tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/a-levels-6782/articlesA levels – The Conversation2022-08-25T10:59:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1719032022-08-25T10:59:52Z2022-08-25T10:59:52ZGCSEs: how gender norms influence what young people choose to study at school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435107/original/file-20211201-15-4shmay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5234%2C3481&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-male-teenage-students-walking-around-779121871">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a gender divide in the subjects teenagers choose to study. In 2022, 63% of UK GCSE candidates taking full-course Physical Education (PE) for GCSE were male. For Art and Design subjects, though, boys made up only 35% of the students <a href="https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/?post-year=2022&post-location=">taking the subject</a>.</p>
<p>The subjects students choose to study carry gender meanings. <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520228696/the-men-and-the-boys">Research on boys and education</a> <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00060/">has shown that</a> Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13573322.2019.1654447">and PE</a> are understood as masculine. </p>
<p>Research has shown that children associate science with males and masculine traits from an early age. One study found that boys were <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1350293X.2019.1579551">more likely</a> to express gender stereotypes about scientists. </p>
<p>On the other hand, subjects like English may be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540250020004126">considered less masculine</a> because of their perceived irrelevance to traditional “men’s work”, lack of set answers, and emphasis on emotions. </p>
<p>Subject choice, then, becomes what is known as an “identity resource”: something individuals can use to build up their self image. Boys can draw on these identity resources to establish their masculine credibility with their peers. </p>
<p>These stereotypes impact on secondary school students’ career aspirations and higher education choices, when self image and the image of an academic subject as masculine or feminine do not match. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00060/full">has shown</a> that when young people rigidly conform to traditional gender roles, they are less likely to fulfil their academic potential because these gender roles affect the subjects they go on to study. In this research, a strong masculine image of maths and science significantly decreased the likelihood of female students choosing a Stem major at university.</p>
<h2>Building identities</h2>
<p>Religious Education (RE) is an example of one such gendered subject. I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2014.976183">conducted research</a>, published in 2014, into boys’ views of RE in three secondary schools in the north west of England. I carried out group and individual interviews with 35 boys aged 14-16. </p>
<p>My research showed that for many of the boys, RE wasn’t on their agenda because it wasn’t an identity resource they wanted to use. I found that there was a link between what boys thought about RE and their ideas about masculinity.</p>
<p>While RE at Key Stage Four is a statutory requirement in England, which means that many schools will require students to take it at GCSE, it is not compulsory to undertake the GCSE examination course. In some schools, it will be offered as an option. </p>
<p>One of the boys I spoke to had chosen to study GCSE Religious Studies, but told me that his male friends had opted for PE and resistant materials. Boys who liked RE, and chose it when it was offered as an option, were bucking the gendered trend. </p>
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<img alt="Classroom of teenage boys and girls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435272/original/file-20211202-21-1n51db3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Boys who chose to study RE were going against a gendered trend.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wide-angle-view-high-school-students-1332874982">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>One told me that he hadn’t lost his “reputation” by choosing Religious Studies GCSE instead of PE. The boys I spoke to who had chosen to study Religious Studies for GCSE identified themselves as “the mature people” because of their interest in what they called the “big questions”. They differentiated themselves from boys who would just “mess around”.</p>
<h2>Bucking the trend</h2>
<p>Studying subjects like Religious Education allows for discussions of questions of belief and spirituality. The gender roles that lead to boys deciding against studying such subjects may lead to disengagement from subjects that address questions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2014.976183">meaning, purpose and value</a>. </p>
<p>In my experience as a secondary school teacher and researcher, I found that boys will engage with subjects like RE when teachers make the connections clear between RE and real-life issues. The way to find out what these issues are is through talking to young people and learning to <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ET-06-2015-0046/full/html">listen to their concerns</a>.</p>
<p>Gender stereotypes associated with subject choice affect the life chances of both boys and girls. Recent research shows that both boys and girls who <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-020-01293-z">resist restrictive gender roles</a> do better at school. </p>
<p>Schools can take steps to create a more gender-equitable environment. This could involve lessons which debunk myths about subject choice and gender, and which allow both boys and girls to question gender norms – creating a more equal environment which offers them greater possibilities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171903/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Farrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Different school subjects can be associated with different genders.Francis Farrell, Senior Lecturer in Theology & Religion, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1192602019-07-09T09:42:59Z2019-07-09T09:42:59ZWell-being of students starts to decline from the moment they enter secondary school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281760/original/file-20190628-94684-6tv373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4510%2C3137&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The going gets tougher. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teenage-kid-school-uniform-looking-angry-139145042?src=9bFw8dtGDQIlYLEa8pP9Aw-1-13&studio=1">Shutterstock. </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across the world, schools are introducing programmes aimed at enhancing the well-being of students and <a href="https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletters/flourishnewsletters/newtheory">helping them flourish</a>. Such programmes <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-06944-011">aim to teach</a> students how to cultivate positive emotions and relationships, find meaning and feel a sense of achievement in their work – as well as look after their <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702580.001.0001/acprof-9780198702580">physical and mental health</a>. </p>
<p>But despite this progress, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03323315.2018.1512887?af=R&journalCode=ries20">recent research</a> conducted in the Republic of Ireland has found that the well-being of students steadily declines as they progress through secondary school, up to their final exams. And the decline is sharper for girls than for boys. </p>
<p>For the research, my colleague and I surveyed nearly 3,000 students, aged between 12 and 19. We divided them into three groups. Junior years were aged 12 to 13, and had just started secondary education. Middle years (14- to 16-year-olds) were either well-established in secondary school, or opting for a <a href="https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Information/Curriculum-and-Syllabus/Transition-Year-/Transition-Year.html">transition year</a> (a non-compulsory programme where students take time out from academic aspects of their education and focus on work experience or community service activities). Senior years (17- to 19-year-olds) were busy preparing for their final school examinations – the gateway to studying at university.</p>
<p>Traditionally, students’ well-being <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323735043_Bullying_and_cyberbullying_Prevalence_psychological_impacts_and_intervention_strategies">has been evaluated</a> by measuring a <em>lack</em> of mental health problems like depression or anxiety. But more <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12643820">recent research</a> has shown that having higher levels of well-being can help people cope better with adversities – so for our study, we sought to measure levels of well-being, as well as mental health issues.</p>
<p>Our results indicated a small but steady decrease in well-being from junior, through to the middle and senior groups. Perhaps predictably, we also found age-related increases in measures of negative emotions and loneliness. In comparison to boys, girls reported lower levels of well-being across the board, and higher levels of negative emotions and loneliness.</p>
<h2>Cause and effect</h2>
<p>We can only speculate about the reasons for this decline in well-being. Previous studies <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178915001329">have shown</a> that bullying and cyberbullying is thriving in secondary schools – this could be one factor. </p>
<p>Hormonal changes during puberty also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30148390">play a significant role</a> in the way teenagers experience stress, and ongoing brain development <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/25/sarah-jayne-blakemore-secret-life-teenage-brain">affects their behaviour</a>. This could certainly have contributed to the lower well-being scores among the middle and senior years. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281762/original/file-20190628-94720-sde0gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Puberty comes for us all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-student-torturing-school-bullying-657035215?src=9bFw8dtGDQIlYLEa8pP9Aw-1-4&studio=1">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>And, of course, exam stress during the middle and final years can also have <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.elib.tcd.ie/science/article/pii/S0301051113000306">a very negative effect</a> on the mental and physical health of secondary school students. </p>
<h2>Coping with stress</h2>
<p>There are some tried and tested ways to help control stress. According to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08927936.2015.1069988">some researchers</a>, spending time with dogs reduces how stressed students feel during their exams. Evidence also suggests that progressive muscle relaxation – where a person contracts certain muscles then progressively releases them to achieve a state of peace – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4280725/">has a positive effect</a> on anxiety levels (though this research was carried out with university students). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/exam-stress-what-is-it-and-how-can-i-manage-it-97211">Exam stress: What is it and how can I manage it?</a>
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<p>But our study also found that the biggest predictor of lower levels of well-being was when students did not regularly use their greatest strengths of character. Strengths of character can be measured using a survey like <a href="http://www.viacharacter.org/">this one by VIA</a>. The survey identifies teenagers’ top strengths that they can use during their daily lives. </p>
<p>But just because someone’s top strengths might be honesty, prudence and perseverance, does not mean that they use these strengths frequently. Those who scored the highest for using their strengths daily, also had the highest scores on their levels of well-being. Therefore, using character strengths every day could help secondary school pupils to maintain higher levels of well-being.</p>
<p>Our results suggest that parents and educators could help school students boost their levels of well-being by encouraging young people to identify what strengths they have, and use them. When asked, one in three adults are unable to name their own strengths – so this could well be the same among school students. Showing students how they can apply their strengths may be a great help to them, especially when it comes to assessment and exam preparation.</p>
<p>Clearly, there is a need for parents and educators to do something, rather than allowing students’ levels of well-being to deteriorate as they progress through secondary school. This change will only happen if we make it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jolanta Burke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research has found that students suffer lower levels of well-being when they don’t regularly use their greatest strengths of character.Jolanta Burke, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040752018-10-05T13:38:01Z2018-10-05T13:38:01ZWhy reformed A levels are not preparing undergraduates for university study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239497/original/file-20181005-72117-y2ojrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Piling on the pressure?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/books-stack-on-library-table-time-691274914?src=bC2hz2Ets1CNg--psdRPog-1-58">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the beginning of the university year, new students are busy adjusting to a life of lectures, whipping up their next meal (<a href="https://www.savethestudent.org/save-money/food-drink/6-delicious-recipes-you-can-make-with-baked-beans.html">seven recipes with baked beans anyone?</a>) and managing their time. A familiar picture perhaps – but there’s something different about this year’s intake of undergraduates. </p>
<p>Across England and Wales, the majority have recently taken the reformed A level exams – and <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_683051_en.html">our research</a> suggests the new system is not effectively preparing students for various aspects of university study.</p>
<p>It was in 2012 that the then secretary of state for education, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-the-secretary-of-state-for-education-to-ofqual--2">Michael Gove, wrote</a> to the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation and told them: “The single most important purpose of A level qualifications is to prepare young people for further study at university”.</p>
<p>Proposals for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-the-facts-gcse-and-a-level-reform/get-the-facts-as-and-a-level-reform">wide-ranging reform</a> were drawn up for England (<a href="https://www.qualificationswales.org/english/qualifications/gcses-and-a-levels/as-and-a-levels/">Wales took a slightly different path</a>) and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-the-facts-gcse-and-a-level-reform/get-the-facts-as-and-a-level-reform">introduced in phases</a> the following year. </p>
<h2>Testing times</h2>
<p>The changes meant that the majority of A level assessment is now based on exams at the end of a two-year course. Exams in January are out, and tests are no longer based on individual modules. Other changes meant AS levels (still a one-year course) no longer counted towards A level grades, and coursework was minimised.</p>
<p>These changes went ahead despite a <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-deserve-better-than-this-shambolic-a-level-reform-35269">range</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gove-generation-first-pupils-to-live-through-a-level-reforms-wait-for-results-45532">critical</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/permanent-revolution-of-a-level-exams-helps-nobody-30488">comment</a> from teachers, students and parents. They highlighted chaotic implementation, delays and a lack of information and resources. </p>
<p>More fundamental were concerns about the focus on performance in the short exam period and about how well A levels prepare students <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/perceptions-of-a-levels-gcses-and-other-qualifications-wave-16">who do not go on to university</a>. Some predicted the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-slow-death-of-the-as-level-64070">“slow death” of the AS level</a> with a loss of subject breadth (and numbers studying for these qualifications have <a href="https://results.ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/as-level/all-subjects.php?v=20180904">dropped dramatically</a>).</p>
<h2>Putting students off?</h2>
<p>We are already appear to be seeing an effect on <a href="https://www.ucas.com/file/138186/download?token=HfxYNizO">university applications</a> in the reformed subjects as they are phased in. Some subjects, such as chemistry, English and history, experienced more than expected drops in <a href="https://www.ucas.com/file/138186/download?token=HfxYNizO">university applications</a> (taking into account the drop in overall applications). </p>
<p>Data released <a href="https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-data-resources">later this year from UCAS</a> will reveal the impact on the next group of reformed subjects. But early indicators suggest a drop in university applications for geography, drama, theology and religious studies. There is also a longer trend of reduced applications for ancient and modern languages.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_683051_en.html">our research</a>, funded by the University of Exeter’s <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/teaching-excellence/educationincubator/about/">Education Incubator</a>, we wanted to understand the effects of these reforms on the ground – by talking with A level students and teachers as well as university students and lecturers. Working with undergraduate student researchers, we focused on biology/biosciences, English and geography.</p>
<h2>Feeling unprepared</h2>
<p>We found that the reformed A levels are considered overall to be more rigorous in terms of content. But they are not preparing students effectively for the type of assessments they will face at university. </p>
<p>At university, students often face more frequent coursework, group work and more regular examination than they do for A levels. These differences are already causing increased difficulty for some students because the reformed A levels were focused on exams at the end of a two-year course.</p>
<p>Universities should be aware that new students may feel particularly unprepared for assessments in the first year. They could help by ensuring high-quality guidance and support for group work, managing multiple deadlines and regular assessed coursework. </p>
<h2>Supporting independence</h2>
<p>One of the main changes to A levels was an effort to promote an increased expectation of independent study, especially in coursework. This was something students and their teachers viewed as positive – but highly challenging. </p>
<p>Yet while this approach does appear to prepare students for more independent working at university, we found it also leads some to assume they should not need to access available support – even when they might benefit from it.</p>
<p>In setting expectations about independent study, schools, colleges and universities can instead emphasise “supported independence”. This recognises that working out when to ask for support, and doing so, is a necessary part of the learning process. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239498/original/file-20181005-72097-12da6yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">What’s the result of the new results?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-girls-celebrating-exam-results-school-735915199?src=vCuSgjnf8sFlXDwu_4Ax9g-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Universities should also heed <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1323195https:/www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1323195">the evidence</a> that the school a student attended, and their social background, shape expectations about accessing support. Some students strongly take messages about independence to mean they should not access support. </p>
<h2>Easing the transition</h2>
<p>It would be easy to conclude then, that the new style of A levels aren’t yet fit for purpose, and need further reform. We think that given the level of change still working through the qualification systems at A level and GCSE this would be a hasty reaction.</p>
<p>Instead, schools and universities can play their part in collaborations that bridge the knowledge gaps between the two phases of education, and in easing the transition through high-quality support and development opportunities.</p>
<p>We think the Department for Education should commit to a review of A levels to assess the effectiveness of the reformed qualifications in preparing students for university. </p>
<p>First, the department should <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/as-and-a-level-decoupling">investigate</a> the number of schools that enter students for the AS level and then the next year the A level (effectively cramming a two-year course into one year). It should also review the number of students who are “off rolled”, or transferred, on to other qualifications if it looks like they are not succeeding. Secondly, the government needs to address the issue of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/perceptions-of-a-levels-gcses-and-other-qualifications-wave-16">low perceptions</a> of aspects of the new A level courses. </p>
