Disappointment with high school
Oct. 20th, 2018 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcLast summer I mentioned the Scottish Baccalaureate, a scheme I first discovered by reading Perth High School's handbook. It had seemed a good choice for Benjamin as he is already nearly fulfilling the requirements for the Scottish Baccalaureate in Science and it would afford valuable insurance as an alternative means of satisfying course entry requirements for higher education. The missing component is the Interdisciplinary Project for which he could do something interesting from home.
Benjamin's school would still need to put some time in because some approved center must assess his work. We were naive to imagine that they might be helpful and supportive. He started asking back in Summer Term but, especially with examinations and whatnot, teachers were generally hard to track down. Still, he managed a couple of conversations and provided some information. Our main question back then had been more one of the acceptability of his getting started on his proposed project over the summer vacation.
Over the the past Autumn Term the question became more of a farce. Benjamin's guidance teacher kept sending him to the various subject teachers. None of the teachers know anything about the Scottish Baccalaureate except for rumors that somebody once did one. One after another they read and thought about it then said
By now it is indeed likely that we are out of time: by Spring Term Benjamin will be shifting any spare effort over into revision. I regret that he had to keep trying to find and ask teachers over so many weeks, ultimately fruitlessly. There was a clear lack of anybody taking responsibility for his school's side of allowing a student to gain a qualification that their own handbook mentions. Aside from the school not being able to find time to assess the work he could have done, the question should have been discussed by some group of teachers and decided promptly: then we may have had time to arrange registration through an alternative center.
Update: I should now note that the school have at least telephoned to apologize.
Benjamin's school would still need to put some time in because some approved center must assess his work. We were naive to imagine that they might be helpful and supportive. He started asking back in Summer Term but, especially with examinations and whatnot, teachers were generally hard to track down. Still, he managed a couple of conversations and provided some information. Our main question back then had been more one of the acceptability of his getting started on his proposed project over the summer vacation.
Over the the past Autumn Term the question became more of a farce. Benjamin's guidance teacher kept sending him to the various subject teachers. None of the teachers know anything about the Scottish Baccalaureate except for rumors that somebody once did one. One after another they read and thought about it then said
noor suggested asking somebody else. By the end of term the excuse was becoming more that there is not enough time.
By now it is indeed likely that we are out of time: by Spring Term Benjamin will be shifting any spare effort over into revision. I regret that he had to keep trying to find and ask teachers over so many weeks, ultimately fruitlessly. There was a clear lack of anybody taking responsibility for his school's side of allowing a student to gain a qualification that their own handbook mentions. Aside from the school not being able to find time to assess the work he could have done, the question should have been discussed by some group of teachers and decided promptly: then we may have had time to arrange registration through an alternative center.
Update: I should now note that the school have at least telephoned to apologize.
