Is this the end of A Level electronics?
As a result of Michael Gove’s meddling reforms to GCSEs and A Levels in 2014 there is now a strong likelihood that A Level electronics will be discontinued after 2017.
AQA is not planning to develop a new A Level Electronics qualification but is replacing it with the Level 3 Engineering Tech-level. This will be available in three subjects: power network engineering, mechatronic engineering, and design engineering.
OCR does not plan to redevelop or continue the A Level electronics from September 2017 but is replacing it with Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering.
WJEC is awaiting a reply from Ofqual before making a decision.
Edexcel does not offer an A Level in electronics.
What do you think of discontinuing A Level electronics? Is there anybody here who holds, is currently studying, or proposing to study A Level electronics?
Does anybody know more about the Engineering Tech-level and Cambridge Technical in Engineering because they are new courses? Will schools and colleges that currently offer A Level electronics be able to migrate to the Engineering Tech-level or Cambridge Technical in Engineering with the minimal amount of cost and upheaval, or will most of them end up closing their electronics departments when A Level electronics is finally discontinued with many electronics teachers potentially losing their job?
AQA is not planning to develop a new A Level Electronics qualification but is replacing it with the Level 3 Engineering Tech-level. This will be available in three subjects: power network engineering, mechatronic engineering, and design engineering.
OCR does not plan to redevelop or continue the A Level electronics from September 2017 but is replacing it with Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering.
WJEC is awaiting a reply from Ofqual before making a decision.
Edexcel does not offer an A Level in electronics.
What do you think of discontinuing A Level electronics? Is there anybody here who holds, is currently studying, or proposing to study A Level electronics?
Does anybody know more about the Engineering Tech-level and Cambridge Technical in Engineering because they are new courses? Will schools and colleges that currently offer A Level electronics be able to migrate to the Engineering Tech-level or Cambridge Technical in Engineering with the minimal amount of cost and upheaval, or will most of them end up closing their electronics departments when A Level electronics is finally discontinued with many electronics teachers potentially losing their job?
Original post by Exceptional
Dos anybody even do it anyway?
It is not a particularly popular subject. There were only 1165 awards made in 2012 but the figures are higher for the AS level. Despite the low numbers there was no mention of any proposals to discontinue A Level electronics in the Completing GCSE, AS and A Level Reform consultation published in June 2014. A Level electronics is in the list of subjects to be considered for reform for first teaching from 2017.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcses-as-and-a-levels-new-subjects-to-be-taught-in-2015
It therefore appears as if two of the exam boards have made their own decision to discontinue A Level electronics.
I am a holder of an A Level in electronics at A grade - and proud of it.
My son is currently doing A2 Electronics (OCR) - the textbook is unavailable (out of print) and OCR have kindly provided an e-book which is missing all the necessary formulae; he's very disillusioned, having emailed OCR to complain and received an extremely corporate response. Amazon have a used copy of the AS textbook which they are offering for over £1000 and I can't find anything anywhere to help him. Hope you are all more fortunate...
The official textbook by Michael Brimicombe is out of print and extremely difficult to obtain. My college never made any use of it. Instead course notes and a selection of readily available electronics textbooks were used.
My advice is to go to the OCR website and download the course specification and the past papers as they include all the necessary formulae.
My advice is to go to the OCR website and download the course specification and the past papers as they include all the necessary formulae.
The problem with my son's college course was that they did not appear to have dedicated Electronics teachers - rather teachers of other subjects (Physics I think) were given the spec and asked to deliver it - I think this makes it much harder to provide detailed course notes and other help with accessing the necessary information, as the teachers themselves did not have the required level of knowledge. I suspect that as the A level was a relatively recent addition to the list on offer, many training centres were not offering the subject - a case of chicken and egg?
I had an absolutely fantastic electronics teacher who was previously an electronic engineer so he knew tons about the practical and real world sides of the subject. A Level electronics has existed since the early 1980s (anybody know exactly when it started?) and it consisted of two exam papers back then that were more theoretical and mathematical than those from more recent times. Your son's college might have only recently started offering the subject which is why it doesn't have dedicated teachers. Certain topics at A2 - particularly microcontrollers and assembly programming - could be unfamiliar to most traditionally educated physics teachers.