<p>It is clear the reformed A levels aren’t yet preparing students as effectively as they could for the type of assessments they will face at university. The question that remains is whether they are putting some students off from university study in those subjects completely – and whether application rates for those subjects can recover.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Finn works for the University of Exeter and the research project was funded through the University of Exeter's Education Incubator.</span></em></p>Rigorous they may be, but the new style of exam still leaves students with gaps in their learning skills.Matt Finn, Lecturer in Human Geography, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622942016-07-13T10:38:54Z2016-07-13T10:38:54ZIf A-Levels aren’t for you, choices at age 16 could now get a whole lot simpler<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130379/original/image-20160713-12386-qas4tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alberto Andrei Rosu/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The incoming British prime minister Theresa May has <a href="http://www.theresa2016.co.uk/we_can_make_britain_a_country_that_works_for_everyone">outlined</a> a vision of a country that “works not for the privileged few but that works for every one of us … because we’re going to give people control over their lives”. A good place for her to start would be to make sure that the government sticks to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536043/Post-16_Skills_Plan.pdf">its promise</a> to implement the 34 recommendations set out in a new report that aims to radically simplify the education choices available for people after age 16.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/reports/pdf/report-of-the-independent-panel-on-technical-education.pdf">Sainsbury report</a>, published on July 8, sets out a blueprint for technical education for young people and adults. The report is wide-ranging and ambitious, with recommendations that cover many aspects of the way education is provided. The government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536043/Post-16_Skills_Plan.pdf">Post-16 Skills Plan</a>, published on the same day, says the Sainsbury recommendation will be accepted “unequivocally where that is possible within existing budgets”. </p>
<h2>Plethora of choices</h2>
<p>Nowhere is reform more necessary than in the options for 16-year-olds, after they finish their GCSE exams, as my colleagues and I have outlined in <a href="http://cver.lse.ac.uk/textonly/cver/pubs/cverdp001.pdf">a new paper</a>. As it currently stands, the system is obtuse – even for us “experts”. </p>
<p>There are thousands of qualifications available for 16- to 18-year-olds and it is hard to classify available options into sensible groupings, especially for lower levels of learning – what is called Level 2 and below. Many students who do not get a grade C in English and/or maths at GCSE start at a further education college the following year and undertake a Level 2 vocational course as well as studying (again) for their English or maths GCSE. </p>
<p>The menu of options for them is diverse and the progression paths unclear. We followed a whole cohort of students who undertook their GCSEs in 2009-10. Fewer than half of those pursuing a Level 2 vocational course at age 17 progressed to a Level 3 qualification by the age of 20. Thousands of students pursued low-level courses for consecutive years. </p>
<p>A lack of careers information and advice is often criticised in the English education system. But it’s a wonder that anybody can make sense of the current hotchpotch of options available for 16-year-olds. It’s amazing that in a country where <a href="http://cver.lse.ac.uk/textonly/cver/pubs/cverdp001.pdf">fewer than 40% of students complete A-Levels</a>, options for the rest are so little pored over and debated in the media. Perhaps it is because the 13,000 qualifications available for young people are too many for anyone to make sense of.</p>
<h2>Two routes</h2>
<p>The Sainsbury report recommends that young people are given the choice between academic and technical education after their GCSEs, with a transition year available for those not yet ready at that time. Regardless of the route chosen, bridges will be available between academic and employment pathways at age 18. </p>
<p>The academic route at age 16 would either be A-Levels or advanced level <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/409740/Applied_General_2017_list_.pdf">Applied Generals</a> – or some combination of the two. The technical option would consist of 15 routes, which are based on occupational groupings. These range from construction or engineering and manufacturing to hair and beauty or catering and hospitality. Each route would have a “common core”, including English and maths. At the outset, it would be possible to visualise where these routes might lead in terms of educational progression and potential employment. </p>
<p>The technical option would either be employment-based (most commonly delivered via an apprenticeship, with at least 20% of the time spent learning off-the-job) or full-time college-based. Both the government and employers will be involved in the curriculum. While the government needs to design the overall national system of technical education, employers will construct a single common framework for standards. These standards need to define the knowledge, skills and behaviours for specific occupations and not narrow requirements of particular jobs. To make this happen, a key role is envisaged for a new Institute of Apprenticeships, due to launch in 2017. </p>
<p>Rather than continue with thousands of qualifications, the report recommends that any technical education qualification at Level 2 and 3 should be offered by a single body or consortium under a license. These licences will be awarded for a fixed period of time following an open competition. </p>
<p>Similar issues apply to higher levels of technical qualification (Levels 4 and above) and the report makes similar recommendations regarding the simplification of the landscape and the involvement of employers in setting standards. Yet, here the baseline is <a href="http://cver.lse.ac.uk/textonly/cver/pubs/cverdp001.pdf">fairly thin</a> with few young people getting to this level of education: among the cohort that took their GCSEs in 2009-10, only 4% had started some sort of higher technical education by age 20. </p>
<h2>Plugging the skills gap</h2>
<p>A shortage of intermediate skills <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470017/skill_levels_2014.pdf">is a problem</a> in the economy generally, with the UK predicted to rate 28th out of 33 OECD countries in this respect by 2020. Immigrants provide a vital part of the British workforce. If there are going to be fewer of them in the future, following the recent vote to leave the European Union, then upskilling the existing workforce is even more important. If not, Britain risks further lowering its productivity, which is <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/researchAndExpertise/units/growthCommission/documents/pdf/LSEGC-Report.pdf">already low</a> by international standards. </p>
<p>The Sainsbury report has recommendations for adults, too, suggesting for example that the same choices should be available for them as for young people – and could be facilitated by the existing system of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learner-loan/overview">advanced learner loans</a>. </p>
<p>The report requires nothing less than a radical shake-up and simplification of the system of technical education. It is not before time. Let’s hope all its recommendations are implemented.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra McNally is director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research, LSE. This is an independent research centre funded by BIS.</span></em></p>The murky world of post-16 education choices is overdue a radical simplification.Sandra McNally, Professor in the School of Economics, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/594902016-05-18T14:10:44Z2016-05-18T14:10:44ZEight ways you can help your children revise<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122749/original/image-20160516-15924-1n11gzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't give up.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> www.BillionPhotos.com/shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whoever said that your school days are the best days of your life may have been a bit of a sadist. Either that or they weren’t ever part of the British education system. It’s no secret that children living in England are some of the most tested in the world, and with pupils as young as ten said to have been “<a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/sats-pupils-tears-after-sitting-incredibly-difficult-reading-test">left sobbing</a>” after SATs tests in UK schools recently, it’s clear that exam pressure is something that starts early in the British isles. </p>
<p>But as much as most children (and parents) hate tests and revision, exam time is just another part of school life – and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon. But the good news is that there are things you can do to help the exam period stay as stress free as possible – helping to keep door slamming and tears to a minimum.</p>
<h2>1. Get ahead</h2>
<p>In the run up to exam time, sit down together with your child and work out the best times for revision. Make a revision timetable on a big piece of paper and pin it up somewhere prominent. When it comes to revision, <a href="http://psi.sagepub.com/content/14/1/4.full.pdf+html?ijkey=Z10jaVH/60XQM&keytype=ref&siteid=sppsi">research</a> shows that little and often is better than overlong sessions. Cramming at the last minute is also counterproductive, so it’s best to start early and put in the groundwork while there is still time. </p>
<h2>2. Learn what works</h2>
<p>We know that different people have <a href="http://www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/resourcesandcpd/research/summaries/rslearningstyles.asp">different styles of learning</a>, and it is important your child is working in the way that’s right for them. Find out what motivates them and use it to your advantage – be it an end goal, such as doing well in an exam, or building a skill, such as learning a language. But don’t use bribes. This puts undue pressure on your child, and sets the wrong precedent. They should want to achieve for their own sake, not yours or because there’s a cash reward in it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122839/original/image-20160517-9458-3snnio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Find out what makes your child tick when it comes to revision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Stay positive</h2>
<p>During exam season, it can be all too easy for your child to forget that learning can actually be enjoyable. The field of <a href="http://positivepsychology.org.uk/component/content/article/3-brief-news/2-what-is-positive-psychology-.html">positive psychology</a> takes a “glass half full” approach to life, celebrating the positive rather than the negative. Looking at revision from this angle, there are numerous benefits, such as increased knowledge and working towards personal goals. It can also be an opportunity for you to support and help your child to achieve. <a href="https://www.ucy.ac.cy/nursery/documents/ThemaVdomadas/DCSF-Parental_Involvement_1.pdf">Research</a> has found that parental involvement in their child’s education has a significant positive effect, even into adulthood – so what you do now could make a big difference in the years to come.</p>
<h2>4. Get the snacks on the go</h2>
<p>Put the kettle on and buy plenty of healthy snacks for your studious workers – the healthier the better. Any foods high in omega 3, such as oily fish, flax seeds and walnuts <a href="http://www.nutritionist-resource.org.uk/nutritionist-articles/six-foods-that-help-with-concentration-and-why">support concentration</a> and cognitive function, so are ideal. Foods high in antioxidants such as fruits – especially berries and tomatoes – and moderate amounts of caffeine can help concentration. Green tea and dark chocolate, which are especially rich in specific antioxidants called <a href="http://www.hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2012/914273/">polyphenols</a>, can also support brain function. Ripe bananas or sunflower seeds are great to snack on because they naturally increase dopamine – a brain chemical involved in increasing <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/11/14/rs.increase.your.attention.span/">motivation and concentration</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122833/original/image-20160517-9509-zc5745.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just a few revision snacks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RossHelen/shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Keep your thoughts to yourself</h2>
<p>The concept of the “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/29/naughty-sporty-arty-why-we-must-stop-labelling-our-children_n_7373422.html">self fulfilling prophecy</a>” proposes that what we believe about a child has a habit of coming true. So if they get told they can’t do maths and are better at English, chances are this will be reflected on results day. With teenagers, however, if we say they are good at something, they will often believe the opposite. Basically, if we label, either in a positive or a negative way, in some form this will manifest in adverse outcomes. So best to just keep those thoughts to yourself in the run up to exam time.</p>
<h2>6. Work the space</h2>
<p>Set aside a calm room or space for revision, and invest in some large plastic boxes to keep books and resources tidy and easily accessible. Ensure that where possible, this space is kept well organised and clutter free, because it turns out that the old “tidy desk, tidy mind” saying might actually have some truth to it. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21228167">Researchers at Princetown University</a>, have found that if our environment is cluttered, the chaos restricts our ability to focus. Clutter can also limit the brain’s ability to process information – so keep those desks clear.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122838/original/image-20160517-9494-n0jg2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The importance of a tidy workspace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Micolas/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>7. Pool your skills</h2>
<p>It may be that some parents in your social group are better at science or maths than you are, so a skill swap to support your respective offspring might be the answer. Parents more knowledgeable in GCSE physics could facilitate a tutorial, while you could coach a group in English. You could even rope in other family members with expert knowledge or subject specialisms to help handle the task of revision. </p>
<h2>8. Take a break</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.tlu.ee/%7Earro/Happy%20Space%20EKA%202014/urban%20green_stress%20Ojala%20jt.pdf">Research</a> has shown that spending time outdoors in green spaces such as parks or woodlands decreases stress and anxiety, so try and incorporate some of the great outdoors into your child’s revision routine in the lead up to exam time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122834/original/image-20160517-9476-rrpqng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Encourage your teenagers to take a break from the studying, it will help to recharge their minds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MJTH/shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Exercise such as a kick about in the park, a swim, run or even a karate class can all help them to let off steam while giving those young minds a break from the books.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Davis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Because exam season can be tough on parents, too.Susan Davis, Senior lecturer for PGCE Primary, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/473822015-09-17T05:33:21Z2015-09-17T05:33:21ZYoung people must be consulted on reforms to A-levels and GCSEs<p>In a society where exams play such a huge part in the lives of young people, it’s surprising that substantial reforms to qualifications in the UK are taking place without their consultation. </p>
<p>In a presentation at the <a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/beraconference-2015">British Educational Research Association</a> annual conference in Belfast, I <a href="http://assessment2025blog.aqa.org.uk/2014/06/09/can-and-should-young-people-play-a-role-in-designing-assessments/">argued</a> that this lack of student consultation on reforms to qualifications is a grave omission. Young people – both those who have already done exams and those about to sit them – can and should be asked for their views before changes are rolled out. </p>
<p>While there is a proliferation of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/reform-of-gcse-qualifications-by-ofqual">government consultations</a> on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/reform-of-as-and-a-level-qualifications-by-ofqual">reforms to examinations</a>, young people’s views are omitted as a matter of course. </p>
<p>In mid-September, the qualifications regulator Ofqual announced a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-launches-further-consultation-on-reformed-qualifcations-for-2017">consultation</a> seeking views on a second phase of changes to GCSEs and A-level subjects including statistics, media studies and film studies. The views of young people have not been specifically sought out on these subjects – nor were they for subjects reformed in the first phase, some of which are already being taught in schools. This lack of participation by young people in the policy development is a missed opportunity. </p>
<h2>Changes set in motion</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gove-generation-first-pupils-to-live-through-a-level-reforms-wait-for-results-45532">Initial reforms</a> of the GCSE and A-level curriculum, begun by the former education secretary Michael Gove, mean that some students who sat exams in summer 2015 already took very different exams to their peers a few years ahead of them. </p>
<p>Now, a cohort of students have just started GCSE and A-level courses this September with new content and new rules. These changes are certain to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-changes-a-summary">have major ramifications</a> for young people’s future educational and employment opportunities.</p>
<p>There are new specifications for exams, based on revised subject content and assessment objectives in key subjects such as maths and English. These qualifications are now linear, assessed solely by examinations with no modules and in some subjects, no coursework assessment. At A-level, there will be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gove-generation-first-pupils-to-live-through-a-level-reforms-wait-for-results-45532">“de-coupling” of the AS-level</a> exams pupils sit in Year 12 with the final A2 exams in Year 13, and a reduction in resit opportunities. <a href="https://theconversation.com/removing-practicals-from-a-level-sciences-will-leave-students-poorly-equipped-25563">Practical science assessment</a> will no longer count towards students’ final grades.</p>
<p>At GCSE, a <a href="http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-and-a-level-reform/gcse-reform/">new 9-1 grading scale</a> will replace the former A* to U system (where nine is the top mark). And <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/aug/29/gcse-english-speaking-listening-drop">speaking and listening</a> has been removed from students’ overall grades. </p>
<h2>Young peoples’ views ignored</h2>
<p>Students have no history of any meaningful input into what reforms of these qualifications might look like. The <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DeliveringReform.pdf">last Labour government</a> saw the promise of “student voice” as a crucial dimension to the successful implementation of many of its 14–19 initiatives. </p>
<p>But in the present landscape of reform, there is no direct policy that drives the government to carry out consultations with students. Many <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2012.00442.x/abstract">in-roads</a> that were made into treating young people as equal decision-makers with regard to education policy have stalled. </p>
<p>These are worrying developments, specifically in terms of children’s rights. The <a href="http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>, to which the UK is a signatory, stipulates that children and young people are rights holders and are entitled to engage in processes that affect them directly. This includes the development of policies and services (in this instance educational ones) through research and consultation. </p>
<p>But looking at the impact of assessment on young people in terms of rights is rare – and any real effort to enforce <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671522.2010.498150">compliance</a> with international children’s rights standards in the development of qualifications systems is rarer still. </p>
<h2>Worried about their future</h2>
<p>Through national research <a href="http://qub.library.ingentaconnect.com/content/ioep/clre/2013/00000011/00000002/art00002?crawler=true&mimetype=application/pdf">that has engaged with young people</a> who were just about to do exams, we are beginning to know a great deal more about what they think about reforms. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94917/original/image-20150915-29620-10h9pm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">High stakes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Teen boy via eurobanks/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>During my 2012 research with nearly 250 students <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2012.733347#.Vfg1LxFVhBc">from across England</a> they told us that examinations structured through modules (and re-sits) allow for any mistakes to be made better and take the stress off having to do everything in one sitting. Students thought that it was only fair to have a mixture of examinations and coursework because: “we don’t all like the same things”. </p>
