A Level/BTEC Diploma

[tikka]

Hi
As I understand it from what I've read about DSs Acting BTEC course (I'm sure the experts on here will correct my mistakes) you get marks for each piece of work, including performance, rehearsals etc which are added up. At the end you are given anything from D*D*D* down to PPP or anywhere in between eg DMM, depending on the no of marks you gather over the 2 years. Apparently sometimes you are allowed/encouraged to redo a bit of work to improve the grades. There are 18 units in an Extended BTEC done usually over 2 years.

Its explained in this document, you may have to go through it a while to find the bit that applies to your ds.

http://www.edexcel.com/migrationdocumen ... g_Arts.pdf

Hope that helps and I haven't got it too wrong :-)

tikka

[paulears]

You're encouraged to redo work to improve grades - this is one of the fundamental differences between the grading of BTEC and GCSE/A Levels. Some units may have one area where Pass is for doing a detailed thing with guidance, Merit could be when only a little guidance is needed, and then the Distinction for totally unaided work. First time through, most people will need guidance - because they're inexperienced - then as confidence builds their performance grows, and they know what to do - so when they do it again, they get better grades. This system allows skills to be 'banked'. A good example would be perhaps in Ballet - those who are already skilled through their outside dance classes may get to meet the Distinction criteria really quickly - so if they reach D in the first month, great! There are usually some weaker areas, and they can forget the area they've showed top grade work at, and concentrate on the weaker ones.

The thing to remember is that not all teachers will understand this repeatability feature - and they try to do everything just once, and then give a grade. This is not good. Colleges are better at it, and often try things out in the early months, then design the end of the course to make sure everyone has the best chance.

The bad bit is that you need to be good at ALL the unit criteria, because the weakest grade for the individual units can bring down the good ones. If there are 4 separate criteria for a unit, then getting to the top grade for 3 of them doesn't count - the weakest one does! This is a tough rule - designed to make sure people are good across the entire area the unit covers, not just their favourite/easier bits. So the good teachers find out these weak areas as soon as they can and build extra work on these dodgy bits. Frequently the weak areas are those that the kids think of as the boring bits. Often things like evaluation, analysis, business and worst of all - maths! They do excellent shows, brilliant choreography but mess up the bit on the profit!

There's no equivalent to this in GCSE and A Level - where you can afford to be weak in one area if your others are strong as the results are always worked out numerically. The D*D*D* end results are worked out by maths over all the units they do - but lots of people forget they come from lots and lots of criteria, and in a single assignment for one single unit with 4 criteria DDDP is not good - the P is important. There is actually a fail grade - but it's never spoken about as a fail, it's normally NYP Not yet Passed! This is because, with the willingness of the teacher to assess work, somebody could hand in all the missing or improved work at the last minute and get very good grades. Teachers hate this, so often use a school or college rule so they don't have to look at it - but that's not a BTEC rule. When and how the work is completed doesn't really matter - as long as it's within the rules.

BTEC isn't perfect, but it's so much more like real work than the other qualifications, and that's why it's popular. If you look at the schools and colleges who are doing the specially released schools versions of We Will Rock You and Les Mis - and recently Boogie Nights, you can see why the kids love these courses - because they do complete shows, not just 20 min segments full of angst. The benefit from doing a full scale musical with full costume and a band sets them up for work so much better.

P

[showtunes]

Thankyou so much for all that info,tikka,i have looked at the link and it is exactly the info i was looking for. Paulears,thanks for explaining how it all works for me. You guys are great!

[tikka]

Hi Paulears
On the likn I posted the criteria are referred to, but not listed. I think they come on the CD (which you obviously don't have if you go on line.

Is there any way I could get a copy of the criteria for the Acting units?
cheers
Tikka

[Nicola]

From looking at our local colleges with regard to the BTEC, they don't seem to offering the "acting" strand - anyone know how I can find out what my closest college is that offers it?

[tikka]

I think if you go to the EDEXCEL exam board website you can email them for a list of BTEC centres.

[Nicola]

Thanks Tikka - I've done just that and am waiting to see how they reply...

[islandofsodor]

I wouldn't recommend one of the colleges Nicola and the other the course is run in conjunction with a large local dance school. You could try South Cheshire someone I know did a drama course there so I will see if I can find out any more.

There is an excellent course in Manchester.

[Nicola]

Well having looked at what's on offer around here, I think maybe you're right about looking further afield - I suppose Manchester's not out of the realms of possibility - which college were you thinking of specifically IOS?

It's definitely the acting strand she's interested in so I'm looking for somewhere reputable that does that one if anyone has any experience?

[islandofsodor]

http://www.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/c ... cation=All

[Nicola]

IOS - do you know much about this college? I haven't yet looked where it is exactly, but is it a do-able journey from us on a daily basis? As you know, she won't be applying for a couple of years, so who knows - by then the Salford Brit school may be open!!

[paulears]

OFSTED did them a while back - some comments from the report - Performing Arts got a Grade 3, which is 'satisfactory' - which in education terms could be better.

At advanced level there are significant variations in learners’ progress; those on visual arts and drama progress well while those on dance, media and music technology courses do not achieve the grades they should based on their attainment on entry.

Reading between the lines, it sounds a very typical mixed ability college. The report details some data on the type of students they have, and also mentions that they previously had retention problems - which are now better.

Based on this - I'd recommend a visit would be essential. From my regular visits to colleges (although I haven't been to this one) I can pit many of the OFSTED comments into a pretty good guess what I'd find, but I can't make any comments without going there. The report interested me because performing arts and dance were in one section split because comments differed - usually they tend to be very similar?

[Nicola]

Well Paul, you really seem to know your stuff when it comes to this - if you had a child going into a drama strand BTEC (though not for another 2 years, so to a certain extent this is still hypothetical at the moment!) which college in the Midlands / North West stands out, if distance wasn't a factor?

Strangely enough, it seems to be the "drama strand" part of this that's causing the problem, as most colleges don't offer it - I wonder why that is?

That said, maybe it's just as well that I'm looking into it already - it seems it's not going to be quite as straightforward as I'd thought!

[islandofsodor]

Its an amalgamation of the old City College and another one. City College has always had an excellent reputation for the performing arts and I know several who have studied there and gone onto drama school. Dh was invited by an ex student of his who was studying musical theatre to one of their showcases - he was very impressed. He was not impressed when visiting the showcase at S-o-T.

The Shena Simon Campus is in Manchester city centre and is also home to The Arden School of theatre - they offer vocatioal training at degree/HND level. The students I know commuted from the Cheshire area - it is doable but you would need to be awaare of hours with regards to rehearsals etc.

The student whose showcase dh went to see went onto Italia Conti.

The course is also offered on two other campuses (Manchester 6th Form and Wythenshawe) and I wonder if standards at those campuses ar more variable. Certainly I know that you used to have to pass a rigorous audition to get onto the course.

There have been cutbacks recently and dh has had feedback that for example on the degree MT courses they don't offer enough vocal tuition but to be honest that is happening elsewhere too.

[islandofsodor]

Birmingham Brit School is open by the way. Dh teaches in a secondary school in Birmigham one day a week and they have lost several students to there.