'The BTEC'

A discussion began in the staffroom yesterday about the BTEC and its place within the National Curriculum. It was interesting to hear the views of experienced teachers and get their take on it. The conversation began after a member of staff made a comment about how low ability students were taking a science BTEC rather than a GCSE despite the level of the BTEC being equivalent to an A*/A at GCSE – a level completely unachievable for these students. Teachers from other departments said they were finding this too and that they have to teach BTEC rather than GCSE ultimately so that the grades will not affect the schools league table results. This links into the government’s introduction of Progress 8. 

It seems that the BTEC demands a lot more from the pupil than the GCSE in terms of research and coursework and in a way the skillset is more similar to that of university level and it is very wrong to demand that from a low ability student. This also makes it very difficult for them to get a distinction.

When conducting interviews with head teachers as a part of my inquiry, one of my immediate findings was that the results published in league tables heavily influenced what the heads included in their school curriculum even though from a holistic point of view they felt that creative subjects needed to be more prominent within the curriculum.

My own opinion (and like I said before -  very biased opinion) is that the subjects of dance and drama are just as important as the ‘compulsory’ subjects which students have to study on the English Baccalaureate route. However because they are considered to have a ‘lower status’, less and less students are choosing them and it seems that schools are becoming somewhat reluctant to promote them as qualifications gained are not.