<p>They felt insulted at the annual circus of debates in the media around falling <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9366785/Exam-standards-fall-in-race-to-the-bottom-MPs-will-say.html">exam standards</a>, which they saw as degrading their own achievements. They were also concerned that changes to examinations are introduced “live”, rather than being piloted in advance, and felt their future successes might be “messed up” as a result. All of these changes could have considerable impact on their final grades and they argue this is too high a price to pay. </p>
<p>There are a number of ways that young people could be listened to more effectively. Qualification awarding bodies, the Department for Education and Ofqual could set up panels with young people so that their views can be fed directly into assessment design and implementation. Education officials and politicians could attend focused policy briefings with young people in order to obtain input into current debates. And there could be an attempt to reach out directly to students via social media to gauge their opinions on reforms. </p>
<p>But we should also ask young people what they think is the most effective way to engage with them directly, and change our practice accordingly. When it comes to reforming exams that form such an important step in any young person’s life, it’s vital that all students have their voices heard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jannette Elwood is a Trustee of AQA Education. She has received funding from various educational charities and government departments, recently the Schools Examination Commission, Ireland.</span></em></p>New look GCSEs and A-levels will be sat by young people – but they haven’t been asked about the reforms.Jannette Elwood, Professor of Education, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460462015-08-19T05:34:26Z2015-08-19T05:34:26ZUniversities remain a hive of inequality – they must do more to attract the excluded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91649/original/image-20150812-12348-94s6iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fair access and widening participation are a social and economic necessity. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> J. Henning Buchholz/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The higher education sector in England has gone through some major changes in recent years, from the 2012 rise in tuition fees to £9,000 a year to the more recent decision to allow universities to <a href="http://theconversation.com/now-universities-can-accept-as-many-students-as-they-want-will-there-be-a-free-for-all-in-clearing-45633">accept as many students as they want</a>. Constant policy shifts have kept universities on the move.</p>
<p>One theme that has continued to be a consistent priority throughout these changes has been how to make access to university more equal and fair. I think that now, more then ever, universities need to do more to attract potential applicants from poorer and more diverse backgrounds. </p>
<p>No matter what your political affiliation, all party leaders say that education is a fundamental driver of social mobility. And, in recent years, social mobility through education has been improving. According <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365765/State_of_Nation_2014_Main_Report.pdf">to figures from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission</a> (SMCP), headed by my former ministerial colleague, Alan Milburn, a record number of young English people are entering higher education. This year, there <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/over-409000-students-already-placed-uk-higher-education-%E2%80%93-3">was a 4% increase</a> in students from the least advantaged backgrounds being placed at UK universities on A-level results day, according to UCAS.</p>
<p>In addition, universities are investing <a href="https://www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Access-agreements-for-2015-16-key-statistics-and-analysis.pdf">£735m</a> in 2015-16 to widen access by providing support such as bursaries. The SMCP <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365765/State_of_Nation_2014_Main_Report.pdf">estimates</a> there could be as many as 100,000 more university places and 2m new professional jobs created by 2020, creating even more opportunities. </p>
<p>Businesses and the private sector are also entering the debate on access and diversity. Global accountancy firm <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/ey-firm-says-it-will-not-longer-consider-degrees-or-alevel-results-when-assessing-employees-10436355.html">EY is removing the requirement for a minimum degree classification</a> for graduates and hiding all details of schools and universities from recruiters. EY says the aim is to boost workplace diversity, which it sees as good for business.</p>
<h2>Inequality remains</h2>
<p>But, despite all this positive action and debate, the higher education sector remains a hive of inequality. The controversial decision by the chancellor, George Osborne, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolishing-student-grants-and-raising-fees-above-9-000-heaps-more-debt-on-poorest-students-44485">convert maintenance grants to loans</a> is no doubt a backwards step. It affects the poorest in society and risks deterring them from university. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jul/30/poorer-students-say-maintenance-grants-essential-for-university">Recent research from the National Union of Students</a> shows that students from poorer backgrounds <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/opinion/why-maintenance-matters-more-than-tuition-fees/2020022.article">need maintenance support the most</a>. </p>
<p>Such grants have also been one of the most important contributing factors in encouraging students from ethnic minorities and low-income <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365765/State_of_Nation_2014_Main_Report.pdf">families to apply for university</a>. </p>
<p>Universities must help redress the balance. Financial support is just one aspect, but it is an important one. A robust scheme of grants and bursaries is certainly needed, tailored specifically for those coming from lower socio-economics backgrounds that are still underrepresented across the higher education sector. And more expenditure by universities on outreach is necessary, together with more paid internships. </p>
<p>But financial support alone isn’t the only way universities need to tackle the problem of inequality and diversity. Institutions need to adopt an interdisciplinary approach towards improving access for disadvantaged students and reaching out to them. As a sector, we need to consider and incorporate ideas around teaching and learning, marketing and recruitment and the wider student experience. This includes thinking about how these issues affect students from different socio-economic backgrounds, and about what can be done to help attract them into higher education and nurture and support them once they arrive. </p>
<h2>Ready to teach soft skills</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/private-pay-progression/">A recent study by the Sutton Trust</a> charity demonstrated that privately educated UK graduates in high-status jobs earn more than their state school counterparts. It found factors such as the university attended and quality of education were prevalent, but it also suggested non-academic factors and soft skills, such as assertiveness, confidence and presentation skills also had a significant impact. </p>
<p>This is something that universities across the sector need to address. They should investigate how they can help students from more diverse backgrounds develop such skills that will not only benefit them during their studies but once they graduate as well. </p>
<p>University has to appeal to everyone who feels excluded. Ethnicity and socio-economic factors are key issues, but children who have grown up in care, disabled learners, first-generation scholars and mature learners all need to be included in any debate about “widening participation”.</p>
<p>The gender divide also matters. UCAS <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/21/gender-gap-university-admissions-record">figures</a> show the admissions gap between men and women in the sector is growing and at record levels. More women than men are being accepted to university than ever before and it has become as significant as the gap between people from advantaged and disadvantaged economic backgrounds. And it combines in the acute challenge we face around the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/142/142.pdf">poor educational achievements</a> of white, working-class boys.</p>
<h2>The sector must collaborate</h2>
<p>But the most fundamental issue we need to face as a sector is collaboration. The policy and structural changes from government promote competition, so too often universities are working in a silo with regards to inequality and diversity. </p>
<p>Collaboration could take place through regional coordination among universities, colleges and schools to ensure an optimal spread and intensity of outreach activities and events, especially during the early years where interventions can have the highest impact. Universities can also collaborate in sharing insight on how best to recruit, support and ensure the success of less-advantaged students. That means investing in the professional development of the university staff who are working to help widen participation in order to ensure that the sector’s collective understanding grows. </p>
<p>Ultimately, while we might be <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-universities-can-accept-as-many-students-as-they-want-will-there-be-a-free-for-all-in-clearing-45633">in competition</a> for students, celebrating the impact of higher education in transforming lives, improving social mobility and contributing to the economy is something we can all agree on.</p>
<p>To improve fair access across higher education, we must work together by sharing best practice, sharing ideas and, most importantly, sharing responsibility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Rammell is a member of the Labour Party and was Minister of State for Higher Education between 2005 and 2008. </span></em></p>The higher education sector must collaborate to reach out to applicants from poor and diverse backgrounds.Bill Rammell, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of BedfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460362015-08-13T15:35:39Z2015-08-13T15:35:39ZNo surprises on A-level results day – and that’s a good thing<p>A-level results day is here and with its dawn have arrived pictures of jubilant young people jumping for joy. The most amount of students ever were accepted into university on A-level results day <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/over-409000-students-already-placed-uk-higher-education-%E2%80%93-3">according to</a> the University and College Admission Service. More than 409,000 students had places confirmed, a 3% rise on 2014. </p>
<p>During the week running up to results day, the exams regulator <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-issues-final-report-into-ocr-summer-marking-2014">Ofqual</a> has attempted to allay concerns about the marking of papers that hang over the process from 2014, and sought to reassure the public about the quality of work provided by England’s examination boards. </p>
<p>But as it turned out nothing much happened in 2015 – which actually comes as quite a relief. All of the papers were marked on time and there were no huge issues <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33760350">like the one in Scotland</a>, where an exceedingly difficult mathematics paper meant a fairly low pass score. </p>
<p>Overall, the percentage of students who achieved each grade did not move much compared to last year – and most subjects remained stable. The number of A-levels taken has risen 2% compared with 2014, from 833,807 to 850,749. This potentially reflects the impending changes to university entry from 2016 and possible future fee increases <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolishing-student-grants-and-raising-fees-above-9-000-heaps-more-debt-on-poorest-students-44485">above £9,000 a year</a>; getting in now may reduce someone’s student debt in the long term. </p>
<p>There are some minor changes to particular subjects, but fears that abolition of the end of January resits would affect the proportion of A* grades has not materialised: the proportion of A* grades awarded stayed the same at 8.2%. The overall pass rate was 98.1%, just a 0.1% increase on 2014. </p>
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<p>Mathematics retains its crown as the most popular A-level (10.9% of all entries) with English in second place, a mere 0.4% behind, and biology taking third place with a 7.5% share of entries. </p>
<p>The proportion of total entries coming from so-called <a href="http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/faqs.aspx">facilitating</a> subjects preferred by Russell Group universities has remained relatively steady and they make up 51% of all entries. However, as the graph below shows there were small increases in geography (up 4,188), history (up 3,717) and English literature (3,393). </p>
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<p>An increase was expected as schools <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ebacc-effect-pushes-pupils-into-more-academic-subjects-thats-a-good-thing-29931">take up the EBacc model</a> which includes English, maths, two sciences, a humanity (history and geography), and languages. With the notable increase in the those taking the largest entry subject, mathematics (up 3,895), it is easy to forget the patchy history of this qualification: in 2001 only 45.4% of all candidates achieved a C or above. In 2015 it was 79.8%. After a <a href="http://www.mathsinquiry.org.uk/report/">review</a> of the syllabus in 2004, trust was regained in the qualification and entry figures have risen consistently year after year. </p>
<p>Although the changes are small, the trends this year suggest that the emphasis by the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, on the Russell Group’s facilitating subjects has, to a modest extent, paid off. </p>
<h2>Critical thinking suffers</h2>
<p>The most prominent negative change has been seen in general studies, with the number of entries down 24.25%. Decreases were also seen in music and law, but neither were as dramatic as general studies. </p>
<p>This year may be the final nail in the coffin for critical thinking at A-level; its entry figures peaked at 2,529 in 2008 but now they are very low (just 236 in 2015). Historically, it has suffered as a result of being lumped with general studies and perceived as a soft option. In reality, there was potential for this subject to be a way to encourage the deeper thinking championed by Gove. </p>
<p>Research by <a href="http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/109973-critical-thinking-factsheet-3.pdf">Cambridge Assessment</a> found that students who took critical thinking did better across their other subjects. With <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuly-yanklowitz/a-society-with-poor-criti_b_3754401.html">speculation</a> for many years about an English population that lacks the ability to think independently and critically, perhaps critical thinking was a way to challenge this; but that seems unlikely to happen as exam boards, such as AQA, decide to drop it from their syllabuses.</p>
<h2>AS-levels steady too</h2>
<p>At AS-level, the exams taken in Year 12, the penultimate year of school, the results have again remained relatively stable. The percentage of A grades awarded increased 0.3% to 20.2% and A-E increased 0.6% to 89.4%. But as expected – due to the known 2.1% drop in the number of 17-year-olds across the country – the number of AS entries declined 1.9% to 1,385,901. </p>
<p>It will only be in August 2017 that we may see a more dramatic picture at AS level; one which reflects the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gove-generation-first-pupils-to-live-through-a-level-reforms-wait-for-results-45532">decoupling of the AS from the A-level</a> and determines its strength to stand alone against the dominance of the two-year qualification. </p>
<p>The outcomes are stable and so the lack of fireworks this year may help to reduce the annual damage directed against the integrity of our public examinations system every August. Perhaps the broader media could now congratulate all those who have achieved their goals today. Despite the continual questioning of standards, A-levels and AS levels are challenging qualifications. If we deride the results, we deride the ability and efforts of those who have chosen to take these exams; let them celebrate – or commiserate – and move on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The proportion of A* grades has remained the same as 2014 at 8.2%.Mary Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Assessment, UCLTina Isaacs, Programme Leader, MA in Educational Assessment, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/455322015-08-12T06:08:31Z2015-08-12T06:08:31ZThe ‘Gove generation’: first pupils to live through A-level reforms wait for results<p>Those teenagers who receive their A-level results on August 13 are the first cohort of young people living through a wave of changes to the UK’s school exam system. These reforms, which started under the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, were aimed to embed what he termed “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/jul/04/as-levels-scrapped-michael-gove">the art of deep thought</a>” into post-16 education. </p>
<p>Although the majority of the reforms have not yet been introduced in schools and sixth form colleges, 2015’s school-leavers are the first who have not been able to take multiple resits of their exams as part of a move to make the qualifications more “linear”. </p>
<p>The curriculum reforms came as result of a clarion call for greater <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9549524/GCSEs-axed-True-test-to-restore-faith-in-exam-system.html">rigour</a> within the examinations system to prove that education standards are not slipping. But they have also raised concerns about the impact that high-stakes tests are having on the lives of young people, often portrayed as over-tested and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/may/14/calls-to-childline-over-exam-stress-break-records">stressed</a>. </p>
<h2>Moving away from modules</h2>
<p>The A-level structure that Gove inherited from the Labour government when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition came to power in 2010 included modular syllabuses with examinations twice each year, in January and May/June. Young people were able to select and study four or five subjects in Year 12 (their penultimate year at school) to AS-level. </p>
<p>Then, depending upon the results, they could drop some subjects and focus only on those in which they were succeeding in Year 13 by sitting A2 modules, making up a full A-level in three or four subjects. They could also re-sit examinations an unlimited number of times and most syllabuses contained a combination of externally marked examinations and teacher-marked coursework. </p>
<p>Criticisms levelled at the A-levels challenged these approaches to learning and testing. Reports from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/are-a-levels-fit-for-purpose-views-of-those-who-use-them">Ofqual</a> cited a lot of “teaching to the test”. An increasingly narrow curriculum focus and students’ poor subject knowledge were also seen as indications of weaknesses in assessing their learning. </p>
<p>Armed with such evidence, the coalition government’s reforms to the A-level system were inevitable and set in motion swiftly after they were <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jan/23/michael-gove-a-level-reforms">announced by Gove</a> in January 2013. The government’s goal was to reintroduce linear qualifications – involving exams taken at the end of the two-year A-level programme – and it encouraged interim measures to help bring that into effect. </p>
<p>In November 2012, Ofqual announced the abolition of January examinations in order to reduce concerns about perpetual exam preparation and the effects of multiple resitting. For example, in 2010, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=CAN+STUDENTS+TAKE+A2+EXAMS+IN+JANUARY+2015&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=ycfIVf2rOoPzUMebkagF#q=2010%2C+74%25+of+A-level+mathematics+young+people+re-sat+at+least+one+paper">74% of young people taking A-level mathematics</a> resat at least one paper. The January exams were abolished from January 2014, meaning that the school-leavers of 2015 will be the first who are not able to take either their AS or A2 modules in January and then resit them again in May or June. </p>
<h2>Bigger changes to come</h2>
<p>A further change to the A-levels that affects teachers’ practice is the significant reduction in coursework – formerly, this made substantial contributions, often greater than or equal to 40% of over-all grades. From September 2015 onwards, coursework will be worth just 20% in some subjects such as English and there will be none at all in sciences, economics, sociology, psychology and business studies. </p>
<p>Another reform, coming into force in September 2015, has been to separate or “decouple” the AS and A-level qualifications so that each would be awarded as a unique entity. The intention here is to have just one set of examinations for AS and another for A-level; the two parts will become separate qualifications and A-level examinations will cover the entire two-year programme of Years 12 and 13. </p>
<p>This move has been contentious – <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofqual-annual-report-for-the-period-1-april-2014-to-31-march-2015">Ofqual’s 2015 Annual Review</a> found that 62% of head teachers surveyed believe that the disadvantages of decoupling – effectively <a href="https://theconversation.com/permanent-revolution-of-a-level-exams-helps-nobody-30488">removing AS levels</a> – will outweigh the advantages. </p>
