UK education secretary Michael Gove to drop GCSEs in favour of new O-level-style exams

Friday, June 22, 2012

According to documents leaked to the press, Conservative education secretary Michael Gove intends to drop GCSE exams as part of a sweeping reform of the school exam system in England and replace them with exams based on the traditional “O-level” system that GCSEs replaced in the 1980s.

As leaked, Gove plans to phase out the current General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams, with students taking exams in the replacement courses in the summer of 2016. Combined science courses would be split out into separate qualifications in physics, biology, and chemistry. Gove has said reforms to the examination system are needed to fight against what he perceives to be a “dumbing down” of academic standards.

The top ‘A’ grade in mathematics would require advanced topics such as Calculus, and English literature exams would no longer allow access to the set text.

The leaked document also notes the government intends to scrap the National Curriculum at the secondary school level “and not replace it”. Instead, school headteachers would be able to decide what to teach in order to prepare pupils for the examination.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said the plans were “self-evidently not policy that has been discussed or agreed within the coalition”.

Justice minister Ken Clarke suggested on BBC programme Question Time the leak originated within the Department of Education rather than from Gove personally: “If the secretary of state for education leaked it I would feel very strongly about it, but I don’t think he did”.

Conservative MP Graham Stuart has questioned the timing of the plans given reforms to GCSEs last year. “This has come out of the blue”, he said to BBC Radio 4. “Just last year, the government was ramping up its new GCSE target and now a year on we are having to change back to the future, and back to O-Levels.”

Kevin Brennan, Labour’s shadow schools minister, said Gove’s proposals were a move “back to the 1950s”.

Andrew Adonis, a Labour Peer, criticised the plans on Twitter: “I can hardly think of a worse education reform than ‘bringing back the CSE’ – dead-end exams for children treated as second rate.” Nick Clegg mirrored this complaint, saying he would oppose any plan “that would lead to a two-tier system where children at quite a young age are somehow cast on a scrap heap”.

Dr Wendy Piatt from the Russell Group, which represents a number of top-end British universities, agreed with Michael Gove that there is a problem: “the current system needs improving”, she told ITV’s Daybreak, because “some GCSEs really don’t stretch the very brightest”. Piatt warned “there is a real danger here… there is a worry that at a very early age you will be pigeonholed and then put on a course that is not really suitable for you and then you won’t be able to change to the more academic course”.

Dr Kevin Stannard from the Girls Day School Trust challenged the plans, suggesting since “able pupils” are already going to continue studying some subjects, “why not require them to take exams at 16 only in the core subjects that they propose to drop? That would encourage breadth in learning to 16, while also giving students the space for deeper learning.”

Leighton Andrews, the Education Minister in Wales, said Wales “certainly won’t be bringing back O-levels” and leaking the plans to the newspapers was a “bonkers way of proceeding”. Instead, he vowed the Welsh would make decisions as to curriculum and exam reform “in our own time on the basis of evidence supplied to us”.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Portions of a DC-10 jet registered to the Miami, Florida-based Arrow Cargo company fell from the sky over a residential area in the city of Manaus, Brazil on Thursday.

Parts of one of the turbines of the aircraft caused some damage to a car and a few houses, but no injuries were reported. The airplane was traveling to its destination of Bogota, Colombia. According to the Brazilian Defense Ministry, the parts that detached are the rear exhaust diffuser and a section of the exhaust. The involved plane, registered N526MD, was built in 1978.

“I opened the window after I heard this huge boom and I see this thing up in flames, right in front of my doorway,” said Aparecida Silva, a local resident, to Globo TV. “I had no idea what it was, I thought it was some weird, ugly thing or a UFO or something.” ^{((Translated from Portuguese))Portuguese language: ?Estava no melhor do sono, ouvi uma pancada, abri a janela e vi algo pegando fogo. Aí eu não sabia o que era e disse: é um bicho feio, um extraterrestre ou algo assim.}

Rai Marinho, a representative for the Arrow Cargo in Manaus, said that the jet, which was carrying an engineer and three crew members, had engine difficulties soon after taking off. It was able to keep flying, but was obliged to divert to Medellin due to inclement weather, where it landed without incident. The representative added that his company would pay residents for the damage.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

On November 13, Torontoians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Trinity—Spadina (Ward 19). One candidate responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Nick Boragina, Joe Pantalone (incumbent), George Sawision, and Hïmy Syed.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Friday, May 1, 2009

The American auto company Chrysler filed for bankruptcy Thursday, however a deal with European auto maker Fiat went through. The emerging Chrysler will be owned 55 percent by the United Auto Workers, eight percent by the United States Government, two percent by the Canadian Government and Fiat would begin with a 20 percent share.

Chrysler Chief Executive Robert Nardelli will step down when the bankruptcy proceedings are finalized.

Initially, the Italian company, Fiat, will appoint three members on the emerging Chrysler’s new board, and the United States government will appoint six. Fiat can assume the majority of the ownership upon repayment of American loans.

Chrysler administrators expect that the bankruptcy should take a couple of months.

“We expect this to be a very short, 30-to-60-day bankruptcy process, during which the company will function normally,” a top administration official said, “People will be able to buy cars, they will have their warranties honored, and everything should go on normally.”

The bankruptcy filing indicated that Chrysler was in debt to 20 creditors to a tune of more than $10 million each.

Meanwhile, the deal with Fiat did go through, and Chrysler should have cars designed by Fiat out on the market by 2011.

“It’s a partnership that will give Chrysler a chance not only to survive, but to thrive in a global auto industry,” said American president Obama, “Fiat has demonstrated that it can build the clean, fuel-efficient cars that are the future of the industry.”

However, automotive analyst Erich Merkle has hesitations.

