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Ben, my Dad refused to go to High Pavement in, I suppose, 1932.  Same reason as yours, he was passionate about football and knew he’d have to play rugby at HP.  His parents didn’t intervene and he wen

Reckon we right carnie..............after all it was'nt too long after Margie was clinging on to me on back of me scooter

Good guess, Jill, but the other two are correct...   how DO they do it!    I wonder what did become of that scooter, Ben....  probably fell into ruin (like the rest of us)

dont know when they started but 1964 some of the girls at our school took them but not many as it was only the top group plus a selected few at our school but i know the grammar school down the rd took o levels.

as for me i did not get any.. did not get any formal qualifications until i was over 40 years old, and the first was a city and guilds in care.

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The GCE was originally introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1951, replacing the older School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC). It was intended to cater for the increased range of subjects available to pupils since the raising of the school leaving age from 14 to 15 in 1947. The examinations were graded into ordinary levels for the top 25% academically of 16-year-olds and CSE for the lower level. A Levels were the subsequent examination for those who studied for a further two years after O-Levels or CSE's. There was also an advanced ordinary level (AO-level), which was at a higher standard than O-Levels but designed for more mature candidates. These were often in addition to O-Levels in subjects that the student was particularly adept at. A higher special paper (Special Paper S-level) was available to A-Level candidates who showed particular prowess in a subject, scoring a distinction in this paper meant that the candidate was in the top 0.1% of the year group. In 1988, GCE O-Levels were phased out in state schools in favour of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). GCE A-Levels were retained.

Grades were originally numbers 1 to 9, with 1 to 6 considered pass grades. However, later, letters were brought in, similar to those adopted later for GCSEs.

GCE O-Level is still available and is an alternative to the GCSE exam which was introduced in the late 1980's to replace the CSE (certificate of secondary education).

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My youngest son never achieved anything at school as he was always bored stiff with it. After he'd left school he went on to get his Law degree with honours and Management and Business degree. My eldest son achieved nothing at school and went on to be a qualified joiner and my daughter, who had a couple of 'A'levels is now a Senior Manager in education. It just shows that parents shouldn't look on their children as 'failure's' because they don't do so well at school.

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unfortunately many parents and employers set there store on qualifications today when piggy was made redundant in the early 1990s he was looking in the job section of evening post and found an advert for a saturday girl on vic centre market it said must have minimum of three o levals, in my day as long as you were clean smatly dressed and could commuicate well with the public and have good basic maths you could get a job at any shop or stall in nottingham .

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One of the reasons the old NCB brought in practical tests each year and a final practical test at the end of apprenticeships was because many lads reached the academic status required, but when thrown onto a coalface turned out to be more than useless when faced with a breakdown.

Most folks won't realize this, but the electrical equipment used in underground mining is pretty sophisticated, not like the "electric shovels and picks" of days gone by.

I've come across several "academics" one being a university graduate, got his degree with the NCB, was about as useful as a bucket with no bottom in it, trying to tell me my job.......I ran rings around him, he stayed well clear of me after being made to look a fool several times, which wasn't that hard either... He was employed as a Junior Elec engineer with the company I worked for in North Yorks at the time.

The only academic qualifications I obtained were the colliery electrician, from the NCB's Engineering Craft Apprenticeship scheme, not that they did me a lot of good. My expertise came from many years working in my trade.

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So what did the City & Guilds stand for. was it egual to anything.

All i got in school was OWW levels

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City and Guilds of London Institute 200px-CityAndGuilds-logo.png Established 1878 Location London, 22px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png UK Website cityandguilds.com

The City and Guilds of London Institute (City & Guilds) is a leading United Kingdom vocational education organisation. City & Guilds offers more than 500 qualifications over the whole range of industry sectors through 8500 colleges and training providers in 81 countries worldwide. Two million people every year start City & Guilds qualifications, which span all levels from basic skills to the highest standards of professional achievement (Honours, Master and Doctorate levels equivalent).

Coutesy of Wikipedia

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I think the old eleven-plus exam was the one that determined what kind of education kids got back in the fifties, part of the tripartite system that decided weather you went to grammar, secondary or technical school. Often thought to be class biased this led on to the comprehensive system but the kids were still streamed depending on their exam results. I am very happy with the edcation I received and it was left up to me weather or not I stayed on to get better qualified, I did not! but later on regretted that decision when I had to get into technical college.

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C&G didn't cover mining DG, we had craft electrical and craft mechanical administered by the EMEU.. Not sure if elecs and mechs prior to my years had C&G, but I doubt it as the MQB, (Mines Qualifications Board) set the education and examination standards in the coal mining industry. ie outside elecs, even though they had C&G couldn't be authorized to work unsupervised in the coal mining industry. They usually worked with an electrician as a Reg 11 man until they had gained enough practical experience, then were sent to the MQB for an oral examination, if they passed, they would be authorized as "Craftsmen" elecs of fitters, they wouldn't be allowed to have apprentices under them, and couldn't work on 3.3Kv or higher voltage equipment unsupervised.

Nothing stopping them going back to Tech, the NCB back in the 60's would bend over backwards to let them.

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I'm pretty much in the same camp as you Ayup.

