A grades 'not given like sweets'

 

Ministers and exam officials have been trying to head off criticism of A-levels, ahead of this week's annual release of the results.

 

Schools Minister Jim Knight said it was a myth that A grades were "handed out like sweets".

 

Students will learn on Thursday how well they have done in this year's exams.

 

The national figures are likely to show that almost all passed, with about 23% of entries being awarded the top grade.

 

Mr Knight said those who equated rising pass rates with "dumbing down" were not only doing young people a disservice, they were taking a simplistic view of the system.

 

"There is a general misconception that the 'A' level has become impossible to fail and that A grades are handed out like sweets," he said.

 

"This, like many myths surrounding the exams, is nonsense."

Meter or filter?

 

He said that last year about 24,000 A-level candidates achieved three or more A grades - 3.6% of the total year group.

 

"So out of the class of 30 that started secondary school aged 11 just one will go on and achieve the prized three As at A-level," he said.

 

It was true that more people got As today than 20 years ago - but that was because there used to be quotas for the number of grades awarded at each level.

 

"The simple question is: should the exam system reward people for what they have achieved, or act as a filter to reduce the number of people who can achieve a particular grade?

 

"My view - and I believe that of students, parents, universities and employers - is that exams should measure success, not put a cap on it."

 

The head of the Joint Council for Qualifications which issues the combined exam boards' results, Ellie Johnson Searle, has also defended the system.

 

"The evidence is that students are achieving better overall," she told the Sunday Telegraph. "We have got the most stable system that we have had for a very long time. The teaching is so stable. The quality of materials that they use has improved over the years.

 

"All that has improved and it all comes together."

 

And the head of the watchdog Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Ken Boston, told the Observer that those attacking the system were "elitists" who secretly hankered for the return of an era when only a tiny minority of secondary schoolchildren had the chance to go to university.

 

Changes ahead

 

Last week, former chief inspector of schools and now education professor Chris Woodhead said exam questions had been made less demanding and syllabuses had been dumbed down "to the point where real intellectual challenge has disappeared".

 

But Mr Knight said: "Rising standards are not the symptoms of a flawed system they are a reflection of success."

 

But he has had to concede there is a fundamental problem: as more students get top grades, universities find it harder to distinguish between them and routinely reject applications from well-qualified candidates.

 

So the system is being changed again.

 

From next year, universities will see the grades for each of the six units that make up an A-level, as well as the overall final grade.

 

To provide more challenge, students are likely also be asked to produce an extended project, and to face tougher questions in their A-level papers.

 

These two approaches are being piloted by the QCA.

 

"These changes will make sure that every young person is able to fulfil their potential and get a grade that more finely accords with what they have achieved," Mr Knight said.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4785183.stm

anyone else waiting for results on thursday? i am, not looking forward to it though.

 

these people who say that a levels are impossible to fail should take them themselves and see how easy they think they are then.

If I manage to pass my two exams which I did the grand total of about 20 minutes revision for and couldn't be bothered with them, then something is wrong.