Hey all,
I tried to search for this info but to no avail. If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great.
Otherwise, my question is how do the two systems compare? Is one "easier" than the other? More rigorous?
Any info is appreciated!
v.
British vs. American curricula?
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Re: British vs. American curricula?
British curricula at KS (Keystage) 3 and KS4 tends to be more prescribed in some ways. It is deeper, but narrower in scope. At A level it is much like DP, but with an exam boards focus that again is fairly narrow, but deep.
North American curricula tends to be broad and shallower, but the years build on each other a bit better, I found, than KS 3 to 4 to 5. It is possible for students to study WW II two, and in some instances I heard about, three, times!
Grading processes are different, with the IB assessments being modelled on the British system. However, in the UK it was all about predicted grades at GCSE and A Level. So even when you were assessing a student in KS 3, it was with the predicted grade in mind. Percentages are unheard of. Letter grades are unheard of.
GCSE (KS 4) is where the predicted grades come into place to help schools in the "league tables" where they are compared to similar schools in the UK and ranked according to the number of 'good' GCSEs achieved. The same holds true for A levels and A* levels. GCSE students generally complete two projects or assessment tasks over the course of two years with instruction focused on teaching the skills necessary to complete the projects or assessment tasks.
Overall, if you are flexible and can teach, you can be successful in both systems. It does take awhile to wrap your mind around it though.
After
North American curricula tends to be broad and shallower, but the years build on each other a bit better, I found, than KS 3 to 4 to 5. It is possible for students to study WW II two, and in some instances I heard about, three, times!
Grading processes are different, with the IB assessments being modelled on the British system. However, in the UK it was all about predicted grades at GCSE and A Level. So even when you were assessing a student in KS 3, it was with the predicted grade in mind. Percentages are unheard of. Letter grades are unheard of.
GCSE (KS 4) is where the predicted grades come into place to help schools in the "league tables" where they are compared to similar schools in the UK and ranked according to the number of 'good' GCSEs achieved. The same holds true for A levels and A* levels. GCSE students generally complete two projects or assessment tasks over the course of two years with instruction focused on teaching the skills necessary to complete the projects or assessment tasks.
Overall, if you are flexible and can teach, you can be successful in both systems. It does take awhile to wrap your mind around it though.
After
Response
I dont disagree entirely with @SJ, it greatly depends on the subject you are referencing, and the American curriculum you are comparing it too. The British curriculum is a very unified program, and doesnt greatly differ between maintained and independent DSs, students are all facing the same sets of boards for Uni admission; compared to the US where each state and DS has their own diploma and program for getting there.
The British curriculum is more 'focused', i wouldnt use "narrow" because its very comprehensive but there is almost a complete fanatical adherence to meeting the objectives in a checklist approach. DTs spend a significant amount of time aligning their unit lessons with those objectives so as to encompass all of the requirements in the lesson (hence why a student could cover the same material multiple times). DTs are assessed against how well they adhere to and meet those standards. Its not like in the states where theres something bad about teaching to the test, in the UK your doing your job well if your teaching to the board exams and curriculum requirements. Primary students are nationally assessed using the SATS (not to be confused with the SAT in the US).
If you clarify the programs and compare AP in the American curriculum to A levels in the British curriculum and DIP than they are congruent across curriculum. As such, if your performance proficiency is high for one you will very likely be successful in the others.
The focus on marks/grades tends to be higher since there is not equivalent of university admission exams such as the SAT or ACT exams in the US. Functionally students in upper secondary are taking their board exams which are externally moderated and used for Uni admission. This means that all UK DTs are providing test preparation of the appropriate level and material to their students.
Letter grades are unheard of (they are used when referring to board exams), but they are no more or less arbitrary than the number grades (as @SJ indicated) similar to the IBs marking/grading format. Percentages are not unheard of (though rare), they are used when a DT wants to avoid the establishment of a formal grade, far more commonly a fraction such as 3/5 indicating 3 correct out of 5 is used.
The stages for UK education are generally:
Foundation Stage: is the combination of Nursery (Pre-K) and Reception (K).
KS1: The first half (2 years) of primary grades 1-2
KS2: The upper half of primary (4 years) grades 3-6, this concludes with the SATS exam marking the end of primary education.