Original post by Arran90
As a result of Michael Gove’s meddling reforms to GCSEs and A Levels in 2014 there is now a strong likelihood that A Level electronics will be discontinued after 2017.
AQA is not planning to develop a new A Level Electronics qualification but is replacing it with the Level 3 Engineering Tech-level. This will be available in three subjects: power network engineering, mechatronic engineering, and design engineering.
OCR does not plan to redevelop or continue the A Level electronics from September 2017 but is replacing it with Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering.
WJEC is awaiting a reply from Ofqual before making a decision.
Edexcel does not offer an A Level in electronics.
What do you think of discontinuing A Level electronics? Is there anybody here who holds, is currently studying, or proposing to study A Level electronics?
Does anybody know more about the Engineering Tech-level and Cambridge Technical in Engineering because they are new courses? Will schools and colleges that currently offer A Level electronics be able to migrate to the Engineering Tech-level or Cambridge Technical in Engineering with the minimal amount of cost and upheaval, or will most of them end up closing their electronics departments when A Level electronics is finally discontinued with many electronics teachers potentially losing their job?
AQA is not planning to develop a new A Level Electronics qualification but is replacing it with the Level 3 Engineering Tech-level. This will be available in three subjects: power network engineering, mechatronic engineering, and design engineering.
OCR does not plan to redevelop or continue the A Level electronics from September 2017 but is replacing it with Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering.
WJEC is awaiting a reply from Ofqual before making a decision.
Edexcel does not offer an A Level in electronics.
What do you think of discontinuing A Level electronics? Is there anybody here who holds, is currently studying, or proposing to study A Level electronics?
Does anybody know more about the Engineering Tech-level and Cambridge Technical in Engineering because they are new courses? Will schools and colleges that currently offer A Level electronics be able to migrate to the Engineering Tech-level or Cambridge Technical in Engineering with the minimal amount of cost and upheaval, or will most of them end up closing their electronics departments when A Level electronics is finally discontinued with many electronics teachers potentially losing their job?
Government is continuing with electronics. In fact the draft document of new electronics 2017 for AS and A level is out.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/further-gcse-and-a-level-content-for-teaching-from-september-2017
Electronics will continue to be provided at AS and A Level by the WJEC examining board
http://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/electronics/electronics-gce-a-as/
A reformed course is in the process of being developed following a recent consultation. A draft spec of the reformed course points in a direction that it will be more circuit level oriented and certain systems levels topics will be removed from the syllabus. It will also include topics on semiconductor physics. The plans are that the reformed course will be slightly more mathematically rigorous than the existing courses but only time will tell.
Electronics is not a popular subject at AS and A Level, and doesn't even have its own subject subforum on TSR when politics and religious studies does, but is it an overlooked and underrated subject by employers and higher education; or is it not a sensible or appropriate subject for an A Level but ideal for some other course; or is there not much place for the subject below degree level?
Despite the recent obsession with trying to get more students to study STEM subjects not many people seem to care about A Level electronics, and geology.
http://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/electronics/electronics-gce-a-as/
A reformed course is in the process of being developed following a recent consultation. A draft spec of the reformed course points in a direction that it will be more circuit level oriented and certain systems levels topics will be removed from the syllabus. It will also include topics on semiconductor physics. The plans are that the reformed course will be slightly more mathematically rigorous than the existing courses but only time will tell.
Electronics is not a popular subject at AS and A Level, and doesn't even have its own subject subforum on TSR when politics and religious studies does, but is it an overlooked and underrated subject by employers and higher education; or is it not a sensible or appropriate subject for an A Level but ideal for some other course; or is there not much place for the subject below degree level?
Despite the recent obsession with trying to get more students to study STEM subjects not many people seem to care about A Level electronics, and geology.
Original post by Arran90
As a result of Michael Gove’s meddling reforms to GCSEs and A Levels in 2014 there is now a strong likelihood that A Level electronics will be discontinued after 2017.