“History would show that alliances really don’t work that well,” Merkle said, “even though, no matter how good they may look on paper.”

The restructuring has been managed by Steve Rattner, a former investment banker, and the U.S. Government auto task force.

Obama has set three ultimatums before Fiat. Fiat should produce a 40 mile per gallon vehicle while managing the new Chrysler, transfer fuel efficient Fiat technology to Chrysler factories in the United States, and produce cars in Chrysler factories and distribute them in Europe.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Back in 2003, inspectors had discovered several sites in Iran that tested positive for highly enriched uranium, but the uranium was believed to have come from equipment that was previously from Pakistan.

On Friday, Reuters published a report quoting UN diplomats from Vienna who wish to remain anonymous alleging that preliminary analysis of microscopic dust collected from equipment at the now razed Lavizan-Shiyan research center in Iran in January of 2005, contained traces of “highly enriched uranium”. “It’s no smoking gun. There could be many explanations. But it increases pressure on Iran to come clean about Lavizan,” Reuters reported the European diplomat as stating.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, said today that the finding of the highly enriched uranium is “of little significance at the current juncture.” ElBaradei also pointed out that the investigation into where it came from is continuing and that the uranium could have come from equipment that was imported to Iran, but that “time is still needed to reach a conclusion in this respect.”

ElBaradei also highlighted that he is aware of the right for Iran to use nuclear material for “peaceful purposes” and that “a balance between Iran’s nuclear rights and concerns of the international community would not be created through verbal disputes, but rather dialogue would be the solution.”

Speaking on Friday about the allegation, former UN weapons inspector and former head of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Albright said, “even if it is the same contamination, this is a significant finding because it indicates something was going on at Lavizan. It could be part of Iran’s known centrifuge program or a parallel program.”

In response, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi asserted, “these comments lack any importance and do not come from a real source.” Denying that his country had carried out any work at the Lavizan-Shiyan facility, Asefi added that the UN claims were “baseless and without importance.”

On Friday Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded to the UN allegations saying, “they are trying to frighten our country by waging a propaganda campaign using strong words. The people of Iran and the country are not afraid of them” and that “this whole thing is just psychological propaganda, but they know the Islamic republic nation of Iran is a strong nation. I think they have better sense than to have a war with Iran. Every country has the right to defend its right in accordance with the agreed way.”

Iran started to enrich uranium at its Natanz nuclear facility April 11, and continues to claim its program is for peaceful purposes.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Guy Fawkes masks were on display in cities across Europe yesterday as part of a protest against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an international trade agreement on copyright and intellectual property that opponents believe will limit free speech online.

Organisers of the protest said about 100,000 people turned up in German cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Hanover. In Berlin, police estimated 6,500 protestors. Protests also took place in Paris, Sofia in Bulgaria, Vilnius in Lithuania, Valetta in Malta, Tallinn in Estonia, and Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland. In London, about 200 people protested outside some major copyright holders’ offices. Last month, there were major protests in Poland when that country signed ACTA, which has led to the Polish government deciding not to ratify the agreement, for now. Latvia and Slovakia have both delayed the process of joining ACTA.

Jim Killock from the Open Rights Group, a UK digital civil liberties campaigning group, said ACTA was “undemocratic”, “lacked scrutiny”, and was “setting up dangerous new pressures to censor the internet”.

The United Kingdom have signed ACTA, along with 21 other EU countries. Germany and the Czech Republic have held out on agreeing to it, awaiting a debate on the matter in the European Parliament in June. Baroness Wilcox, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, claims signing the treaty was important to help bring about “common enforcement standards and more effective international cooperation” in intellectual property law.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Construction workers and next of kin of deceased workers filed a lawsuit in Tokyo, Japan Friday seeking damages of approximately 6.6 billion yen (about US$64 million) from the government and manufacturers related to illnesses stemming from exposure to asbestos. 178 plaintiffs; including construction workers and family members filed the suit in Tokyo District Court against 46 building manufacturers and the Government of Japan.

According to the Mainichi Daily News, the class action suit is the first that has been filed in Japan related to health damages caused by asbestos exposure at construction sites. The plaintiffs hail from the Japanese prefectures of Tokyo, Saitama and Chiba.

The plaintiffs claim that the government and manufacturers knew of the dangers of asbestos inhalation but failed to take proper precautions, including ceasing to promote asbestos as a cheap fire retardant and banning production of the material.

They state that after inhaling asbestos in the workplace, 172 people have developed lung cancer or mesothelioma, and that almost half of those afflicted are now dead. Plaintiffs argue that the government and health ministry did not act quickly enough after international organizations issued warnings in 1972 that asbestos could be a carcinogen.

Plaintiffs also place blame with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for sanctioning the use of asbestos under Japanese Industrial Standards, and with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for approving the use of materials comprised of asbestos and other substances under Japan’s Building Standards Law.

“We will do our utmost until we win the suit,” said Kazuo Miyajima, 78, who heads the group of plaintiffs. Lawyers for the plaintiffs released a statement saying: “We seek complete relief for the victims by clarifying the liability of the state and the manufacturers.”

Approximately 40 construction workers from Kanagawa Prefecture plan to file a similar lawsuit in June in Yokohama District Court.

After a 2005 revelation that residents who lived near a factory in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture developed diseases related to asbestos, the government implemented a law in 2006 which provides monetary assistance to asbestos victims and relatives of deceased family members. The plaintiffs argue that the amount of financial assistance given to families and victims of asbestos-related diseases is not sufficient.

Asbestos has been used in Japan as a fire retardant, for sound absorption, and for insulation. It was mixed in concrete and water and sprayed on walls and ceilings, but the practice of spraying asbestos in this manner was banned in Japan in 1975.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Doug Anderson is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Whitby-Oshawa riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.