<p>From this September, students will also begin learning <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timeline-of-changes-to-gcses-as-and-a-levels/changes-to-gcses-as-and-a-levels-that-will-affect-each-current-school-year-group">new revised content</a> for decoupled A-levels in certain subjects, including chemistry, biology, physics, English language and English literature. Further revised subject content will be introduced in 2016 and 2017. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/perception-of-a-levels-and-gcses-wave-13">Ofqual’s 2015 survey</a> of the perceptions of A-levels seems to suggest there are mixed reactions to Gove’s reforms. A-levels are still perceived as a trusted qualification by the majority of young people, parents, teachers and potential employers. The reforms to the qualifications, particularly the “reduction in teacher assessment in some A-level subjects” were viewed positively. </p>
<p>However, the move to linear assessment and the abolition of AS-levels is unpopular with more than half of all headteachers (52%) and a significant number of teachers (46%). Parents, employers and the general public were uncertain about the consequence of this change. </p>
<p>A-levels were overdue for some kind of revision as it had been eight to ten years since most subjects were thoroughly reviewed or updated. Qualifications, like a fine cheese, have a shelf life too and changes and updates are a part of reliable, rigorous assessment practice. </p>
<p>The reforms to qualifications made on Gove’s watch may prove positive: with less concentration on endless examination preparation students may well be able to cultivate that deep thought necessary to engage in a more substantive way with all of their subjects.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reforms to stop students resitting exams are the first in a long line of changes.Tina Isaacs, Programme Leader, MA in Educational Assessment, UCLMary Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Assessment, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/352692014-12-09T12:06:55Z2014-12-09T12:06:55ZStudents deserve better than this shambolic A Level reform<p>The teachers of tomorrow should be eager to prepare for <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching">“your future, their future”</a>, according to the National College for Teaching and Leadership’s new teacher-training recruitment campaign. Sadly they may find that their students over the age of 16 face very uncertain futures in the light of the coalition government’s most recent shambolic overhaul of A Level exam assessment. </p>
<p>This process is leaving experienced teachers frustrated and students aged 14 to 16 confused about the content of the new courses – some of which are due to start in September 2015 and some in September 2016. Even more significantly, all those involved seem uncertain about how the new format AS levels will be perceived by employers and <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolishing-as-levels-will-make-it-harder-to-get-into-university-30547">university admissions tutors</a>. </p>
<p>In recent weeks I have had numerous conversations with teachers who are uncertain about how they should advise Year 11 students about subject choices after their GCSEs. Schools are receiving conflicting advice about the status of AS levels from university admissions officers who, quite rightly, need to have some indication of a student’s predicted examination performance as a basis for an offer decision. </p>
<p>In addition, Labour’s shadow education minister Tristram Hunt <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/11/labour-overturn-gove-a-level-reforms">has indicated</a> the party would keep standalone AS Levels if they win the next election – adding an extra layer of uncertainty to the reforms. </p>
<h2>What we know</h2>
<p>We know that the new A Level specifications will be linear in design with all assessments being sat at the end of each two-year course in June of the second year – even if the content and format of some examinations remains unclear and unaccredited. We know that the January examinations have been abolished and that coursework elements of examinations have been minimised. </p>
<p>We also know that AS Level examinations will, once more, become standalone qualifications and students will not be able to count the AS marks awarded towards their final A Level grades. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) proposes that, by 2017, the value of AS levels in <a href="http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/advisers-and-referees/tariff-2017">its UCAS Tariff</a>, used by some university admissions departments, will have lessened to around 40% of an A Level qualification. </p>
<p>In addition, students who traditionally begin post-16 study with four subjects (and then make a choice which subject they might “drop” at a late stage in the first year of their course) will no longer be afforded the flexibility to exit with an AS in one subject. They will have to designate, from the onset, which subjects are being studied for the two-year A Level course and which are for the one-year AS courses. </p>
<p>These decisions could narrow the range of subjects studied by students in England at an even earlier stage, potentially make A Level study a far riskier enterprise and disadvantage students in the career paths they could be able to opt for later on. </p>
<p>Schools may decide that in some subjects they will teach the AS and the A Level courses alongside one another. For example, the <a href="http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-and-a-level-reform/a-level-reform/">OCR examination board advises</a>: “In some subjects, it may be appropriate for the AS to be designed to be co-taught with the first year of the A Level”. Teaching for two separate examinations simultaneously places an unnecessary burden on students and their teachers. </p>
<h2>What do the students think?</h2>
<p>The impact of these wide-ranging changes on the learners themselves has not been fully considered. In addition, changes to the implementation timeline are being made very late in the day. For example, the lack of alignment between GCSE and proposed 2016 A Level mathematics courses was said to present particular problems for students who would need to grapple with two very different assessments. In early December, it was announced that these <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/01/maths-a-level-changes-delayed">changes would be delayed</a> until 2017. </p>
<p>Students aged 16 to 19, adults returning to A Level education and those who have recently experienced the assessment processes, should have had a voice.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/02/headteachers-criticise-government-chaotic-a-level-reform-delays">Delays to the approval</a> of some examination boards’ subject specifications appear to have been caused by deep governmental interference in subject content, such as text selection in subjects such as English literature, and assessment processes.</p>
<p>This is symptomatic of a lack of trust in the teaching profession and a failure to acknowledge the need for examinations which are appropriate for 21st-century learners. An apparent desire to take the so-called “gold standard” of A Level assessment back to a mythical golden age has wrought confusion for students at a crucial time in their education. They deserve much better.</p>
<hr>
<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/permanent-revolution-of-a-level-exams-helps-nobody-30488">Permanent revolution of A Level exams helps nobody</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Dymoke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The teachers of tomorrow should be eager to prepare for “your future, their future”, according to the National College for Teaching and Leadership’s new teacher-training recruitment campaign. Sadly they…Sue Dymoke, Reader in Education, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/306282014-08-19T10:00:52Z2014-08-19T10:00:52ZWe try to fix too many social problems through exams
<p>This year’s GCSE results day is <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11037723/GCSE-exam-overhaul-risks-leading-to-results-day-chaos.html">predicted to be “chaos”</a> if recent exam reforms cause large fluctuations in students’ grades. Exam boards, teachers and teacher unions are talking of “nervousness”, “turbulence” and “instability” surrounding the results.</p>
<p>All this follows after commentators pored over the recent A Level results, weighing up the minutiae of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/14/a-level-results-pass-rate-down-traditional-subjects-more-popular">percentage point</a> changes in pass rates, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/arguing-over-whether-girls-cant-or-wont-study-science-stops-us-fixing-the-problem-29725">number of boys and girls</a> taking this and that subject and who’s going to what university. It seems that every aspect of society can be analysed through exam results – from the state of the economy and jobs, to issues of race, class and sex.</p>
<h2>Emotional rollercoaster</h2>
<p>If the predictions of chaos are right, we may well get much of the same after the GCSE results are published. But you have to ask: isn’t all this commentary on examinations a little bit excessive? Education is important but it’s not that important.</p>
<p>I overheard a mother last week congratulating her son in the street on his obviously excellent A Level results: “You will achieve so much!” she said, and then added: “I think I am going to cry!” This struck me as a bit melodramatic, if understandable. Exam results are personal things for pupils and their mothers may well have great hopes for them. But the annual national response to exam results now seems to be like a mother’s. </p>
<p>Delight abounds when results are going up and national hopes rise but, if they go down, there is uncertainty and turbulence and national hopes dip with them. We are too involved in our children’s results. It’s time to let go.</p>
<h2>Proxy for social problem-solving</h2>
<p>A criticism <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dennis-hayes/education-gove-debate_b_1899857.html">that I</a> and <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/ann-widdecombe/432016/Social-engineering-is-not-the-answer-to-the-problems-in-our-education-system">others</a> have made is that recent governments have seen education as the place to engage in social engineering to solve a range of social and political problems. These include everything from radicalisation, obesity, homophobia, smoking, binge drinking, drug taking, criminality, anti-social behaviour and saving the planet. </p>
<p>That strategy, which results from the inability of politicians to resolve those problems in the grown-up world, has led to education being seen as more important than it is. The over-emphasis on qualifications as a way of making the UK more globally competitive does the same thing.</p>
<p>Although all of this may seem sensible to those who are fond of homilies like “the children are our future”, it is really a cop out for adults escaping responsibility by attempting to solve today’s urgent problems through children. The obsession with social engineering may be a face-saving substitute for hapless politicians but it is a destructive force for education.</p>
<h2>Stricter curriculum</h2>
<p>Education and the examination results that follow from it should be about what a pupil has gained in terms of knowledge and understanding. That’s all. If a pupil does well or badly it is not the beginning or the end of their world, even if it feels as if it is for a while. If UK examination results dip or descend into chaos, it is not the collapse of society as we know it. Just as years of constant improvement in results didn’t make for a better Britain in the past.</p>
<p>Politicians and commentators, who go on and on about aspects of the examination system that reflects their wider social and political concerns, should become more serious about education – then pupils’ examination results will improve as a consequence. </p>
<p>Tinkering with <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10273689/Marks-for-speaking-and-listening-axed-from-GCSE-English.html">the marks teachers</a> give students for speaking and listening in English, toughening up the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330343/Geography_GCE_-_subject_content_-_final.pdf">geography curriculum</a>, encouraging the take up of traditional subjects and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23756128">other changes</a> are welcome but they reflect a timid approach to education that disadvantages all children. </p>
<p>A far braver and better approach would be to make a <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-subject-of-subjects-27035">knowledge-based curriculum</a> (separate sciences, modern foreign languages, mathematics, history, English language and literature, geography and even Latin) mandatory in all schools. It is not going to happen. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">reforms begun</a> by the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, barely scrape the surface. </p>
<p>The first step towards the removal of the current timidity in educational reform would require politicians, education experts and media commentators to stop seeing examination results as the focus of other concerns and get back to the idea that schools and examinations are about individual pupils’ knowledge and understanding and nothing more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This year’s GCSE results day is predicted to be “chaos” if recent exam reforms cause large fluctuations in students’ grades. Exam boards, teachers and teacher unions are talking of “nervousness”, “turbulence…Dennis Hayes, Professor of Education, University of DerbyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305462014-08-18T10:31:09Z2014-08-18T10:31:09ZNorthern Ireland’s stellar exam results mask underlying gap between rich and poor<p>As students across the UK and Ireland consider their next steps following publication of this year’s exam results, news outlets have been quick to <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/northern-ireland-students-a-class-apart-as-results-eclipse-rest-of-uk-30510153.html">produce whimsical comparisons</a> to determine the top performing devolved region. </p>
<p>Students in Northern Ireland continue to outperform their counterparts across the UK, as has been the case for some years. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-28780966">The BBC highlighted</a> that students from the North of Ireland have more A-level A* and A grades than those taking similar subjects in England and Wales. </p>
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<p>In a 2013 speech made at the Northern Ireland Investment Conference, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-camerons-speech-at-the-northern-ireland-investment-conference">David Cameron was quick to champion</a> the successes of the Northern Irish education system. He stated emphatically that it had “the highest rankings for reading and numeracy of any English speaking part of the world”. </p>
<p>Not a bad achievement for a region which has a <a href="http://www.nisra.gov.uk/demography/default.asp47.htm">combined childhood population of less</a> than 500,000, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.</p>
<h2>Achievements of the elite</h2>
<p>This educational achievement is something to be proud of. But this form of reporting only serves to highlight the achievements of the privileged without appreciating the links between lower socioeconomic position and education across the region. In order to level the pedagogical playing field, instead of rushing to give Northern Ireland’s education system a collective “pat on the back,” educationalists should dig deeper into the dynamics of which children are doing well. </p>
<p>In forthcoming research with my colleague Clare Dwyer, we found that in terms of educational attainment, children and young people in Northern Ireland generally outperform their counterparts in England, Scotland, and Wales in terms of academic achievement overall (including GCSE and A Level results). </p>
<p>But when we looked at the link between socioeconomic status and school results, a more worrying trend emerged. We found that those children eligible for free school meals (a commonly used poverty indicator), underperformed those who are not eligible, and by some distance. Put simply, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds consistently fail to do well at school.</p>
<p>Up-to date research on social exclusion in Northern Ireland conducted by the NGO <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/where-we-work/united-kingdom/northern-ireland#sthash.CyDhtfYh.dpuf">Save the Children has revealed</a> that more than one in four children and young people live in poverty, with almost a tenth in severe poverty. </p>
<p>Save the Children found that in areas with the highest levels of childhood depletion, such as Ballymurphy ward in Belfast, more than 80% of people have no or low qualifications. </p>
<p>So although students across the North of Ireland are collectively outperforming their UK counterparts in exams, there is a growing disparity between those who have the opportunity, financial security and stable family environment in which to achieve their academic potential, and those who don’t.</p>
<h2>Catholic schools do better</h2>
<p>Further <a href="http://www.community-relations.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Peace-Monitoring-Report-2014.pdf">research in the 2013 Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report</a> reveals that this disparity is linked to both gender and community background. Almost half of all catholic girls growing up in lower socioeconomic backgrounds are likely to go on to higher education, in contrast to less than a third of protestant boys from similar backgrounds.</p>
<p>As the GCSE and A Level results in Northern Ireland are analysed further, statisticians will further reveal that the top-performing schools across the region are either catholic or state-sponsored (predominantly protestant).</p>
<p>With catholic schools <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/every-one-of-northern-irelands-top-five-schools-is-a-catholic-grammar-30140937.html">already performing better</a> than their state-sponsored counterparts, there will be the predictable clamour of support for integrated schooling between the catholic and protestant communities.</p>
<h2>Time to reinterpret integrated education</h2>
<p>The issue of integrated education continues to be an area that stirs up the strongest feelings of support in terms of post-conflict reconstruction among the Northern Irish population. <a href="http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2008/Community_Relations/PROTRCMX.html">A survey</a> carried out in 2008 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education found that 84% of respondents who had children or grandchildren of school age or younger thought that integrated education was “very important” or “fairly important”.</p>
<p>Critics of the Northern Irish education system vehemently champion educational integration between catholic and protestant children as a central issue of concern. But there really ought to be a greater emphasis on addressing the attainment gap between rich and poor. </p>
<p>Lost behind the tribalism of “us” and “them” politics is the alarming rate of educational underachievement in areas of the highest levels of childhood poverty. </p>
<p>Instead of rushing to highlight the successes of elite student performance across Northern Ireland as media outlets do <em>ad nauseam</em>, we need a more rigorous and dedicated focus on safeguarding the opportunity for all children and young people, regardless of their position within society. Only then can Northern Ireland properly address the blatant disparity between the privileged few and those who are left behind. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Ciarán Browne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As students across the UK and Ireland consider their next steps following publication of this year’s exam results, news outlets have been quick to produce whimsical comparisons to determine the top performing…Brendan Ciarán Browne, Research Fellow, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/297252014-08-15T11:30:52Z2014-08-15T11:30:52ZArguing over whether girls can’t or won’t study science stops us fixing the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56425/original/vb836d6z-1407943935.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yes we can!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/9662665997/sizes/l">pixbymaia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After the expressions of joy or despair have faded away, <a href="https://theconversation.com/permanent-revolution-of-a-level-exams-helps-nobody-30488">A Level results</a> day often serves to emphasise the startling gender gap in students studying science subjects. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.jcq.org.uk/media-centre/news-releases">Data released</a> about the 2014 exams showed that 7.6% of boys took physics A Level, compared with just 1.7% of girls, while maths A Level was taken by 14.3% of boys compared with just 7.6% of girls. </p>
<p>But girls are doing just as well, if not better than boys in some of these subjects. In physics, 34.7% of girls got A* or A grade, compared with 29.5% of boys, while in maths the numbers were almost the same: 41.8% of girls achieved the top two grades, compared with 42.2% of boys. </p>
<p>If, like me, you have recently sat through numerous graduation ceremonies, watching hordes of male engineering and computer science students troop across the stage with only a few women among them, you have to ask yourself the question: why are there so few women studying science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects? </p>
<h2>Blaming the brain</h2>
<p>The answer is commonly couched in terms of “can’t” or “don’t”. Explanations for girls’ avoidance of science subjects are often based on women’s biology. In the 19th century it was because of their reproductive systems, in the 20th century their hormones and now, in the 21st century, it’s their brains. </p>
