For parents who have children in the final year of their courses GCSE or A-level (Y11 or Y13 – 5^th form and U6^th), they will experience what goes on when their child is preparing for an exam twice. One at GCSE and the other at A-level, and I can only relate to half of that experience so far and I don’t know if I’m looking forward to the other half.

It is now the second week of April, and my son is in Y12 and my daughter is in Y10. This time last year, my son was preparing for his GCSEs. This time next year, he will be facing the final of his A-levels, and my daughter will be taking the final of her GCSEs.

One point I’d like to make is that much can still be done at this stage to help the teenager improve their prospects in this summer’s exams. Yes, even at this late stage. It’s all about being able to pick up those crucial extra marks. In case you think it is too late, there are two things you ought to be aware of:

1. All the main exams start in in the week commencing 15^th May and some papers will be done in that week and the week after. It gets busier from after half term, with the rest of the exams taking place between 5^th and 21^st June.
2. A lot can be gained still, in the one or two weeks before the exam, and in fact even after the exams have already started.

We are where we are, and nothing can be done about what the child could have done before now. The focus now is just to do as much as can be done to pick up those extra marks, and it boils down to two things:

1. Reinforcing knowledge in key areas and strengthening weaknesses where necessary
2. Mastery of the skills needed to answer exam questions in the way the examiner wants.

The second aspect – exam skills – can and must be done by practising of exam questions. It is more powerful if they can get some feedback from teachers where possible. Just using the mark schemes is helpful but not enough.

There is a lot of misconception about exam technique being everything. No, it is not. Exam technique is very important; however, an understanding of the concepts comes first. A good comprehension of the idea, followed by question mastery is what helps the child to achieve their full potential and leads to a good grade. Practising with past papers and looking at mark scheme is fine but if the concepts are not well-understood first, the next past paper will always be harder than the last one. This will end up in the actual exam being harder.

One key issue is how young people use their time over the exam period. As a parent, I was of the opinion that I can dictate to my children how and when they revise. Last summer, when my son was taking his GCSE, I learnt one thing, which my 29 years and 8 months in the English education system had not prepared me for. That lesson was that my son took control of his exam preparations, and he more or less ignored my advice! Well, he did listen to some of the sermons that I was preaching to him, but not all. I remember him going to bed very late and setting his alarm to wake up very early – like before 5am on some days. This is not something that I had advised, and I still do not. I think he needs plenty of sleep during his exams, but somehow, he got by and achieved top grades. I’m now preaching to him that he must work consistently harder throughout the two-year A-level course – not do what he did last year at GCSE. We’ll see how that works out!

I was very pleasantly surprised when I was speaking to my daughter a few weeks ago and I asked her target for GCSE Maths, and she said Grade 8. Up to then, I had diagnosed that she is capable of getting at least Grade 8 in Maths but that she does not believe in her own ability. Of course, as a parent, I have to believe my child is bright! My diagnosis was confirmed when I met her Maths teacher at the parents evening and asked his opinion and he confirmed that Grade 8 is what she ought to be targeting. I do not know if she will get that grade or not, but what I know is that it is important to dream. It’s not always about the destination but the journey matters. In fact, the journey in terms of the preparation and the action towards the goal are often more important than the result. Usually if one does what needs to be done, the results usually come but not always. But, even when you do not achieve the result, the experience prepares you for life’s challenges, which will surely come later.

I agree that people are different in the way their body and mind work. Some of us need more sleep, and others can cope with a short sleep at certain key times. Different people are able to absorb, process, recall and articulate our understanding to answer questions in an examination environment in different ways. We are all a product of our habits, and it is important that each person finds what works for them and have the discipline to implement to a successful outcome. However, there are certain things that all those who do well implement, but the way one person does it may be different from the next.

As a parent or teacher, we still have an obligation to speak to young people about things that are important, and to suggest how they should do things. Some of what we say will be acted upon and some won’t. The fact that the child will not do some of the things we say does not mean we should not say anything. It is still a worthwhile exercise, as, at least, that conversation will act as some sort of guidance, or at least as part of the thought process.

One topic that my seventeen-year-old boy brings out all the time is that he does not know what he wants to do later in life. My response as always is as follows: just like I was at your age, I did not really know what I wanted to do, even though I had some ideas. Most young people do not know exactly what they want to do later in life but it does not matter. The key thing is to have a focus on what they are doing and to try and get the best outcome by fulfilling their potential in whatever they are doing. That’s all we can ask for.

As for my son and daughter, I wait to see how it all pans out.

I repeat again: much can still be achieved by the young person in the remaining weeks – before and during the examinations. It’s all about maintaining focus and using their time productively to maximise their chances of high grades.

Everything is not all about getting the top grades, it’s about fulfilling their potential. If they do what they need to do, July and the first few weeks of August will be relaxing and more enjoyable, and they can look forward to the autumn with   glee on their faces.

If you have read what I am sharing up to this point, aspects of which are rather philosophical, thank you and I hope you find it thought-provoking, at least!

Change the above in the blog Word file after proofreading.

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I wonder why there are so many disgruntled young people. A recent survey reveals that British young people are some of the least happy in the world. It should not be assumed that this story is completely accurate as there is bound to be an element of subjectivity in the survey; however, perhaps there is an issue to be addressed. Pictures in the media during the riot showed a young man on the floor injured and other young people robbing him whilst pretending to be helping him; very young children looting and vandalising and laughing about it.