Going back a little farther than the electrical trade. I never liked school. (Probably many kids don't) but I never really applied myself. I wish now that I had realized the importance of doing well then. Always felt that the 11/13 plus was an unfair test in that it decided a kid's direction at such a relatively young age. Needless to say I didn't pass either and remained in secondary modern school until leaving at fifteen in 1959. Couldn't get out too soon as far as I was concerned. I was fortunate in finding an apprenticeship with an electrical contractor that really believed in exposing his apprentices to as many angles of the trade as he could. This gave pretty good alround experience. Went to tech school (peoples College) but did not go on to C&G. My own fault!

After moving to Canada I was really forced to apply myself as you need to pass exams to get an electrician's license before you can even work in the trade. Went back to nightschool and did well. I had to, my livelyhood and family depended on it now. After 5 years as a journeyman, went back to school and studied for a masters in electrical. this enabled me to run my own business, which I did and never looked back.

Subsequently went back to school and earned a bachelors in theology.

My biggest weakness was not a lack of ability, but a lack of understanding the importance of a decent education.

I really said all that to say this. The biggest favor schools could do the kids that attend is to try to get them to see that schooling is not just an interruption to play. How one does in that ten to fifteen years will determine the rest of ones life.

Biggest complaint I had with my Sec mod school in looking back is that teachers seemed to try to keep discipline by frequent physical punishment which would probably be classed as assault today, and sarcasm which made one reluctant to ask questions for fear of the putdown that might follow. With one or two exceptions very few of the teachers made learning interesting. Mostly it seemed to be an attitude of "I'm paid to drill something into you brat's skulls. Now just get on with it and shut up!" Wish I'd been able to tell them that but most are probably dead now.

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Very well put Loppylugs, I had the 'benefit' of passing my 11+, & went on to Grammar School (Becket, West Bridgford) my mam & dad were very proud of me but unfortunately it soon became obvious that the 11+ had been a 'flash in the pan' result.

I spent the next 5 years doing just enough to avoid beatings from the teachers, but also developed a sense of 'clowning' that meant I was entertaining the other pupils but going nowhere myself, only realised this when it was too late

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I hated grammar school because I loathed the discipline , lack of diversity and creativity....but it did give me the chance to go to university ..... There I could be myself. express my opinions and follow my ambitions....

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I was lucky, in that my trade credentials were recognized by Australia, I was a leading hand electrician for a few years in charge of the nightshift elec staff, I enjoyed it and had a good set of lads working for me, I rarely had to discipline any of them, docked one bloke for leaving early without asking, after that no problems..

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I'm just a pleb with four CSEs!

Never held me back tho :)

Only been out of work for six weeks in working life from 1968-2011.

I agree with John, about overqualified people with no real practical skills.

I was once told by an unemployed University qualified ex student.

"I'm an expert in your job"

"Are you?,.. well i've been doing it twenty five years and I'm still training"

I've always hated smart arses.

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Bang on the nail Mick, see my earlier post # 12, I've made up for my lack of 'elevated acadfemia' by working hard, listening to people that took the time/trouble to teach me practical skills & respecting anyone who got there on merit of what they could do, not what they knew.

Knowledge has no value unless it's imparted..............................

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Paulus.

I see we went to different schools together :)

We could have been mates.

Yes Academia is the blight of all industries and public services today.

Particularly BANKING

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I was laughed at by the teacher Mr Wragg (who used to cane or strap me almost every day) when i told him i was going to learn a trade.

He was the one that presented me with my award when i passed the C&G with credit.

When i asked for my 5 shilling per week raise at work i got my pink slip.

I know that if i had gone to school here it would have been very different

I enrolled in computer classes when i was 55 just to try it out ,I ended up passing with a 4.0 grade point average along with a 15yr old kid that was already working for microsoft but needed his sustificut . Thats pretty much top grade .We were the only 2 that got that far out of about 30 people.

I was offered a job computer imaging but didnt really like staring at a computer screen all day

Ps I didnt get Caned once

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I'm pretty much out of touch with schools today so I don't know how kids are induced to learn. I know that as I got older I began to realize that learning did not end at fifteen but was lifelong and could be fun. Presently taking organ lessons. My teacher is a great guy, well qualified and not sarcastic when you make noise somewhat like a cross between a steam engine and an angry elephant. He knows how to make learning fun and a challenge at the same time. I want to keep on learning 'till the day I croak. Helps to keep the old brain from rusting to a stop too, I think.

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Lifes an ever ending learning curve, any kid that can read and write and say he/she is bored has myopia big time. I'm a licensed ham, I learned electronic (RF) theory, back engineered an HF amplifier, not too hard! Learned computers with no help from anyone else, got into web page construction, I can de bug html problems with relative ease..

So much to do, and so Little time left now.....

Pity we weren't like this 40 years back!!

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i always say i learnt much more from life than from school as a lot of you know i am dyslexic and have always strugled with writing and spelling and to a certain extent reading , so school to me was one hard slog ,but practical things if i was interested came easyly ,as a result many teachers treated me like i was am idiot. but despite my lack of good accademic abbillities i have always got any job i have gone for even in later life and made a good job of it .

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Good for you Babs.

There was little understanding in those days.

I remember my teacher in Hampshire pulling me up over pronunciation after I moved down from Birmingham!

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After a fairly happy early school life I detested the senior school I went to. I hated the way we were treated, spent most of my time trying to escape from it and ended up up leaving pretty well empty-handed.

I ended up with a BA (Hons) in Psychology and Educational Development and a Masters Degree in Psychology (not to mention a City and Guilds in Printing).

I'm glad I was able to prove them wrong.

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