Should Edexcel be allowed to drop Music/Music Tech.

I did AQA GCSE and A-level and found it amazing and really good. The syllabus was great. It's all down to what people are interested in and what people regard as being important, and everyone differs.

All Exam boards are evil to an extent, just depends what kind of evil you prefer

They can do what they like. There ARE other exam boards.

So we can't tell an exam board to keep a subject because there are others? But if we can't tell one to keep it, we can't tell others to start it!! Sorry, I know they're private businesses, but they have to understand that they are only in existence because of the service they provide. If they drop Music Tech, what else are they going to drop? Any country which starts losing subjects from a syllabus because it is not a 'profitable operation' should take a serious look at itself.

strange.. i did music tech (on edexcel.. i think)
i always thought it existed sort of to complement A level music, so there would be people around to record the performances, and it's true that it is an expensive subject to run.

part of the problem is that many people doing music tech seem to be lazy and have little inclination to work at coursework completion or revision. i hope this won't come back to haunt me but it seems that parts of the course have been dumbed down to compensate: in AS there is an exam which is the same every year, and in which it is permitted that research be done on the questions beforehand- our teachers went through it with us, we learnt the answers, and got something like full marks. in the A2 paper there are questions which simply involve writing down something you see on a screen.

for me, it was an enjoyable course, but i think it fulfils a function for schools to have people able to use mixing desks etc, rather than something academic, because i found that classes and teachers were not really that committed to any great amount of learning, just getting through the course in some manner or other. a lot of things i didn't know until i came to revision at the end

so it's difficult... A2 music should definitely be offered by all schools, and a music technology department is necessary to helping the music course.. but maybe a greater onus should be on students to actually get them to work, and this might make things easier for markers and examiners (in my class 75% of the coursework had to wait to be marked because people hadn't sent the right stuff exactly)

I prefer the evil where you might drop one grade...not the Edexcel kind of evil where people with grade 8 distinction fail the performance module .

I thought it was a registered charity? If they did withraw it, it may adversely affect potential future careers in the music industry.

Don't mean to sound harsh but a Grade 8 doesn't guarantee a good performance on the day of a recital. I have known excellent performing students who went to pieces in their recital or simply made a poor choice of programme. It is a lot to ask at A level though - a twenty min recital is about the same as the finals performance paper at Oxford!

So we can't tell an exam board to keep a subject because there are others? But if we can't tell one to keep it, we can't tell others to start it!! Sorry, I know they're private businesses, but they have to understand that they are only in existence because of the service they provide. If they drop Music Tech, what else are they going to drop? Any country which starts losing subjects from a syllabus because it is not a 'profitable operation' should take a serious look at itself.

Of course I know that, I'm referring to people who have umpteen qualifications e.g. grade 8 distinction, and perform a perfectly good recital. Of course odd little changes will happen on the day, they always do, but some of Edexcel's marking has definitely being awol, and it's costing people places at uni and I just find that not worth bothering with.

If we force them to run at a loss, they'll make cutbacks in other areas. Why should other subjects suffer?
If it's that important that we keep a subject, the government should subsidise it, as currently happens with bus routes.

Edexcel, as far as I'm aware, are the only profit-making exam board. The question isn't whether they should drop Music, it's whether the government should drop them and finally give this country's education a chance. I reckon the answer's pretty straightforward.

I wholeheartedly agree that the marking can be inconsistent and arbitrary. It needs to be challenged every time. Unfortunatley they also charge for that so people often don't think it's worth it. I've had students whose mark was raised by 18 marks on remark taking them from a B to an A; certainly affects UCAS.

Edexcel as far as I know, require some form of audience to be there and you perform in a sort of concert surrounding.