A-level pass rates.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-120781 5/A-level-results-2009-Pass-rate-rises-27th-ye ar-row.html

Some say that the exams are getting easier than they once were.

Others say that the youngsters are getting cleverer.

Whatever the reason, isn't it now time for A-levels to get harder?

If the driving test pass rates were to become as successful, they would soon introduce measures to bring down the pass rate.

[Quinlad]

ludwig, it's also a question of what attributes you want the qualifications to highlight.

You could argue that an ability to excel in coursework is a far better indicator of how well you'll perform in the world of work than an exam. It's more task-based project management than a high-pressure memory test.

[caththecrazy]

You could argue that a lot of coursework isn't actually done by the pupil taking exam.

A friend's daughter asked my hubby to help her with her chemistry and he was amazed it was part of the A level course saying he's learnt it before he decided on any options for exams.

Perhaps things are jsut different now ?

Could be argued that is way the country is the way it is too many chiefs not enough indians?

[jake-the-peg]

I think people should take a look at one or two recent past A level papers

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Data/publications/past_p apers_2008_june/L_A_Level_Mathematics_MEI_4777 _01_June_2008_Question_Paper.pdf

[Sqad]

Quinlad...where did I say that he got a degree at 18 yrs of age?

[caththecrazy]

When I went to uni you only had to get so many pointsand often subjects weren't specified. A friend of mine got a grade D in history and studied history at uni and is now a history teacher teaching A level history!!!!

[ludwig]

Quinlad - yes, I'm not saying assessment based on coursework is a bad thing - there were some kids I went to school with who worked their arse off for 5 years and flunked the exams through nerves or whatever.
Personally I was a lazy git who did as little as possible for 5 years but had the knack of cramming and then turning in a good exam so I did alright out of it. That system's obviously unfair on the hard workers.

I was just making the point that when the system has changed so that the teacher can do ongoing assessment, it facilitates the kind of upward result tendency I was talking about.

[mrs_overall]

Here's a good example of the education standards of today.

Last week I was served in a shop by an undergraduate working in there during the holidays. I ordered two hot sandwiches at �1.50 each.

When they were ready he announced he couldn't let me have them because his supervisor had wandered off with the calculator, and he couldn't work out how much I owed him.

I despair, I really do.

[jake-the-peg]

If you're so bright harvman I await your solutions to the paper above.

They talk like this in my world which is full of computer consultantants and security specialists.

This is the world that these students aspire to.

Not your world of late office assistants in regional offices

[Sqad]

Olive...good morning my love.......I have missed you.

Now...mrs sqad is hankering over returning to the U.K...I am NOT and she has a brochure for the Sands in Scarborough...North Bay, was the Corner cafe.

Up market I gather......any ideas?

[mrs_overall]

G'morning sqad.

Yes, it is a new development (the swinish Scarborough Council demolished a perfectly good outdoor pool to build it) and it looks swanky, but Scarborough is still a dump. A Polish friend of mine who visited there recently said Scarborough reminded him of Poland in the days of communism.
Rather you than me lol

Apologies to AOG for straying off the thread

[LoftyLottie]

I firmly believe that the examinations are getting easier. More and more students are getting grades that give them the opportunity to apply to University and we haven't got the University places available. Although it is obvious that everyone should have an equal chance in life, expectations have increased and talk to most kids these days and they mention going to university because it's the norm. I don't believe they give it much thought either.

I know of students that have gone to University for the right reasons and with the right abilities only to be disallusioned when they find that the first year is a total waste of time whilst other students are brought up to their level. Drop out rates are extremely high these days.

Kids should be educated to realise that there are options other than university. We need apprecenticeships and on the job training. Kids need something to aim for and to be realistic.

University degrees do not mean what they used to and employers know that. Unfortunately, kids think that when they get out into the big bad world their degrees will mean they are employable.

Let's get back to a situation where a degree meant something. It's the same old story, levels are brought down to the lowest rather than aiming for the highest.

[jake-the-peg]

Club house?

You really have got me wrong haven't you?

Sounds to me as if you're suffering from a bad case of "Educational Envy"

[Sqad]

Thanks Olive.

[Sqad]

Lofty...good morning...well written.

[LoftyLottie]

Good morning Sqad.

[Quinlad]

"My friend nearly cracked him one morning."

Brilliant.

[ludwig]

Jake - 'old people are just jealous'. That seems to be what you're saying. Even if it's true it's irrelevant, because it doesn't mean that exams aren't getting easier.

The whole point of the process is to differentiate between different abilities. If everyone's achieving 10 grade A's in everything it makes the whole thing pointless - ok we're not quite there yet, but how much longer? the pass rate is already 97.3%.

The problem is that it's in none of the people involved's interest to question the situation.
The student is not going to question the fact they got brilliant results. Neither are their parents.
The teacher is not going to question the fact their students got brilliant results, because it proves they're doing a good job.
The school is not going to question the fact their results are continually improving.
The education authorities ditto.
The exam boards are hardly likely to question their own results.
The government is not going to question anything because year on year improvement proves what brilliant job they're doing.

It's an emporer's new clothes unspoken conspiracy of bullsh1t.