<p>The “can’t” brigade suggest that the under-representation of women studying STEM subjects is a reflection of biologically determined deficits in key skills such as numeracy and spatial cognition. But they suffered a pretty severe setback <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/education/18harvard.html?_r=1&">following a backlash</a> in 2005 when Larry Summers, then president of Harvard, <a href="http://www.harvard.edu/president/speeches/summers_2005/nber.php">suggested that a</a> different availability of “aptitude at the high end” was underlying the imbalance. </p>
<p>Sadly, this form of biological determinism never fully goes away. A <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2709031/Female-brains-really-ARE-different-male-minds-women-possessing-better-recall-men-excelling-maths.html">recent headline in the Daily Mail</a> proclaimed that: “Female brains really ARE different to male minds with women possessing better recall and men excelling at maths.” The <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/07/24/1319538111">study</a> was also reported on by Tom Stafford here on <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-women-and-men-forever-destined-to-think-differently-29921">The Conversation</a>. The researchers found “a general increase in women’s cognitive performance over time, associated with societal improvements in living conditions and educational opportunities”. </p>
<p>The main finding is that sex and gender differences in key cognitive skills are diminishing as women are given increased social and educational opportunities. No reference to “brains” or “biology” at all. But that didn’t stop the Daily Mail using these words in their report. The “blame the brain” brigade will now use this as “evidence” that women can’t engage with STEM subjects because of innate biological deficits.</p>
<h2>People vs things</h2>
<p>What of the “don’t” brigade – those who push the idea that although women could engage and excel at STEM careers, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/135/6/859/">they don’t</a>. Among other aspects, they say this is because the work is related to “things” and is not “people” oriented. </p>
<p>A recent talk to the British Association Studies Association conference by psychologist Gisbert Stoet attracted startling headlines: “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10961555/Give-up-on-gender-equality-in-the-sciences-at-school.html">Give Up on Gender Equality in the Sciences at School</a>” wrote the Telegraph, while the Huffington Post reported that the Glasgow professor had said: “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/12/girls-science_n_5580119.html">We Should Give Up Encouraging Girls To Do Science</a>”. </p>
<p>Stoet says these headlines <a href="http://volition.gla.ac.uk/%7Estoet/">were unrepresentative</a> of what he actually said. His argument is that it will be impossible to change the subject choices or vocational interests of girls because we are ignoring the power of biological factors in determining them. </p>
<p>He <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018506X11001292">quotes a study</a> showing that girls’ interests in “people” and boys’ in “things” are biologically determined, possibly even prenatally. </p>
<p>So both the “can’t” and the “don’t” brigades are marshalling biological arguments in support of maintaining the status quo and urging those politicians and lobbyists aiming to address the STEM gender imbalance to stop wasting their time (and our money).</p>
<h2>Our brains change</h2>
<p>But a fundamental flaw in their arguments is to ignore what we now know about how changeable brains are, not just during the early years of development but <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/abstract/S1364-6613%2811%2900170-7?cc=y?cc=y">throughout our lives</a>. The patterns of change are not just a pre-determined unfolding of nerve cells and networks but an acutely responsive reflection of very subtle environmental factors. </p>
<p>Brain development is <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Delusions_of_Gender_How_Our_Minds_Societ.html?id=s2ZtdAx83yMC">almost inseparably entangled</a> with its environment. It can be affected not only by major physical events but also by <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12152-011-9134-4#">more subtle factors</a> such as expectations and attitudes, <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00650/abstract">including gendered ones</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-nature-nurture-and-neuroplasticity-10734">increasing understanding of the brain’s plasticity</a> is the basis of increased optimism about being able to overcome many forms of brain damage and deterioration, even in ageing. So why is there an underlying acceptance in research into particular kinds of cognitive abilities that sex and gender differences are immutable, and that this will determine people’s abilities, successes and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661313002015">career choices</a>?</p>
<h2>A more flexible curriculum</h2>
<p>If there is genuinely a “people vs. thing” issue underlying subject choice this should be used to inform the curriculum. We need to do more to show how physics can be applied in people-oriented professions such as medicine – this is not helped by the fact that “medical physics” is only optional in the A Level syllabus. <a href="http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2006/01/01/scan.nsl041.1.full">We know</a> that girls’ performance on spatial cognition tasks can be improved if the problems are framed differently, and even that this difference is reflected in their brain activation patterns. But these sort of findings are rarely used to inform how subjects such as physics are taught.</p>
<p>We really cannot afford to sit back and accept the “essentialist” view that girls are not going to be interested in science subjects. We need more trained scientists and engineers but 50% of our pool of talent is not engaging. People who could study these subjects or <a href="https://theconversation.com/stopping-the-brain-drain-of-women-scientists-22802">do these jobs are choosing not to</a>. This must not be explained away by misguided and misleading explanations in terms of unchangeable biological characteristics, or references to “the natural order of things”.</p>
<p>If STEM subjects were commercial products or an item in an election manifesto, then the marketing gurus would be pulling out all the stops to make the products more accessible, more attractive, more “choosable” – not blaming the consumers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Rippon is affiliated with ScienceGrrl.</span></em></p>After the expressions of joy or despair have faded away, A Level results day often serves to emphasise the startling gender gap in students studying science subjects. Data released about the 2014 exams…Gina Rippon, Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305472014-08-14T16:28:29Z2014-08-14T16:28:29ZAbolishing AS Levels will make it harder to get into university<p>In 2013 the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and his minister of state for schools, David Laws, <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140430095946/http://www.education.gov.uk/nctl/examsadmin/news/archive/a00217355/alevels">decided to change the A Level qualifications</a> taken by English and Welsh students with academic aspirations. But their reasons for doing so were based on flawed analysis, and the reforms could make it harder for students who flourish in the sixth form to get into university. </p>
<p>Most students currently take GCSE examinations in eight or more subjects at age 16. In the first year of post-compulsory education they are examined in four subjects leading to the award of AS Level grades. These are followed a year later by exams in three (or all four) of them for A2 qualifications. The AS and A2 marks are combined to form an A Level grade.</p>
<p>While A Level results are the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-levels-must-do-more-than-just-prep-students-for-university-28937">most important basis for university entrance</a>, most students apply before they are known: most offers of places are conditional on their getting specified grades. To decide who should receive offers, university admissions officers use the GCSE and AS Level results to assess students’ potential alongside personal statements, school references and teachers’ assessments of likely grades.</p>
<h2>Reforms based on shaky evidence</h2>
<p>This system will end in 2015. A Level courses will then comprise two-year modules, examined at the end of that period only. AS Levels are being redesigned for other purposes, not to be taken by students in their chosen A level subjects. University admissions officers will no longer have quantitative, comparable evidence of students’ post-GCSE performance in subjects central to their university applications.</p>
<p>Admissions officers and others argued that these changes would make identifying those best-fitted to study for their chosen degree courses more difficult. To counter that, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/200903/GCSE_and_AS_level_Analysis_3_1.pdf">Laws commissioned in-house research</a>, on the issue. The results claimed to show that, since degree performance could be as accurately predicted from GCSE as from AS Level results in one student cohort (those graduating in 2011 on three-year degrees), the future absence of AS Levels would not harm the admissions process. </p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/statistically-flawed-evidence-on-the-relationship-between-school-and-degree-performance/">We have challenged</a> the quality of that research elsewhere. Now our further research has used the department for education’s data to show how its results have been misinterpreted.</p>
<h2>Who gets an offer?</h2>
<p>We have placed UK universities into five types according to their average entry requirements: the Russell Group; all other universities founded pre-1992; universities (the ex-polytechnics) founded in 1992; post-1992 universities; and other degree-awarding institutions.</p>
<p>To identify which institutions the “best qualified” students were admitted to, we divided the 80,420 students for whom we had data on GCSE scores in 2006 and AS Level scores in 2007 into two sets of five groups (quintiles) according to their performance.</p>
<p>The table below shows that only 4% of students in the lowest GCSE quintile (the weakest performers) went to Russell Group universities, compared to 75% from the highest quintile. There was a very similar difference between the lowest and highest quintiles according to AS Level results. The common pattern across the table’s two parts apparently sustains the Gove/Laws argument: better-qualified students at either GCSE or AS Level disproportionately gained places in more prestigious institutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who is going where</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Bristol</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But note that we said <em>or</em>, not and. Implicit in Laws’s conclusion is a strong correlation between GCSE and AS Level performance. Perhaps surprisingly, there isn’t one. Many students performed relatively badly at GCSE but much better at AS Level (the “late developers”). Others did well at GCSE but not at AS Levels a year later (the “drifters”). </p>
<p>So if admissions officers had only GCSE grades available they may not have offered places to many students whose AS Level results indicated much greater potential to succeed on a degree course than their GCSEs did. Many late developers might have missed out on degree places at prestigious universities.</p>
<h2>AS Levels do matter</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://policybristol.blogs.bris.ac.uk/2014/08/14/the-abolition-of-as-levels-will-make-assessing-university-applicants-harder-greater-reliance-on-gcse-results-will-penalise-late-developers/">data analysis</a> has gone on to elaborate this conclusion, showing the difference in students’ destinations by GCSE and AS Level qualifications combined. </p>
<p>For example, just 2% in the lowest quintile for both GCSE and AS Level went to a Russell Group university. But of those who got the lowest GCSE grades but the highest for AS Level (the most emphatic group of “late developers”) 30% did. In general, students who performed much better at AS Level relative to GCSE were more likely to obtain a place at an “elite university”. Conversely, those students who didn’t do as well at AS Level relative to GCSE had a greater probability of studying at other institutions.</p>
<p>The department for education analysts and ministers were wrong in interpreting their (flawed) statistical analysis to conclude that university admissions officers gained no additional value in assessing students’ potential from AS Level results. This re-analysis suggests the opposite. </p>
<p>Many students performed relatively badly at GCSE but their improved performance at AS Level a year later may have encouraged them both to apply to more prestigious universities and admissions officers to recognise their potential. Without their AS Level results, many late developers may not have been given that opportunity. Many of them may have been from disadvantaged backgrounds and benefited from <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-stop-worrying-about-university-application-rates-22412">universities’ efforts</a> to expand the number of places offered to those students.</p>
<p>Whatever the political, ideological, or educational arguments for restructuring A Levels, the claim that abolishing the intermediate exams at AS Level would not harm the university admissions process is not sustained by this analysis. </p>
<p><em>Richard Harris, Tony Hoare, Kelvyn Jones and David Manley also contributed to this article.</em> </p>
<p><em>This article was adpated from <a href="http://policybristol.blogs.bris.ac.uk/2014/08/14/the-abolition-of-as-levels-will-make-assessing-university-applicants-harder-greater-reliance-on-gcse-results-will-penalise-late-developers/">a post on</a> the University of Bristol’s Policy Bristol blog.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Johnston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In 2013 the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and his minister of state for schools, David Laws, decided to change the A Level qualifications taken by English and Welsh students with…Ron Johnston, Professor of Geography, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/304882014-08-14T11:08:45Z2014-08-14T11:08:45ZPermanent revolution of A Level exams helps nobody<p>A Level results are in and as teenagers pore over their grades, a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/14/a-level-results-pupils-grades">record number</a> will be able to take up places at university. The results – which <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28772974">show a small decline</a> in the overall pass rate for the first time in 30 years, but an increase in those getting the highest A* grade – come amid a time of intense political attention on the future of these high-stakes exams. </p>
<p>The Coalition government’s current reform agenda plans to abolish AS Levels – exams that function as half an A Level that are mainly taken by 17-year-olds in their first year of sixth form. This year there has been a rise in AS Level entries, particularly in subjects such as Geography, Spanish and History, which children are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ebacc-effect-pushes-pupils-into-more-academic-subjects-thats-a-good-thing-29931">being encouraged to take at GCSE</a>. </p>
<p>But shadow <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/11/labour-overturn-gove-a-level-reforms">education secretary Tristram Hunt</a> has just announced that AS Levels would be reinstated and current A Level reform plans shelved in the event Labour return to government in May 2015 (something the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poll-labour-set-to-win-the-election--but-people-still-dont-like-ed-miliband-9634140.html">polls suggest</a> is quite likely).</p>
<h2>Too many exams</h2>
<p>That would be a shame. One thing the English education system is not lacking in is assessment, and three consecutive years of high-stakes testing (GCSE, AS and A Level) seems to be over-egging the pudding, to say the least. </p>
<p>AS Levels weaken what is potentially the strength of the A Level model: the opportunity to study a limited number of subjects in depth, to provide a real preparation for specialist university degrees. </p>
<p>In a high-stakes testing system, where results determine both the future prospects of students and the league table position (and, as a result, the finances) of schools and colleges, an element of teaching to the test (or whatever assessment is used) <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2011.607151#.U-x9OWNeLIp">is inevitable</a>. </p>
<p>In a “pure” A Level system spread over two years, that pressure is at least contained somewhat until the second year, giving more time to learning rather than exam preparation. Introducing AS Levels has meant that the pressures of high-stakes testing are continuous throughout sixth form. </p>
<p>Some would point to the increased breadth that AS Levels have introduced in terms of subjects. But in this respect they were always a half-baked measure. If more breadth (and, as an inevitable consequence, less depth) is what we want in our education system, this would require a more radical rethink along the lines of the International Baccalaureate. My answer to the question of whether we need AS Levels is therefore no.</p>
<h2>Exams as a political football</h2>
<p>But the political discussion on this reflects a deeper and more serious malaise in the national exam system. Increasingly, from the early years up to A Level, the exam system has become a political football. Successive education secretaries have introduced a never-ending stream of changes or, even worse, proposals that briefly shook up the system but were in the end never introduced (remember <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/346/">diplomas</a>, anyone?). </p>
<p>This is by no means a new development (Labour’s AS Levels being the case in point here), though the <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">hyperactive Gove</a> was certainly a most enthusiastic culprit. </p>
<p>What makes things worse is that the level of intervention goes well beyond broad systemic changes or vision and extends into the actual assessments. That <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/07/a-level-and-gcse-exam-grades-will-not-be-fiddled-ofqual">Ofqual even have to state</a> that “grade boundaries will not be fiddled for either A-level or GCSE” is a sad indictment of the level of (perceived) interference, but not a surprising one following the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19895530">nadir of the 2012 English GCSE debacle</a>, when changes in grade boundaries left thousands of students with lower grades. </p>
<p>Again, this is not an issue of one particular education secretary or party, though the tacit encouragement of <a href="http://www.cem.org/attachments/ONS%20report%20on%20changes%20at%20GCSE%20and%20A-level.pdf">grade inflation</a> under previous governments was perhaps more subtle. </p>
<p>This permanent exam revolution is counterproductive to its own aims. Changes that are meant to last don’t, because as governments change, the urge to “do something” and disown their predecessors work leads prior changes to be unravelled.</p>
<h2>Restore confidence</h2>
<p>Reforms to the exam system are often sold as “restoring confidence” in the system (as secretary of state for education <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2723386/Fury-Labours-pledge-halt-A-Level-reforms.html">Nicky Morgan did in relation to AS Level</a> reform). Yet constantly changing the system does nothing of the sort. It causes disruption to schools and students, and leads to a situation where we cannot truly rely on patterns of exam results as a reliable indicator of the quality of our education system, or indeed of the learning of our students. </p>
<p>We need to depoliticise our exam system, where standards are set by a truly independent regulator. The exam regulator Ofqual is, of course, no more truly independent from the government of the day than all the other “Ofs” in our governance system. Changes should be made following a broad debate that actually involves real teachers, rather than at the whim of whoever occupies the department of education and her or his advisors at the time. </p>
<p>That is the only way we can truly restore confidence in the system. Until this happens, drawing conclusions based on changes to exam results, such as the slight drop in A-E grades announced today, is a superfluous exercise as changes are more likely to reflect political priorities than any real change in standards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Muijs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Level results are in and as teenagers pore over their grades, a record number will be able to take up places at university. The results – which show a small decline in the overall pass rate for the first…Daniel Muijs, Director of Research and Deputy Head of Southampton Education School, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/304402014-08-14T05:25:26Z2014-08-14T05:25:26ZMore places available at university, but future precarious for many school leavers<p>I have worked with young people all my life, as a youth worker, academic teacher and youth policy adviser. I have observed their trajectories, listened to their aspirations, supported them in the steps they have taken and sought to influence policy that might produce purposeful and positive pathways to responsible adulthood – in their personal lives, civic engagement and in the labour market.</p>
<p>Qualifications, such as A Levels and GCSEs, have always been a critical factor in shaping young people’s futures, though they have not always been essential. </p>
<p>The cohort of early school leavers with whom I worked as a youth worker at the end of the 1970s have largely stayed in skilled and unskilled manual employment throughout their lives.
