A quantitative exploration of student attitudes to free learning and of grades achieved

This chapter reports on two datasets. The first is a short questionnaire administered to International College Hong Kong Secondary Media Studies students in Year 10 and 11, regarding their public General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations, where students’ attitudes to Free Learning were probed. The second dataset comprised grade achievement comparisons between the 2019 Free Learning GCSE cohort and a previous cohort who had been prepared for the public examination via a standard teaching mode. While the sample was small, students responded positively to Free Learning as a teaching methodology and as preparation for a high-stakes examination. Regarding grade comparisons, grades achieved by the Free Learning cohort were very comparable with grades obtained by previous non- Free Learning cohorts. It would appear that even when it leads to public examinations, with the requirement to complete a set syllabus, Free Learning is a viable methodology. Copyright © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Ross Parker, David Coniam and Peter Falvey; individual chapters, the contributors.