KS3: The early years of lower secondary grades 7-9 (this starts 1st-3rd form secondary)
KS4: The middle years of secondary grades 10-11, this concludes with GCSE exams and is school leaving level. This is equivalent to a normative diploma in US education. (4th-5th form secondary)
KS5: Often referred to as 6th form than KS5; the last two years of secondary (upper secondary), grades 12 and 13 (lower 6th form and upper 6th form). This concludes the advance levels of the GCSE, it is equivalent to an honors diploma in the US (with substantial AP work). A level subjects are equivalent to HL DIP levels and AS levels are equivalent to SL DIP levels.
You will notice that UK education is a year/grade longer than US education.
The two year A levels curriculum is divided into AS (lower 6th form, grade 12) and A2 (upper 6th form, grade 13). There really isnt a US comparison to this, A2 levels are essentially double the content of AS levels. Both subjects AS and A2 are studied for 2 years.
AS and A2 are two parts of a whole "A level". Students start out generally studying 4 subjects at AS level in year/grade 12. At the end of AS (year/grade 12) they are assessed. They will then generally continue with 3 of those subjects at A2 level, at which the end of A2 they are then again assessed. A student can continue with the 4th subject to A2 levels, and its possible for a student to do 5 or 6 A levels. Three subjects is generally the minimum for admission to a Uni (University).
The terms "A levels and A* levels" refer to AS ("A level") and A2 ("A* level"), as a student can not earn the mark/grade of A* (board exams are marked with letter grades of which A* might be though of as an A+ in the US system) on their AS/lower 6th form/grade 12 board exams. It can only be earned on the A2/upper 6th form/grade 13 board exams.
Heres where predicted grades matter. In the UK stunts apply for Uni admission through a central application portal called Ucas. Remember from above that students take board exams after AS level (their first year studying A levels or grade 12). Universities have to make decisions based those AS level scores well before students take their A2 exams (at the end of their second year of studying A levels or grade 13). An AS (first year) boards exam is worth in most subjects has a maximum of 200 UMS points (UMS is Uniform Marking Scale) points. The A2 board exam in most subjects is worth 400 UMS points, for a total in any one subject of 600 UMS points. UMS is used because there is more than one organization offering different board exams. It would be like converting ACT and SAT scores into one uniform score. A2 board exams are more difficult (worth twice as many points) as AS board exams, so a DT uses your AS board scores to offer a prediction on a students Ucas application.
Thats where the emphasis and importance is on predicted grades for DTs is. The DT made a prediction that the Uni and the student is relying on and the DT needs to ensure the student gets there. Universities offer places (admissions) assuming these predictions are accurate. Since these are externally moderated exams, its not something the DT can make happen at the end of the year with their own gradebook.
To give you a lose example. There is a PSAT (Preliminary SAT) exam in the US often used for NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) that a student can take before the SAT (often in year 10 or 11). Now imagine all your students have to take the PSAT and then you as a their DT have to predict (and report to their colleges/universities) how well each of your students is going to do next year on the SAT based on your experience of their performance with the PSAT and SAT. If you predict too low a score on their SAT than they may likely have missed out on better universities, too high a prediction and a student will likely lose their place. Essentially youre betting that X student is going to score Y on their admission exam.
Thats where all the stress with predicted grades comes from in the UK system.
The British curriculum is more 'focused', i wouldnt use "narrow" because its very comprehensive but there is almost a complete fanatical adherence to meeting the objectives in a checklist approach. DTs spend a significant amount of time aligning their unit lessons with those objectives so as to encompass all of the requirements in the lesson (hence why a student could cover the same material multiple times). DTs are assessed against how well they adhere to and meet those standards. Its not like in the states where theres something bad about teaching to the test, in the UK your doing your job well if your teaching to the board exams and curriculum requirements. Primary students are nationally assessed using the SATS (not to be confused with the SAT in the US).
If you clarify the programs and compare AP in the American curriculum to A levels in the British curriculum and DIP than they are congruent across curriculum. As such, if your performance proficiency is high for one you will very likely be successful in the others.