Most had no qualifications at all, or just enough to secure apprenticeships or lower white-collar work. Yet nearly all their children completed A Levels and many went to university – though few have secured a firm foothold in the labour market.</p>
<h2>Austerity’s children</h2>
<p>But even their situation is by no means as precarious and uncertain as it is for those getting their A Level results this summer. Today’s 18-year-olds were just 12 when the financial crisis began in 2008, and have lived their formative teenage years in austerity Britain.</p>
<p>We hear mixed stories about the position and perceptions of those young people. Some reports suggest they remain <a href="http://www.graduate-jobs.com/news/12459/Young_people_more_optimistic_about_futures">remarkably optimistic</a>, more than ready to make their own way in a world that has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, and particularly since the start of the financial crisis. </p>
<p>Others <a href="http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3369/People-in-western-countries-pessimistic-about-future-for-young-people.aspx">point to their pessimism</a>, even desperation and despondency, about the world they have to face. Certainly there are terrifying numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training, routinely horribly described as <a href="https://theconversation.com/small-drop-in-neets-but-who-counts-the-cost-of-the-missing-23746">“NEET”</a>. Limited government youth training and employment initiatives have largely been ineffective. </p>
<p>And under the new benefits regime, being unemployed presents a nightmare scenario for the young, with the long-term unemployed required to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jobless-mustsign-on-every-day-government-to-dock-money-from-longterm-unemployed-if-they-do-not-comply-9294586.html">attend the Job Centre every day</a> or work for nothing.</p>
<h2>Embedding privilege</h2>
<p>For the new A Level achiever, there are few guarantees, save the strong possibility of pursuing further studies at university. Theoretically, there are options to take a different course (in both senses of the word) and certainly in the new creative and cultural industries new paths are opening up.</p>
<p>But for the majority of young people at the end of their final year of schooling, the path will divide into those who go to university and those who seek to access vocational training and the labour market directly. For all but the most privileged (who will be cushioned and cosseted through both parental financial resources and the increasingly important benefits of nepotistic parental networks), both paths are likely to be a rocky road.</p>
<p>Those young people <a href="https://theconversation.com/gap-between-state-and-private-school-admissions-to-top-unis-due-to-grades-not-bias-30178">who gain places at elite British universities</a> should be fine. They are likely to have a sufficiently attractive blend of human capital (qualifications), social capital (contacts) and identity capital (self-presentation knowledge and skills).</p>
<p>Others, however well they continue to perform in academic terms, are likely to be less well-prepared. They will face intense competition from other young people with very similar backgrounds, experiences, competencies and characteristics.</p>
<h2>Get straight to work</h2>
<p>Opting for earlier entry into the labour market carries comparable distinctions between the advantaged and those facing an uphill struggle. Some young people will be successful through an effective blend of good fortune, personal resourcefulness and a (financial and networking) helping hand from families, friends and relatives. </p>
<p>Many others, after months of effort, will find themselves tagged with the dreadful “NEET” label and placed at the mercy of those charged with motivating shirkers and skivers to return to work – even if they never started. After such debilitating experiences, some will inevitably return to education. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180504/DFE-00031-2011.pdf">Research has told us</a> for a long time that the take-up of further and higher education opportunities is often as much the product of the push of unemployment as the pull of learning.</p>
<p>There is, of course, the option of self-employment, <a href="http://business-reporter.co.uk/2014/08/self-employement-accounts-for-more-than-15-per-cent-of-the-uks-labour-force/">currently being hailed</a> as one key factor in the current “recovery”. Among the young, this may work for a very few. For most who try it, it is likely to be a temporary measure in predictable, under-capitalised and saturated sectors of the labour market – as young people wait for something more secure to turn up. And there <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0268093910060301">are strong arguments</a> that entrepreneurship is not for the young. There are also risks with blaming enterprising young people who give something a go and then are deemed to “fail”.</p>
<h2>No time to abandon the young</h2>
<p>These days, young people need so much more than their two or three A Levels. They need versatility, resilience and support as well as a modicum of good luck. Whatever route young people take at 18, they need to develop what are routinely described as “soft skills” in order to cope with the ups and downs and twists and turns of increasingly rapid social and economic change. </p>
<p>And where young people find themselves in cul-de-sacs, they must not be abandoned there. Politicians of all persuasions should be encouraged to consider the ideas on social renewal relating to young people that are enshrined in IPPR’s recent report <a href="http://www.ippr.org/publications/the-condition-of-britain-strategies-for-social-renewal">The Condition of Britain</a>. </p>
<p>A Level achievement is the pinnacle of formal learning in school, usually achieved in parallel with the age of majority. Young people invariably want to build on that success, an entry point to adulthood, in a number of ways. There is an economic rationale, social need and moral duty to help them to do it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Howard Williamson is a trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.</span></em></p>I have worked with young people all my life, as a youth worker, academic teacher and youth policy adviser. I have observed their trajectories, listened to their aspirations, supported them in the steps…Howard Williamson, Professor of European Youth Policy, Faculty of Business and Society, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/289372014-08-11T05:15:48Z2014-08-11T05:15:48ZA Levels must do more than just prep students for university<p>The first lessons teaching the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/nctl/examsadmin/news/archive/a00217355/alevels">new linear A Level</a>, designed specifically with the preparation of students for degree-level education in mind, will be taught in schools and colleges from September 2015. But this does not mean that we can expect those students admitted to university from 2017 to be significantly better prepared for our degree courses than they have been previously. This is not because of any fault with the A Level content, but because the idea that they are designed primarily to prepare students for degree-level courses is rather outdated.</p>
<p>Nicky Morgan, the new secretary of state for education, will be responsible for overseeing the introduction of the new A levels. One of her <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/qualifications-and-curriculum-reform">first acts in post</a> was to announce a consultation on further content changes. But the changes are unmistakably the product of her predecessor Michael Gove. </p>
<p>In Gove’s view – set out in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/278146/SoS_January_2013_ofqual_letter_alevels_v2.pdf">letter to the chief executive of curriculums regulator Oqual</a> in January 2013 – A levels needed reforming so that their “primary purpose” would be to “prepare students for degree-level study”, something which he believed the previous modular nature of the qualification and repeated assessment windows did not allow. Gove argued that this bite-sized approach prevented students from developing the “deep understanding or the necessary skills to make connections between topics.”</p>
<p>The government’s own data <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-higher-education-initial-participation-rates#documents">reveals that in 2012-13</a>, 48% of those who took an A level or equivalent level qualification did not go on to university. Figures for last year have been delayed until the end of August. To lump all degree-level courses together as something which a single qualification can prepare for is naive at best. </p>
<p>Of the 52% of students who do go on to university following A Levels, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-publishes-destination-data-for-the-first-time">8% go on to study at research-intensive Russell Group universities</a> at which they are likely to get a very different educational experience to those who attend institutions which are purely focused upon teaching or vocational courses.</p>
<h2>Too many hats</h2>
<p>The A Level is a tool to further develop students’ core skills, but also to assess and grade them nationally. The strict syllabus and mark scheme enables the ranking of these students in as equal and fair a manner as possible. To believe it is possible for an A level to serve this purpose, while also acting as entry preparation for any degree-level course, is putting too great an expectation upon the qualification.</p>
<p>The nature of the reform also fails to address the areas students need further preparation in. Courses taught in modules are not a problem for universities: most courses are taught this way. By delivering programmes in these smaller chunks, students are able to take the lessons learnt from the feedback provided for one module into their next, allowing them to critically reflect upon their performance and continuously improve. </p>
<p>Retention of large amounts of information and subject knowledge in one’s head for a timed exam is again <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/aug/12/students-interdisciplinary-teaching-research-university">not something universities</a> are particularly concerned about. Digitisation and easy access data has made memorising key details significantly less important. What is important is how one locates, assesses and uses that data.</p>
<p>The desire to reform the A Levels has grown from a common misconception that there is <a href="http://journals.heacademy.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.3108/beej.18.3SE">some sort of skills gap</a> between sixth form study and higher education. Yes, there is a significant difference in how a student is expected to learn and respond to assessment at A level compared to degree level. But the idea that sixth form education is failing to raise students to the necessary academic level, is a misreading of education. </p>
<p>At degree level, students are not competing nationally, nor are they confined by a strict curriculum that all other students are following. As such, they have significantly more freedom to respond to assessments. While challenging in its own right, in many ways this is actually easier than performing within the constricting nature of the A Levels they took previously.</p>
<p>So there is not a skills gap between A Level and degree-level – rather a skills disconnect. A Levels are doing something very different to a degree, and students need to adjust to this different style of learning and assessment when they undertake higher education. </p>
<p>In my own subject, History, more than 50,000 students a year sit A level exams. In order to be able to compare and rank these students fairly the syllabus needs to be strictly controlled and the scope of students’ responses fitted into a mark scheme. A description of the relationship between the British government and the East India Company would achieve basic marks, whereas an evaluation of the extent to which specific legislation – included in the syllabus – limited the company’s power would gain the student more. </p>
<p>It is this narrow assessment which leads to accusations of spoon-feeding, where teachers train students to repeat the specific pieces of information examiners will reward. This is not the fault of the teacher or the student, or a failing of the A level. It is just the reality of a mass-examination system which seeks to compare students from a wide range of backgrounds. Once at university, where the student is no longer competing with thousands of others, the assessments can be less prescriptive. </p>
<h2>Extended projects offer another way</h2>
<p>None of this is to say that students cannot and should not seek to ready themselves for the academic rigours of university while studying at sixth form. It is just that the A Level is not the best tool for doing so. One of the most significant developments in preparing students for higher education in the past decade has come from the consistent growth of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). This stand-alone qualification, which can be taken alongside a student’s A Levels, serves as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mini-dissertations-for-sixth-formers-will-open-up-art-history-24991">ideal introduction</a> to higher education. </p>
<p>At the University of Southampton, we have been doing all we can to actively support this qualification. We provide a range of free online materials for students and their staff supervisors, deliver workshops and host visits to our libraries and have formally introduced the EPQ into our admissions criteria. We have also <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/research-project-jul-2014">created an online course</a> designed to help students with their projects. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the ongoing <a href="http://www.ascl.org.uk/news-and-views/news_news-detail.new-report-shows-funding-cuts-are-stripping-a-level-and-vocational-courses-to-the-bare-bones.html">budget cuts</a> to the sixth form sector have made funding the EPQ more challenging for state sixth forms. It is not necessary to overhaul the whole system, rather better support what already exists. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28937/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher J. Fuller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first lessons teaching the new linear A Level, designed specifically with the preparation of students for degree-level education in mind, will be taught in schools and colleges from September 2015…Christopher J. Fuller, PhD Candidate, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/300552014-08-01T13:35:53Z2014-08-01T13:35:53ZMedia studies goes (back) to school<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/55508/original/pctt4h76-1406885988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Media evolves pretty quickly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lac-bac</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>There was a brief flurry of panic as Ofqual, the UK government agency charged with looking after school qualifications, left both film studies and media studies out of the list of subjects students would be allowed to take after a big reform they are pushing through. The good news is that they are safe … for now.</p>
<p>According to the key document <a href="http://ofqual.gov.uk/news/gcse-level-reform-consultation/">Completing GCSE, AS and A level Reform</a>, 55,851 students are taking media studies at GCSE (typically taken at 16 years old), 34,388 at AS level (17) and 24,503 at A level (18 years old). This makes it one of the largest subjects being considered for reform. And film and media studies together are the tenth most popular subject at A level. Media Studies graduate <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/pis/emp">employment indicator figures</a> for 2013 are equally encouraging, with numbers ranging from 88.7 to 94.7%. These statistics don’t only show popularity – but also good employment prospects. </p>
<p>Film and media are part of our daily lives. They are also major industries. The British Film Institute estimates that <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-economic-impact-of-the-uk-film-industry-2012-09-17.pdf">UK film is worth £4.5 billion to the economy</a> and the Confederation of British Industry that the <a href="http://www.cbi.org.uk/business-issues/creative-industries/creative-nation-report/">creative industries</a>, in which media figure prominently, constitute 10.6% of UK exports and employ 1.5m people. </p>
<p>Today, every industry, government and NGO needs communications and media specialists for internal and external communications. Media, in all its forms, contributes increasingly to students’ self-awareness and cultural formation. Both subjects combine critical with practical skills. Both combine understanding of the textual practices involved, ethical issues such as truth and equality of access, understanding political economy and knowledge of technological parameters. Practical work teaches both vocational and generic skills, notably research, planning and evaluation. There’s no question that these subjects meet the “real and relevant” criteria of Ofqual’s remit.</p>
<p>The media is in constant evolution. There are new texts every night, significant new production, distribution and consumption tools about every six to eight months, and major inventions like games, mobile and social media at a rate of about one a decade. The rate of evolution makes it imperative to choose wisely and with foresight what knowledge and skills will be required over the potential 40 or 50 years of students’ working lives. Because of this, media studies still constitutes a distinctive field of study, with few overlaps with neighbouring disciplines such as drama, sociology or English. </p>
<p>Overly prescriptive curricula will lock students into the present needs of an industry which will almost certainly have different needs in the near future. I’ve been at more than one event where industry representatives asked us to train people for <a href="http://www.techopedia.com/definition/104/in-betweening-tweening">in-betweening</a> (a technique in animation that disappeared about two years after this event) or to prepare students to be skilled users of MySpace. Flexibility is what’s needed, and this is what is at the heart of the discipline: learning to work in groups, fundamental principles of communication, and core critical skills for the assessment of media practises and content.</p>
<p>The combination of critical and practical components in assessment allows for a wider range of students to succeed. Of course, as Professor Buckingham notes in his <a href="http://www.themea.org.uk/2014/06/">report for the Media Education Association</a>, there is always room for improvement in the descriptors for the various levels of achievement in practical work, a problem shared with art and drama. But these are problems we share with industry: if we knew how to deliver creative and successful results every time, we’d all be billionaires.</p>
<p>The subjects provide a valuable platform for students who intend to leave school and go directly into the work force. They equip them with the ability to read forms of media which are now the dominant form of public communications and to produce their own responses and creative works in the forms which now dominate social and other network media. They also provide a subject-specific grounding valuable for further study in disciplines including political science, sociology, psychology, education, art, design, drama and some areas of information science and computing. And they encourage a participatory mode of thinking and working: addressing the representation of all sectors of the population, not only as a matter of interpretation but of practice. </p>
<p>It seems odd that the one part of society that constantly moans about studying film and media is the media. Of course journos and filmmakers want to hang onto their jobs, and of course media owners want to stem the tide of criticism that has been directed at them in recent years. But that is no reason to stifle the creative dreams and critical intelligence of future generations. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
There was a brief flurry of panic as Ofqual, the UK government agency charged with looking after school qualifications, left both film studies and media studies out of the list of subjects students would…Sean Cubitt, Professor of Film and Television, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/285602014-06-30T04:51:41Z2014-06-30T04:51:41ZBright, poor students less likely to get into elite universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52465/original/327grmp6-1403875311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jump for joy but not always so high. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/centralsussexcollege/9517992502/sizes/l">Central Sussex College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only 3% of able students from poorer backgrounds are likely to end up at an elite university, according to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smcpc-research-on-attainment-of-disadvantaged-children">new research</a> on the impact of education on social mobility. This is compared to 10% of students overall. But poorer students are actually getting into elite universities with lower A-level grades than their richer counterparts. </p>
