.......spot the difference......

When I sat my O-levels in 1974 (I know....w0rk it out..... 16 in 1974.....so I'm ?? now) there was no course work...every subject had one (or two) terminal exams....... and the grades awarded were from 1 down to 9.

During the 1980's the name changed to GCSE....coursework became a bigger and bigger part of the "examination" ........and the grades morphed into A* down to U.

Today the Government announced that from 2015 there will be ....no coursework......every subject will have one (or two) terminal exams.....and the grades will go from 9 down to 1.

So that's 40 years of Governments...of different colours...pissing about with education....to end up right back where we started!

40 years of changing the goalposts....40 years of changing horses mid stream......40 years of "bright" ideas......40 years of "this is how the French/Germans/Americans/Dutch/Australians etc, etc, etc do it".......40 years of "here's the latest fad".....40 years of "here's a new syllabus/scheme of work/ National Curriculum/set of league tables/ceiling/floor/inspection regime......to end up right back where we started.

Makes you want to weep doesn't it?

It's definitely time to think about retirement....to quote "Lethal Weapon"...I'm getting too old for this shit!

Das vidanya moy padruga.