Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
An expat wife settling down in Bahrain
Tears, tantrums and tension! Exam season is upon us and there’s no escaping it, even here in sunny Bahrain.
As an expat parent I have had to acquaint myself through the years with a plethora of educational terminologies that I still find mind-boggling.
I discovered IB is an acronym for International Baccalaureate and not to be confused with Irritable Bowel Syndrome! Although I suspect you may suffer from the latter by the time your child completes the IB diploma that includes the dreaded extended essay.
GCSE is a General Certificate of Secondary Education (British) and these, believe it or not, are a complete mystery to a Scot. I was even more flummoxed when asked during a school interview for my eldest son if he was studying for GCSEs or IGCSEs? Up until that point I had no idea there was a difference.
SATs are Standard Assessment Tests given at the end of Year 2, Year 6 and Year 9. Some secondary schools base their Year 7 sets on children’s Year 6 scores. This can expose the crazy competitive parents that are to be found in every school.
Thankfully, the end-of-year exams are pretty self-explanatory and don’t even require an acronym.
It’s a first for us this year in our household where all three of our children are preparing for or sitting exams. Having chosen to leave the UK in search of a better education for them, I can’t help but wonder if we did the right thing?
Time will tell.
