Luke\’s RMPS Blog

Students from the Intermediate 2 class appeared to have enjoyed their experience at Edinburgh University yesterday. Two of them even expressed an interest in furthering their study of Religion and Philosophy. A point that I often find discouraging with the Intermediate 2 class is their lack of faith in themselves. They appear to have an inbuilt mechanism that constantly tells them ‘they can’t achieve.’ Such an attitude was displayed when they spoke about going to university… ‘But we’ll never go there.’ ‘Why?’ I Ask – ‘Because we’re thick.’ Its hard pinpointing where, exactly, this belief has come from, but I’m trying my hardest to change it. I’m wondering whether any other teachers of Int2 pupils have the same problem. If so, please share your comments.
The Standard Graders appeared more willing to revise today. However, it is proving hard to decipher what topics they are familiar with. The problem, I believe, with the Standard Grade course is its layout. Pupils are examined on material that they have learnt up to one and a half years previously. Even for an honours level student it would be a challenge to retain that amount of information. I am a firm believer that the Intermediate examination system is better suited to learners’ individual needs. Regular NABS ensure pupils are examined whilst information is still relatively fresh in the pupils mind. Additionally, a NAB ensures pupils who are struggling with any aspect of a course can receive additional support they may need in order to raise their attainment. When a pupil is being examined near the end of a course, it is heard to rectify any problem areas that might appear. What do you think?
Finally, on a lighter note, I was asked to be a food taster and critic for pupils entering the Future Chef competition. Although, initially, I was slightly apprehensive I must say I was blown away by the quality and presentation of the food. The Home Economics Department at Knox Academy should be commended for the hard work they put into preparing pupils for the competition (don’t read that the wrong way).

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.