The focus on marks/grades tends to be higher since there is not equivalent of university admission exams such as the SAT or ACT exams in the US. Functionally students in upper secondary are taking their board exams which are externally moderated and used for Uni admission. This means that all UK DTs are providing test preparation of the appropriate level and material to their students.
Letter grades are unheard of (they are used when referring to board exams), but they are no more or less arbitrary than the number grades (as @SJ indicated) similar to the IBs marking/grading format. Percentages are not unheard of (though rare), they are used when a DT wants to avoid the establishment of a formal grade, far more commonly a fraction such as 3/5 indicating 3 correct out of 5 is used.
The stages for UK education are generally:
Foundation Stage: is the combination of Nursery (Pre-K) and Reception (K).
KS1: The first half (2 years) of primary grades 1-2
KS2: The upper half of primary (4 years) grades 3-6, this concludes with the SATS exam marking the end of primary education.
KS3: The early years of lower secondary grades 7-9 (this starts 1st-3rd form secondary)
KS4: The middle years of secondary grades 10-11, this concludes with GCSE exams and is school leaving level. This is equivalent to a normative diploma in US education. (4th-5th form secondary)
KS5: Often referred to as 6th form than KS5; the last two years of secondary (upper secondary), grades 12 and 13 (lower 6th form and upper 6th form). This concludes the advance levels of the GCSE, it is equivalent to an honors diploma in the US (with substantial AP work). A level subjects are equivalent to HL DIP levels and AS levels are equivalent to SL DIP levels.
You will notice that UK education is a year/grade longer than US education.
The two year A levels curriculum is divided into AS (lower 6th form, grade 12) and A2 (upper 6th form, grade 13). There really isnt a US comparison to this, A2 levels are essentially double the content of AS levels. Both subjects AS and A2 are studied for 2 years.
AS and A2 are two parts of a whole "A level". Students start out generally studying 4 subjects at AS level in year/grade 12. At the end of AS (year/grade 12) they are assessed. They will then generally continue with 3 of those subjects at A2 level, at which the end of A2 they are then again assessed. A student can continue with the 4th subject to A2 levels, and its possible for a student to do 5 or 6 A levels. Three subjects is generally the minimum for admission to a Uni (University).
The terms "A levels and A* levels" refer to AS ("A level") and A2 ("A* level"), as a student can not earn the mark/grade of A* (board exams are marked with letter grades of which A* might be though of as an A+ in the US system) on their AS/lower 6th form/grade 12 board exams. It can only be earned on the A2/upper 6th form/grade 13 board exams.
Heres where predicted grades matter. In the UK stunts apply for Uni admission through a central application portal called Ucas. Remember from above that students take board exams after AS level (their first year studying A levels or grade 12). Universities have to make decisions based those AS level scores well before students take their A2 exams (at the end of their second year of studying A levels or grade 13). An AS (first year) boards exam is worth in most subjects has a maximum of 200 UMS points (UMS is Uniform Marking Scale) points. The A2 board exam in most subjects is worth 400 UMS points, for a total in any one subject of 600 UMS points. UMS is used because there is more than one organization offering different board exams. It would be like converting ACT and SAT scores into one uniform score. A2 board exams are more difficult (worth twice as many points) as AS board exams, so a DT uses your AS board scores to offer a prediction on a students Ucas application.
Thats where the emphasis and importance is on predicted grades for DTs is. The DT made a prediction that the Uni and the student is relying on and the DT needs to ensure the student gets there. Universities offer places (admissions) assuming these predictions are accurate. Since these are externally moderated exams, its not something the DT can make happen at the end of the year with their own gradebook.
To give you a lose example. There is a PSAT (Preliminary SAT) exam in the US often used for NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) that a student can take before the SAT (often in year 10 or 11). Now imagine all your students have to take the PSAT and then you as a their DT have to predict (and report to their colleges/universities) how well each of your students is going to do next year on the SAT based on your experience of their performance with the PSAT and SAT. If you predict too low a score on their SAT than they may likely have missed out on better universities, too high a prediction and a student will likely lose their place. Essentially youre betting that X student is going to score Y on their admission exam.
Thats where all the stress with predicted grades comes from in the UK system.