are approaching timings, schemes of operate too content splits. It makes a lot of feel for schools to portion what they've done, then that we're non all re-inventing the wheel. Please arrive impact through Twitter or past times commenting below.