<p>Education, particularly at university-level, is a major route to success in the labour market and is one of the main drivers of social mobility. It is essential we understand how to improve the chances of poor but able students attending higher education and specifically achieving access to the most high status universities.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smcpc-research-on-attainment-of-disadvantaged-children">research</a> funded by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Claire Crawford at the University of Warwick, Lindsey Macmillan from the Institute of Education and I investigated the pathways that able children from different socio-economic backgrounds take on their route to higher education.</p>
<p>We focused on those poor children who, against the odds, succeeded in making their way into a high status university, building on research which has documented the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0335.t01-1-00272/abstract">stark socio-economic gaps in pupils’ achievement</a> at every stage. Previous <a href="http://onlinelibry.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2012.01043.x/abstract">research has also looked</a> at these issues on widening participation before, but not with the same data. </p>
<p>We defined high-status institutions as those in the Russell Group or with similarly strong research profiles, as measured by the Research Assessment Exercise. We used administrative data on a cohort of children born in 1991–92 and we were able to follow them through the education system into higher education.</p>
<h2>Falling behind on qualifications</h2>
<p>The socio-economic gaps in achievement are stark. Overall, around one in ten students attends a high status university, using our definition. By contrast just less than 3% of poor students who claimed free school meals throughout secondary school go to an elite university. </p>
<p>But this very large discrepancy is almost entirely explained by the fact that poorer students do not do as well as their richer counterparts throughout the education system and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gcse-attainment-crucial-for-widening-participation-in-higher-education-27752">fail to attain the necessary qualifications</a> at A level to access such institutions. </p>
<p>Earlier in the education system, only just under 9% of the most deprived children reach level 3 in both reading and maths at Key Stage 1. This is compared with 27% of the least deprived children. At Key Stage 2, 7% of those who always claim free school meals attain level 5 in English and maths, compared with 19% of those who do not always claim free school meals. </p>
<p>Our research also suggests that while high achieving children from well-off families continue on their high attainment trajectory throughout their education, equally able children from poorer families fall off this trajectory particularly between ages 11 and 16. </p>
<p>This results in fewer deprived children getting good grades at GCSE and continuing on to post-16 and higher education. We concluded that this means secondary schools have a vital role to play in protecting and enhancing the performance of all children who are high attainers at primary, particularly those from the most deprived backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Getting in with lower grades</h2>
<p>Poor students who do succeed in making it into a high status university actually have lower A level grades than their more advantaged peers who also attend such institutions. </p>
<p>Of those who enrol in an elite university, 47% of the most deprived children achieve at least three A or B grades at A level, compared with 73% of the least deprived children. This finding is only partially explained by the fact that poorer students tend to attend the less elite universities (that have lower grade requirements) within this group of higher status institutions. </p>
<p>There are two main explanations as to why poorer students in elite institutions have slightly lower A level grades. It may be that richer students exceed the university minimum A level grade requirement by more than poorer students, effectively over-shooting on what universities ask of them. </p>
<p>Alternatively, it may mean that some universities are taking account of students’ contexts when making grade offers: they may acknowledge that some students have more disadvantaged circumstances and so offer them lower grades. </p>
<p>Further research is needed to understand which of these explanations is more likely, but either way this implies that children from more deprived backgrounds can afford to be more ambitious and increase their rate of application to elite institutions. </p>
<p>It is therefore important that schools, universities and policymakers do everything they can to provide the support and advice poor students need to make applications to higher status universities: those with the top grades stand a good chance of getting in if they do apply. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Vignoles, Claire Crawford and Lindsey MacMillan received funding from The Commission for Social Mobility and Child Poverty for the underlying research.</span></em></p>Only 3% of able students from poorer backgrounds are likely to end up at an elite university, according to new research on the impact of education on social mobility. This is compared to 10% of students…Anna Vignoles, Professor of Education, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/285682014-06-27T14:36:37Z2014-06-27T14:36:37ZMake science and maths compulsory to 18 and stop political meddling in curriculum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52457/original/ff29r4kj-1403870452.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Extending the science sphere of influence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Society</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our world is changing at a greater pace than ever witnessed before. Our economies are changing and our understanding of the world around us is changing. Our education systems must also change too because, as they stand, they will not meet the needs of our economy and our culture in 20 years time. </p>
<p>While there are many examples of excellent teaching, the curriculum taught in schools in the UK and the qualifications offered to students are not equipping them to live successfully in the future. We must act now to ensure that our education systems remain innovative and world-leading in the years to come, so that all young people can take advantage of the opportunities that come their way.</p>
<p>That is why I am leading calls to make science and mathematics compulsory up to age 18 as part of a baccalaureate, and to create an independent body – no longer a political football – responsible for overseeing the curriculum.</p>
<p>The Royal Society has <a href="https://royalsociety.org/%7E/media/education/policy/vision/reports/vision-full-report-20140625.pdf">published a report</a> that sets out ways to start solving these important issues. As a “vision for science and mathematics education”, it has two goals: to raise the general level of mathematical and scientific knowledge and confidence in the population, and to ensure that education systems link people’s learning and skills to the current and future needs of the economy.</p>
<h2>Why science and mathematics education is important</h2>
<p>We can only have a democratic society if people are capable of balancing the benefits and risks of new science and are able to reason mathematically. </p>
<p>Science, engineering and technology drive economic growth across the world, and governments of emerging countries increasingly emphasise the teaching and learning of these subjects. Yet employers in the United Kingdom <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10696388/STEM-Awards-businesses-facing-major-skills-shortage.html">report significant difficulties in recruiting young people</a> with the appropriate mathematical and scientific skills they need.</p>
<p>The roots of scientific and mathematical literacy lie in an excellent science and mathematics education gained early in life. This is why our report addresses specific issues relating to the ongoing and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23588850">persistent shortages of specialist science and mathematics teachers</a> and the poor progression rates of students to post-16 science and maths across much of the UK.</p>
<h2>Studying mathematics and science until 18</h2>
<p>Young people are not served well by the narrowing of the current curriculum at 16 and 18. Only a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-maths-qualifications-to-boost-numbers-studying-maths-to-age-18">fifth of young people in the UK study mathematics</a> beyond 16 and it has been estimated that at least one in four economically active adults is functionally innumerate. </p>
<p>We need a new approach to science and mathematics education, with all young people studying science and mathematics to the age of 18, alongside the arts and humanities, as part of a new baccalaureate-style framework that provides a broad education. </p>
<p>Of course we are not suggesting all young people study A-levels in chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics. It is important to create new and rigorous post-16 courses and qualifications to engage students who are not specialising in the sciences.</p>
<p>Inspirational science and mathematics teachers must be celebrated. We will need many more of them – and for the status of the profession to be raised – if the reforms we propose are to happen.</p>
<h2>A stable curriculum</h2>
<p>Teachers need stability so they can concentrate on teaching. Change is important – but education has become a political football with <a href="https://theconversation.com/would-you-admit-to-being-a-teacher-today-22413">too many reforms</a> taking place – which is often to the detriment of excellent science and mathematics education. </p>
<p>We propose the creation of new, independent expert curriculum bodies in England and Wales and greater support for those in existence in Northern Ireland and Scotland. These bodies would draw on the expertise of those working in the science, mathematics and engineering professions to create dynamic and high quality curricula for the subjects. These should evolve over time but do not require frequent, radical change. </p>
<p>This focus on the expertise of subjects and the involvement of these experts from academia and industry would make these bodies different to any anything which has existed before. </p>
<p>Bringing these ideas to life will, of course, require public and political will and a concerted effort by those people working as science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals. Without these people, this Vision could not have been developed, and will not be able to be taken forward.</p>
<p>The UK is fortunate that many of these individuals belong to vibrant, strong communities – whether learned societies or professional bodies. These organisations have a strong infrastructure which will be vital in helping establish the new curriculum and assessment arrangements we want. This will also be important in order to create a science and mathematics teaching community which is highly trained, motivated and inspirational. And to assure access to high-quality teacher training and professional development. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Taylor is the chair of the Vision for science and mathematics education committee at the Royal Society. He has received grants from EPSRC.</span></em></p>Our world is changing at a greater pace than ever witnessed before. Our economies are changing and our understanding of the world around us is changing. Our education systems must also change too because…Martin Taylor, Warden of Merton College and Professor of Pure Mathematics, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/277522014-06-13T11:59:22Z2014-06-13T11:59:22ZGCSE attainment crucial for widening participation in higher education<p>While the proportion of students from more deprived families and neighbourhoods who go to university has been increasing in recent years, those from poorer backgrounds are still <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/hefce/content/heinengland/2014report/HEinEngland_2014.pdf">far less likely to go to university than those from richer backgrounds</a>.</p>
<p>In a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/secondary-school-characteristics-and-university-participation">research project</a> funded by the Department for Education, I investigated the role of schools in helping to explain who goes to university and how well they do once they are there. I compared higher education participation rates and degree outcomes amongst pupils who attended different secondary schools, and explored the factors that help to explain these differences.</p>
<p>My findings highlight the importance of attainment at GCSE level, not just A-level, in explaining higher education participation decisions and degree outcomes. Schools can contribute to higher university entry and performance by helping students make the right choices about the subjects and qualifications they take at GCSE level, and by ensuring that they achieve the best possible grades. </p>
<p>They also suggest that among similar students with similar GCSE and A level results, those from less effective state schools may have higher “potential” than those from private, selective or more effective state schools, as they seem to perform significantly better once at university. This may be something that universities want to be aware of in making entry offers.</p>
<h2>The gap</h2>
<p>My research uses administrative data on all pupils in England. This data provides information on where pupils go to school, as well as their GCSE and A-level results. If they go to university, it also shows which institution they attend, whether they complete their degree, and which degree class they receive.</p>
<p>Compared to students who attend less effective state schools, those who attend private, selective and more effective state schools are substantially more likely to go to university, especially to “high-status” institutions – meaning those in the Russell Group, plus those with comparably high research quality. These students are also less likely to drop out, more likely to complete their degree, and more likely to be awarded a higher degree class.</p>
<p>But the fact that different types of pupils attend different types of schools is crucial for understanding these differences. Students from less effective state schools are more likely to come from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, more likely to have special educational needs, and have lower attainment, on average, than students from other types of schools. </p>
<p>In particular, they are much less likely to achieve good grades in the qualifications and subjects that are highly regarded by universities. </p>
<h2>Flip and reverse</h2>
<p>For example, I found that while 91% of pupils at selective independent schools achieve at least five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, only 39% of pupils at non-selective community schools do the same.</p>
<p>The differences come into even sharper relief once we focus on subjects that form part of the English baccalaureate (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/english-baccalaureate-information-for-schools">EBacc</a>): maths, English, science, history and/or geography, and languages. While 86% of pupils at selective independent schools achieve at least 5 A* to C grades in EBacc subjects, just 28% of students from non-selective community schools do the same.</p>
<p>These gaps are important. They are a key part of the reason why students from private, selective and more effective state schools are more likely to go to university – and do better once they are there – than pupils from less effective state schools.</p>
<p>When we compare students from similar backgrounds with the same grades in the same qualifications and subjects at the end of secondary school, the differences in participation virtually disappear: there is no longer any difference in how likely you are to go to university on the basis of the type of school you attend. </p>
<p>The impact of comparing like with like is even starker when we look at university outcomes. When we compare pupils from similar backgrounds with the same GCSE (and A-level) attainment, the association between secondary school characteristics and university outcomes is reversed: pupils from private, selective and more effective state schools are more likely to drop out, less likely to complete their degree, and less likely to be awarded a first or a 2:1 than similar pupils with similar attainment from less effective state schools. </p>
<p>For example, pupils from selective independent schools are 2.6 percentage points more likely to drop out, 6.4 percentage points less likely to complete their degree, and 10.3 percentage points less likely to graduate with a first or a 2:1 than similar pupils with similar attainment from non-selective community schools. This remains true even for comparisons of pupils from different schools who attend the same universities and study the same subjects. </p>
<h2>Results matter</h2>
<p>Moreover, GCSE attainment remains significantly associated with higher education participation and outcomes, even after accounting for A-level scores. </p>
<p>For example, every additional GCSE in an EBacc subject at grade A* is associated with a 2 percentage point increase in the likelihood of going to university and a 0.5-1 percentage point increase in the probability of attending a high-status institution. It is also associated with a 2 percentage point reduction in the likelihood of dropping out, and a 3 percentage point increase in the probability of graduating with a first or a 2:1.</p>
<p>These results suggest that “widening participation” efforts should focus on ensuring that pupils from all schools make the right choices over the subjects and qualifications they take at the end of secondary school, and that they maximise their chances of getting good grades at this level.</p>
<p>But they also raise the possibility that universities may wish to take into account the type of school a student attended when making them an offer. Among similar students with similar GCSE and A level results, my results suggest that those from less effective state schools perform significantly better at university.</p>
<p>While recognising that this is true on average, and not for every student, it is certainly something that universities should be aware of when setting entry requirements. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27752/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Crawford receives funding for her research from a range of government departments, research councils, charitable trusts and other organisations, including the Economic and Social Research Council, the Nuffield Foundation, the Department for Education, Universities UK, the Education Endowment Foundation and the Sutton Trust. All of her research is independent and the views expressed in this article are entirely her own.</span></em></p>While the proportion of students from more deprived families and neighbourhoods who go to university has been increasing in recent years, those from poorer backgrounds are still far less likely to go to…Claire Crawford, Assistant Professor, Economics Department, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/265292014-05-09T11:19:13Z2014-05-09T11:19:13ZRussell Brand English A Level will be refreshing and rigorous<p>The exam board OCR recently announced a new English Language and Literature A Level that they intend to offer from 2015. The <a href="http://www.ocr.org.uk/news/view/unique-exam-board-and-educational-charity-partnership-creates-radical-new-a-level/">proposed syllabus</a> boasts that “the range of texts to be studied is to be the most diverse yet for any English A Level”. The spread covers Emily Dickinson and William Blake, but also more recent non-literary and spoken material. OCR’s press release cites <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_LHuII-jYQ">Russell Brand’s</a> presentation to the parliamentary committee on drug addiction and Jeremy Paxman’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQvOgwUOuVw">interview with rapper Dizzee Rascal</a> on BBC’s Newsnight as examples. </p>
<p>Few things raise blood pressures more precipitously than the nature and quality of education, and when combined with the spectre of cultural and linguistic change, this upbeat and apparently innocuous press release was destined to unleash a splenetic torrent of complaint.</p>
<p>Straight English Literature A Level will have a different syllabus, as will English Language. This combined language and literature course will be about recognising and analysing the cornucopia of ways in which language can and does function, using both literary and linguistic techniques to achieve that. And this is something to be celebrated.</p>