AQA is not planning to develop a new A Level Electronics qualification but is replacing it with the Level 3 Engineering Tech-level. This will be available in three subjects: power network engineering, mechatronic engineering, and design engineering.
OCR does not plan to redevelop or continue the A Level electronics from September 2017 but is replacing it with Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering.
WJEC is awaiting a reply from Ofqual before making a decision.
Edexcel does not offer an A Level in electronics.
What do you think of discontinuing A Level electronics? Is there anybody here who holds, is currently studying, or proposing to study A Level electronics?
Does anybody know more about the Engineering Tech-level and Cambridge Technical in Engineering because they are new courses? Will schools and colleges that currently offer A Level electronics be able to migrate to the Engineering Tech-level or Cambridge Technical in Engineering with the minimal amount of cost and upheaval, or will most of them end up closing their electronics departments when A Level electronics is finally discontinued with many electronics teachers potentially losing their job?
AQA is not planning to develop a new A Level Electronics qualification but is replacing it with the Level 3 Engineering Tech-level. This will be available in three subjects: power network engineering, mechatronic engineering, and design engineering.
OCR does not plan to redevelop or continue the A Level electronics from September 2017 but is replacing it with Level 3 Cambridge Technical in Engineering.
WJEC is awaiting a reply from Ofqual before making a decision.
Edexcel does not offer an A Level in electronics.
What do you think of discontinuing A Level electronics? Is there anybody here who holds, is currently studying, or proposing to study A Level electronics?
Does anybody know more about the Engineering Tech-level and Cambridge Technical in Engineering because they are new courses? Will schools and colleges that currently offer A Level electronics be able to migrate to the Engineering Tech-level or Cambridge Technical in Engineering with the minimal amount of cost and upheaval, or will most of them end up closing their electronics departments when A Level electronics is finally discontinued with many electronics teachers potentially losing their job?
I'm personally more annoyed that Japanese is being ended in 2017 as well. But it's a terrible shame that so many subjects are being stopped.
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Original post by Edminzodo
I'm personally more annoyed that Japanese is being ended in 2017 as well. But it's a terrible shame that so many subjects are being stopped.
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Posted from TSR Mobile
I'm doing electronics so I can do robotics in University to help me get a job in Japan, this is pretty annoying
Original post by Edminzodo
I'm personally more annoyed that Japanese is being ended in 2017 as well. But it's a terrible shame that so many subjects are being stopped.
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Oh, please tell me you're joking. This is ridiculous - suddenly, I'm really glad that I was born in '99 instead of 2000.
Original post by Azizul
I'm doing electronics so I can do robotics in University to help me get a job in Japan, this is pretty annoying
Original post by roarchika
Oh, please tell me you're joking. This is ridiculous - suddenly, I'm really glad that I was born in '99 instead of 2000.
Sadly, I'm not joking. There was even a petition to the government that got a couple thousand signatures, but not enough to be noticed, I suppose. It's such a shame, I'm very sad about it.
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Original post by Arran90
It is not a particularly popular subject. There were only 1165 awards made in 2012 but the figures are higher for the AS level. Despite the low numbers there was no mention of any proposals to discontinue A Level electronics in the Completing GCSE, AS and A Level Reform consultation published in June 2014. A Level electronics is in the list of subjects to be considered for reform for first teaching from 2017.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcses-as-and-a-levels-new-subjects-to-be-taught-in-2015
It therefore appears as if two of the exam boards have made their own decision to discontinue A Level electronics.
I am a holder of an A Level in electronics at A grade - and proud of it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcses-as-and-a-levels-new-subjects-to-be-taught-in-2015
It therefore appears as if two of the exam boards have made their own decision to discontinue A Level electronics.
I am a holder of an A Level in electronics at A grade - and proud of it.
what did you get in a-level electronics?
Original post by Edminzodo
Sadly, I'm not joking. There was even a petition to the government that got a couple thousand signatures, but not enough to be noticed, I suppose. It's such a shame, I'm very sad about it.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
(swears loudly)
How exactly is taking away qualifications relating to some of the most important economies in the world supposed to assist our generation in dealing with an increasingly multi-cultural society?!
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