[Harry!]

Reality television contestant Jade Goody will be featured in a new GCSE media studies course.


The 26-year-old is best known for her ignorance and being accused of racially bullying Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother.

Her inclusion in the OCR board's exam syllabus has renewed concern at the "dumbing down" of education.

Critics yesterday claimed that Miss Goody - who called East Anglia "East Angular" and thought it was abroad - is an unsuitable subject for study and a poor role model for teenagers.

She became a household name after starring in Big Brother in 2002 but was renowned for her dim-witted comments.

Miss Goody also thought Saddam Hussein was a boxer and declared that Birmingham was by the sea.

But, despite this, she has raked in an estimated £3million and released an autobiography and perfume in 2006.

Her career went into meltdown in January 2007 when she made disparaging remarks about Miss Shetty and referred to her as "Shilpa Poppadom" in the Big Brother show.

For the media portfolio unit of the GCSE run by the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA board, pupils will analyse different media and complete a production project.

The unit will be internally assessed and worth 30 per cent of the total marks.

From next year, students will choose at least two forms of media from a choice of ten, including documentaries, film genres, popular music and celebrity.

Under celebrity, students have to "compare how the BBC News and a newspaper of your choice represents celebrities".

The recommended task is "Jade Goody during the Big Brother race row".

Yesterday, Ofsted's former chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, said: "Media studies has always been a nonsense - now it has degenerated into a farce.

"Students ought to be exposed to interesting and worthwhile figures and issues - Jade Goody fits into neither category."

Other sections of the course ask pupils to analyse action films such as The Mummy, James Bond and Indiana Jones.

They can also compare how men and women are represented in romantic comedies including Bridget Jones's Diary and Sleepless in Seattle.

A spokesman for OCR defended featuring Miss Goody in the course.

He said: "Her treatment in the media is a good example for students to study because of the scale of the race row and the distinct approaches taken by the media in their style of coverage.

"Alternatively, teachers can select their own example for their students to study."

OCR has already prompted debate by allowing pupils 25 per cent of their marks in a new geography GCSE by drawing cartoons and writing poetry.

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[Conor]

Oh, media studies. Thats one of my GCSE's for next year, should pass this part