During the riot one BBC report mentioned that some of the rioters are middle class, graduate, graphic designers and so on and so forth. The question I want to ask is how many of these people actually lead a life that can be considered to be that of a reasonably comfortable middleclass person?

I am of the opinion that most of these young criminals who vandalise and attack premises and in some cases police officers and members of the public are not people who have been trained in skills that are of a meaningful use to society. However, there is a significant minority who are graduates or who consider themselves to have had training equivalent to that of a graduate. Despite their qualifications, many of these young people do not see themselves as middleclass or even valued by the society as much as they expected. They wonder: after all the qualifications they have got into debt obtaining and laboured hard to acquire; and in many cases, their parents have paid a lot to see them through, why they feel they are second class citizens.

Too many people, parents and students alike, are resentful of the whole education system and the employment market. Their grievances extend the government, commerce, industry and so on. The issue of bankers’ pay, which they perceived as having contributed to the state of the economy and their inability to get a job does not help.

Before they went to university, many of these young people were not well informed about how society functions in relation to employment, social ability and a whole raft of issues. In short, there is a series of incidents which lead them to their current predicament. They were not well advised about the right A level subjects, they study a degree course that is not highly valued by employers at a university that is not highly rated and they end up getting the so called macjobs’ or no job at all. It beggars belief, the number of young people who are taking media studies at university. What is more surprising about this is that many of them, and their parents as well, belief that a Media Studies degree is the qualification they require to work in the media. They fail to try and find out and look at the top media organisations and see how many of the well-known people in these organisations have this sort of qualifications as opposed to an English or History degree.

One must not pretend that there is a guarantee of securing top jobs if they had studied a more recognised degree course and do everything the way employers expect they would have secured a good job. There is a game to be played and playing it right does not guarantee success but it improves one’s chances of being given the opportunity to play a more respectable role in society. There are so many facets to this game of life and one can opt out of some of it and still be successful. This is a huge issue and it is beyond the remit of this article to address them, but I shall aim to go into more detail in future blogs.

Generalising, most of the rioters are a bunch of thieves and opportunists and the prison is where they belong; however, for many it is their way of expressing the frustration they feel about the society they live in. As most parents know, we should not expect politicians and leaders of big institutions to be honest about most key issues and to provide solutions to all the underlying problems that lead to the riot. Parents being well informed and doing their best to guide these young people though the labyrinth of life will go a long way in improving young people’s prospects for the future. For a parent to assist their child in being well qualified is important but it is also just the beginning.

In the next few blogs, I will be attempting to look deeper into why young people who are not from the so-called indigenous background often feel excluded, despite being highly qualified. The discussion will be very frank and honest and questions that are often avoided will be tackled head on!

The post Sociological Causes of Riots: Digging Deeper into Class, Crime, and Education appeared first on Excel in Key Subjects.

It has to be said that there is not a huge difference between the proportion of working class whites, from a, so-called, indigenous background (English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish), and black British people in the make-up of Oxbridge students. So this issue is not just black and white! However, among young black people themselves, Afro-Caribbeans are grossly underrepresented, and this is a reason to be concerned.

There is a direct correlation between the grades students achieve at GCSE and A-level and the University they end up studying at. However, there are all sorts of other factors affecting a student’s chances of being offered a place at Oxford. Those factors include: the course they apply to study; how they perform at the interview, including the way they speak English, and the reference they receive from their school.

There is nothing new in politicising the issue of Oxbridge admission policy: accusation of elitism, lack of upward mobility, and all the rest. It is highly likely that things will die down with no significant changes occurring. It is up to sensible parents to pay attention and educate themselves on how they can help their children to do well in life, which usually includes gaining admission and studying a useful degree course at a reputable university.

We must not delude ourselves from certain facts of life. All universities are not of the same standard and never will be. Some universities are in an elite group of institutions and their admission policies will be rigorous, but they should still remain fair.

It is evident that a disproportionate number of parents from minority ethnic groups, including Afro-Caribbean people, are prepared to spend a substantial part of their income to provide their offspring with, what they perceive as, a high quality education. We also know that among this group, the academic achievement of pupils on leaving primary school is higher than average. By the time they have left secondary school, however, they end up at the bottom of the pile – to coin a rather awful phrase. There is a very serious issue to address here. Whilst the support of the government and other organisations can catalyse movement in a positive direction, parents have the most crucial role to play.

I welcome the fact that more black students are applying to Oxbridge colleges than in the past. A lot has been done in order to increase the number of applicants from this group, and it has worked. The next stage is to improve the number who are actually offered places and to equip those successful applicants with the skills they need to achieve the required grades.

I am strongly opposed to a quota system to address the low number of Afro-Caribbean young people gaining admission into top universities. Educating parents and students on the reality of our society and making them aware of the “rules of the game is key; preparation has to start from a much earlier age. A lot of working class young people, black and white, do not want to apply to Oxbridge, as they do not feel they would be comfortable in that environment, which I believe is a terrible state of affairs. Many who do apply end up being disappointed when they are turned down, despite having been predicted the grades required. Branding Oxford as racist is neither helpful nor damaging in the long term. Politicians are saying what they need to say and the academics are sitting pretty in their ivory towers and applying any rules that they deem fit.

My message to parents is: pay attention, equip yourselves with knowledge on how to help to give your young ones a helping hand in life, and put what you have leant into practice. Whilst, of course, taking the young person in question with you along the straight and narrow!

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