A Level Results

[Guest LB]

School Standards Minister David Miliband today congratulated students and teachers on results in this year's AS and A level exams.

"Today is an important day for many pupils and they should be proud of their efforts," he said. "Their achievements are a tribute to their hard work and that of their teachers."

This year's results show:

the overall A level pass rate rose to 95.4 per cent from 94.3 per cent last year;

A grades at A level increased by 0.9 per cent to 21.6 per cent;

there were more than 1m AS entries this year, an increase of 3.6 per cent on last year's entries; and

entries for the single award Vocational Advanced Examination (VCE) increased by more than 20 per cent.

The Minister said he was encouraged by reports by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, by representatives in the public and private sectors and from Mike Tomlinson, who is leading an inquiry into A levels, that the grading process this year has been fair to all concerned.

"Today is the day for celebration and congratulation. I hope that people around the country will join parents in praising the achievements of young people," he said.

This is the second full year of A level results and the third year of AS results since the introduction of the Curriculum 2000 reforms. The continued increase in entries for AS and A level demonstrates that they have become well-established among students.

[Guest LB]

anyone who has been watching the programme on channel 4 that has put a group of top students into a 1950s school will realise just how much standards really HAVE dropped in recent times.....

The students were given a maths test (all students are predicted to recieve straight A's in forthcoming exams and are 16 or 17 years old) and less than half achieved 50%, after the results were given out it was revealed that the test was an 11+.....

So the government claims great triumph in achieving standards that would not have even been close to acceptable 40 years ago...well done to all concerned.....

this post is not meant to belittle the achievements of the latest a level students but to point out the real terms falling in standards!!

[Redhat]

As a student myself I can say why 'standards are slipping'.

They haven't slipped for me, but they have for others in school. This suggests, and I would definately go for this idea myself, that it is pupils attitude that makes standards slip.

Not to brag, but I got a level 8 on my maths SAT exam I just took. Others got a 3.

I was told by my maths teacher, i wasnt good enough to get an 8, i would just scrap a 7. In this case, it was HIS FAULT that I was 'slipping'. he was a CRAP teacher. Everyone knew it, we even told him.

People took advantage of him being awful at teaching, and mucked around. I refused to muck around and personally tried hard.

I conclude that IMHO the attitude of the pupil is, mainly, at fault.

[andsome]

It is easy for ministers to pat themselves on the back. However, ask an employer, and many will tell you that many school leavers are unemployable. Many have very little mathematical knowledge. Knowledge of the English language is virtually non existent, with the constant use of Americanisms. An example is that during a conversation, instead of saying, "he said that I think that this is good", they will say ", "he was like, this is ace man". The word like is used in practically every sentence. This is just a small example. Young people on super market checkouts are usually dumbfounded when I have the right change ready before the machine has added up my bill, they have no concept of mental arithmetic. I do not wish to belittle anyone, I think that it is a great shame that standards have slipped so much. Grammar and general English is not corrected in many schools in history or geography work. Discipline is non existent. How much are soap opera's and current children's programmes to blame? Even the trailers of soap operas seem to consist of little else but people slanging at each other in an aggressive mood, and the youngsters then look upon this as real life. Thank goodness that at my granddaughter's school in Oxford, in a not very wealthy, mainly immigrant area they still hold on to old fashioned values, at least she is getting an excellent educational start in life. Another major problem is the subjects that many young people are choosing to study, simply to boost the number of passes. What use to society, or to the individuals future employment prospects, are degrees in sociology, media studies and the like? We need more engineers and scientists, and it's about time that this country started to treat engineers with more respect.

[Sir Radfordin]

The problem is that in the 1950s you were educated in a subject. In todays lessons pupils are taught how to pass the exams they are going to be taking to get the best results that they can. It is the same as learning to drive, you are taught how to pass your test, and then once you have you learn how to drive.

As for the study of "soft" subjects I think its important to remember that a large number of the people who opt for these do so in addition to the core subjects they are already doing.

Only if you teach pupils the same as in the 1950s would it be fair to compare the results they got in 1950s exams to the ones that people got back then. The empashsis has changed (rightly or wrongly) but I don't think it means that the standards are slipping or exams are getting easier.

An interesting comment was made on Newsnight last night - when people started throwing the javlin too far they made it harder. Pupils are working harder and pushing for the top grades so its time to adjust how they are rewarded for their work.

Rant over...I'm off to work to help the little people who messed up and now join the masses of 'clearing'.

[andsome]

Sir Radfordin

You have not mentioned the fact that employers just cannot find suitable work for many of these school leavers, because they cannot do simple maths, cannot speak English, and generally know nothing about anything, except how to make bloody nuisances of themselves.

[Sir Radfordin]

andsome - I feel you've made a bit too much of a generalisiation there.

[andsome]

andsome - I feel you've made a bit too much of a generalisiation there.

Possibly. but it is broadly true

[Redhat]

Yes it is <_< Which is unfortunate.

Alot of people taking GCSE next year with moi, the let's say 'less-hard-working' persons generaly choose things such as media studies, PE, cookery.

I've choosen among others, ICT, History French and Digital Imaging. Bit more academic :)

[Guest Nellie2]

Digital Imaging???............... wow!!! If we'd have done that when I was at school I'd have spent more time in the concentrating in the classroom and less time behind the bike sheds!! :D :D :ph34r:

[Tankus]

Well When I did my "A" 's about quarter of a century ago (arf arf) I'm sure that we had a flexible pass rate , which was adjusted (pass or fail) depending on the quality of the year , to around 40% failure rate......

The bottom 40% would alway fail regardless of how good they were.....

Having been a teacher too, in a CFE (BTEC)... (after my degree ,because I don't have a P.G.C.O.F.E . qualifying me for schools) it is definitely geared to passing exams......which to me is not the be all, and end all, of a good all round education...

[Chris]

You into cycle repair to nellie?

[Tankus]

Well ...One of the comp s that I went to (mid 1970's) we did "building works" in my first year , in which we practised brick laying and installing double glazing......

I found it far more interesting than metal work ..........

[Guest Nellie2]

You into cycle repair to nellie?

Err no Powerless!! ;)

One of the comps Tankus??? How many did you get chucked out from then?? :huh:

[Tankus]

My parents moved ....., I did not have a lot of choice in it..........!

But the second one that I went to had only just converted from a grammar school , even at a young age it was noticeable in the difference of the ability and discipline in the teachers of that comp .....hence the "dap" post in an earlier thread....ouch....!

[andsome]

Digital Imaging???............... wow!!!  If we'd have done that when I was at school I'd have spent more time in the concentrating in the classroom and less time behind the bike sheds!! :D  :D  :ph34r:

Were you examining the bikes?