<p>I will come straight off the fence and say that I think the proposals look like they will be both refreshing and rigorous. Of course, not everyone shares this enthusiasm. A Department of Education source is quoted as saying that: “Schools should be aware that if they offer this rubbish in place of a proper A-level, then pupils may not get into good universities.” And there are many comments peppering articles on the subject along the lines that “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/english-a-level-russell-brand-dizzee-rascal">Britain has had it</a>” and “this is awful”.</p>
<p>We see a more measured response in Laura Barton’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/07/russell-brand-a-level-english-language-evolves">piece in the Guardian</a>. “Language evolves – get over it”, she says. Newsnight, on the other hand, concluded its broadcast on May 7 with a rerun of part of the interview with “Mr Rascal”, subtitled in mock Shakespearean. So for, against, or just taking the piss, the chattering classes are doing what they do best.</p>
<p>But this is not the first time there has been blood on the carpet over the English syllabus. When it was suggested to the Regius Professor of History at Oxford in 1877 that the teaching of English Literature be associated with the School of Modern History, he replied: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>To have the History School hampered with dilettante teaching, such as the teaching of English Literature, must necessarily do great harm to the School. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Agonising over whether teaching English would be, in the words of the Professor of Moral Philosophy, “to reverse the Renaissance”, delayed the establishment of the Oxford English School until 1894. And to convince their opponents of the rigour of the degree, the syllabus committee prescribed compulsory study of the dead Gothic language as a counterweight to the “miserably inadequate training” offered by such options as “Authors from 1700 to 1832”. So there is a century-long tradition of those who are not themselves teachers or students of English seeking to protect their own position by inveighing against any innovation in this domain.</p>
<p>It was English literature that was viewed as being too “soft”, too “frivolous” to study a century and a half ago. Today, it is non-literary uses of language that have become the whipping boy. But there is plenty that a student of English could learn from Russell Brand’s speech to the parliamentary committee. It is an incongruous moment when Russell Brand enters the formally structured and formally clad arena and Keith Vaz MP bids him “have a seat”. This in and of itself provides food for thought and analysis. </p>
<p>It is clear from his first utterance that Brand does not speak with an <a href="http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/find-out-more/received-pronunciation/">RP</a> accent. What are the phonetic and phonological features which make him recognisably different from his interlocutor, the effortlessly smooth Vaz, and how can these be described using the appropriate technical tools? Does his pronunciation matter? What is the rhetorical impact of its juxtaposition to his complex syntax and vocabulary (what Brand calls his “propensity for verbosity”)? Should some forms of language be reserved for some contexts and not others? What happens when our expectations in this respect are challenged? What makes for effective rhetoric – and is this just a matter of linguistic choice, or is making a striking and memorable presentation about more than just the language forms we select?</p>
<p>The Department of Education needn’t fret. Any student who has thought hard about and engaged with the richness of language by asking and finding answers to questions like these will be welcome at the good university in which I work. </p>
<p>English – as a language – is not a gold standard to be admired from afar. It is a repertoire performed as much by the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/series/the-secret-footballer">Secret Footballer</a> as by Shakespeare, and the parts of that repertoire worth studying – tweet or tetrameter – are those which surprise us into thinking differently about the world.</p>
<p>Compulsory Gothic, anyone?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Linn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The exam board OCR recently announced a new English Language and Literature A Level that they intend to offer from 2015. The proposed syllabus boasts that “the range of texts to be studied is to be the…Andrew Linn, Professor of the History of Linguistics, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/257992014-04-29T05:13:10Z2014-04-29T05:13:10ZSchool history exams shouldn’t just be a test of Britishness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47150/original/6dfbpfh9-1398681651.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's more to history than kings and queens. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/298031269/sizes/l">wallg</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government has recently <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/302102/A_level_history_subject_content.pdf">announced changes</a> to the content of GCSE and A level history exams in England. As in previous reforms to the history curriculum, the documents set out the proportion of British history which children must learn in their history course. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gcse-subject-content">At GCSE</a> level, exams will now have to have a 40% focus on British history, up from 25%, but at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gce-as-and-a-level-for-history">A level</a>, the proportion of British content has been reduced from 25% to 20%. </p>
<p>When I was an A level examiner in the 1980s and early 1990s, the exam consisted of two equally weighted papers, one British, one European, so British history accounted for 50% of the subject content which was studied. </p>
<p>Unlike the draft version of the national curriculum for history unveiled by the department of education in February 2013 and <a href="http://www.consider-ed.org.uk/historical-associations-response-to-the-draft-national-curriculum">strongly criticised by over 90% of history teachers</a> in a Historical Association survey, the new proposals read as if they have been constructed by people with a sound grasp of the principles involved in history education. I suspect there is very little in the aims and objectives section that practising history teachers would find objectionable or inappropriate. </p>
<p>There are many questions to ask about the purpose and design of history exams, but I’m going to focus here on two: to what extent should history examinations be based around the story of the nation’s past? And should history teaching attempt to present a positive picture of the nation’s past, rather than a dispassionately objective and critical one? </p>
<h2>The purposes of school history</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8043872/Conservative-Part-Conference-schoolchildren-ignorant-of-the-past-says-Gove.html">Politicians</a> and <a href="http://www.politeia.co.uk/sites/default/files/files/Final%20Appendix%20to%20Lessons%20from%20History.pdf">some think tanks</a> have argued that the main purpose of school history should be to provide young people with an understanding of the main political and constitutional developments in the nation’s past that have led us to where we are today. </p>
<p>Some historians have argued this gives young people a reductionist and archaic picture of the discipline of history. David Cannadine <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/this-sceptical-isle/96008.article">points out</a> that, since World War II, “historians of ideas, of culture, of capitalism, of technology, of population, of race, of sex, of gender and of religion were rarely concerned with specific national boundaries at all”. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.schoolshistoryproject.org.uk/ResourceBase/downloads/MandlerKeynote2013.pdf">his critique</a> of an early draft of the new history curriculum, historian Peter Mandler noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is nothing about ‘Britain transformed’ by the rise of the mass media (from radio and cinema to television and the internet), or by secularisation, or by women’s entry into the labour market, or by youth sub-cultures, or by consumerism, or by globalisation, or by the ebb and flow of equality and inequality, or by family limitation, or by Americanisation, or by social mobility, or by environmental change or ideas of history and heritage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mandler also pointed to the danger of only teaching British or non-European history when people from those countries become part of the empire or emigrate to Britain. </p>
<p>It should be borne in mind that the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study">new national curriculum</a> for history, like its predecessor, focuses mainly on British history at Key Stage 3 (the two or three years before GCSEs), so pupils will already have studied British history from 1066 onwards. </p>
<p>Under the new examination arrangements, (as in the national curriculum for history), the subject will still be presented primarily in geographical terms: British/European/other. And although there is still a paragraph about exploring history from a range of perspectives, it is likely that political history will once again prevail for the most part. </p>
<p>This is in spite of the fact that history is about the human past, not just the national one. Cultural and supranational issues such as climate change, food supply, employment, population, globalisation, migration, power and inequality are arguably more relevant to young people’s lives than kings and queens. </p>
<p>Yet the secretary of state for education Michael Gove <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255899/Children-learn-poetry-monarchs-England-heart-Tory-plans.html">has argued</a> that what most people want is “a traditional education, with children sitting in rows, learning the kings and queens of England”.</p>
<h2>Back to the past</h2>
<p>This brings us to the second question about the way a nation’s past should be presented in schools, and in examinations. Before the 1970s, history in English schools was taught in the main as a positive and celebratory “progress narrative”, sometimes termed “Whig History”. </p>
<p>From the 1970s, there was a move towards a more objective, critical and questioning enquiry into the nation’s past. More emphasis was put on the virtues of pupils developing an understanding of the discipline of history, with its rules and conventions for ascertaining the validity of claims made about the past. </p>
<p>There is no question that Gove is pushing for a return to a positive and celebratory rendering of “our island story” in English schools, the sort of school history which prevailed in Victorian times and up to the 1970s. He has <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8043872/Conservative-Part-Conference-schoolchildren-ignorant-of-the-past-says-Gove.html">argued</a>: “The current approach to school history denies children the opportunity to hear our island story … this trashing of our past has to stop.” </p>
<p>It is argued by Gove and others (including much of the tabloid press), that the return to this heroic rendering of “our island story” will aid social cohesion. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47153/original/vbmc66vt-1398684161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Always at the centre of history?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4404528478/in/photolist-7HdmSb-7GaACn-cnxXKW-7GaADV-6viywK-55nonT-4p1jLh-ciPfBj-cUXBMQ-6kGg8o-KKeAg-4gzTG8-daAq9X-KeoVu-7rTNDH-55oPrU-55oSeb-55jCPk-7rTNK2-7rTPbB-7ZmsGq-dFtBgB-55rzkm-4gATc6-7HTkqE-7HtgW3-crJMkQ-7GaAGB-7HtgNJ-cZCKDf-KewHD-crJMg1-d1TDYq-d1TDVs-6kCbCV-cZCJDS-96C9qz-cZCLdh-cZCK9s-ekmfd-2C6FbV-8ZqMLG-Kh1Vn-d1TE81-d1TE27-d1TE5m-dFiiQQ-dFijzj-dFiiTJ-dFiea1">Boston Public Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/229545644_IDENTITY_AND_SCHOOL_HISTORY_THE_PERSPECTIVE_OF_YOUNG_PEOPLE_FROM_THE_NETHERLANDS_AND_ENGLAND">have argued elsewhere</a> that this is an unexamined assumption. The easy availability of other sources of information about Britain’s past, on the internet, on television, in newspapers and in popular history magazines makes it difficult to sustain this idealised past. Pupils will learn from other sources that all countries have their skeletons in the cupboard.</p>
<h2>Good history from bad</h2>
<p>It is important that history exams should assess pupils’ understanding of the substantive past. But they should also develop understanding of the nature and status of historical knowledge. This is part of what makes history useful to young people and to a healthy democracy. </p>
<p>The late historian <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/sep/22/history.politicalbooks">Eric Hobsbawn pointed out</a>, “History is being invented in vast quantities … the world is today full of people inventing histories and lying about history.” Given the variability in the quality and integrity of history that is now publicly available, and the sophistication with which information about the past is manipulated and used, it is more important than ever that children should be educated to discern good history from bad. </p>
<p>The strength of the government’s new proposals is that there is a clear acknowledgement of the importance of the development of critical and reflective learners, capable of handling information intelligently, and awareness that history teaching “<a href="http://www.uea.ac.uk/%7Em242/historypgce/purposes/purpose_critical_judgement.htm">has to take place</a> in a spirit which takes seriously the need to pursue truth on the basis of evidence”. </p>
<p>The danger is that the examinations will continue to place too much emphasis on the political and constitutional strands of “our island story” with a bit of European and world history thrown in. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Haydn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government has recently announced changes to the content of GCSE and A level history exams in England. As in previous reforms to the history curriculum, the documents set out the proportion of British…Terry Haydn, Professor of Education, School of Education & Lifelong Learning, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/255632014-04-15T05:17:42Z2014-04-15T05:17:42ZRemoving practicals from A level sciences will leave students poorly equipped<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46354/original/v8hxjtxq-1397464303.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do we get marked for this?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SCORE</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September 2013, I wrote for <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-level-reforms-need-real-input-from-science-experts-18123">The Conversation</a> about the way reform of A-level exams was being conducted and the worrying implications for subject content and assessment. These concerns were echoed by my colleagues in SCORE, a collaboration of leading science organisations, which I chair. </p>
<p>Soon after, Ofqual, the exams regulator, released <a href="http://comment.ofqual.gov.uk/a-level-regulatory-requirements-october-2013/">its proposals for changes</a> to the assessment of practical work in the A-level sciences. In particular, students’ performance in practical work would be assessed and reported separately from their A-level grade.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article3954966.ece">many within the science community</a> expressing grave concerns about the potential impact of these changes, <a href="http://ofqual.gov.uk/news/gcse-a-level-as-qualification-updates-ofqual/">Ofqual has now announced</a> that the proposals have been agreed by their board. </p>
<p>The separate mark for practical work will be reported as a simple pass or fail on students’ certificates and will not contribute to their A-level grade. This approach suggests practical work is an add-on to the main activity of science – quite the opposite to the reality. </p>
<p>The interplay between the theoretical ideas and experiment and observation is what distinguishes the sciences from other subjects. Furthermore, the proposal means that a student could fail their practical competence test and still achieve an A*.</p>
<h2>Little incentive</h2>
<p>A-level grades are of significant importance to any school’s performance measures. The proposals do not currently explain how the practical competency mark would contribute to performance measures within the school accountability system. </p>
<p>As a result, the new assessment arrangements run the risk of schools prioritising students’ A-level grades over their practical training. Together with ever-present financial pressures, the new system is likely to lead to a diminution in the level of resourcing and amount of practical work undertaken in schools. </p>
<p>It is disappointing that one of the issues Ofqual aims to solve through its reforms is the lack of confidence in the lab and the field displayed by students entering higher education. Yet not only would its proposed change deprive students of an authentic scientific experience at A-level, it would leave them poorly equipped for progression in the sciences.</p>
<p>Another unfortunate feature is that there is now no incentive – and may not be any opportunity – for schools to require students to carry out an extended investigation during A-level studies. These allow students to develop many of the practical skills valued by universities and employers – from the planning and design of an experiment, through to analysing data, drawing conclusions and evaluating the process. </p>
<p>This experience also encourages independent decision-making, boosts confidence and enjoyment, and demonstrates working and thinking scientifically. <a href="http://ofqual.gov.uk/documents/request-for-statistics-about-grade-distributions-correspondence/all-versions/">Evidence shows</a> that assessment through extended investigation helps differentiate student grades. It is also not subject to malpractice. Both of these are motivations behind Ofqual’s reform.</p>
<h2>Fewer experiments</h2>
<p>Practical work is integral to the sciences and must be assessed as such. Competencies in science cannot be learnt or taught in isolation: the process of doing science is integral to the process of thinking, working and behaving like a scientist.</p>
<p>And by restricting teachers to a minimum list of 12 practical experiments, the reform may limit opportunities to explore alternative investigations and could curtail activities in schools that already undertake more than the stipulated 12 experiments.</p>
<p>If, despite our concerns, the proposals proceed as planned, we would urge Ofqual to work closely with UCAS, university admissions departments and employers to clearly communicate the implications of separate marking in practical science assessment. </p>
<p>In particular, they must urgently consider how the changes can be acknowledged and supported in university admissions processes. Universities and employers need to be reassured of the validity of the separate practical endorsement and ensure that admissions tutors are encouraged to take the separate mark into account. It is also imperative that Ofqual carefully monitors schools as they undergo this change in order to understand the impact of reform on school behaviour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Buckingham is chair of SCORE, a collaboration of science organisations made up of the Association for Science Education, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Society of Biology. She receives funding from the MRC. </span></em></p>In September 2013, I wrote for The Conversation about the way reform of A-level exams was being conducted and the worrying implications for subject content and assessment. These concerns were echoed by…Julia Buckingham, Vice-Chancellor and Prinicipal, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/254662014-04-11T05:14:10Z2014-04-11T05:14:10ZArts A Levels need to be tougher for universities to accept them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46110/original/gtkp5n8h-1397127375.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Now, write an essay on the Pre-Raphaelites. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ellieroe/8127877527/sizes/l">Ellieboat via flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As part of the recent announcement that A Levels and GCSEs in arts subjects in England are to be made more <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-arts-gcses-to-be-introduced-in-2016">“rigorous and demanding”</a>, the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, said he was “passionate about great art, drama, dance, music and design, and determined to ensure every child enjoys access to the best in our culture”. Gove also claimed to “want to be able to nurture creative talent in every child”. </p>
<p>While I could spend many an hour deconstructing what he defines as “great” or “the best” in terms of “our” art and culture, it is interesting to reflect on how and why Gove believes making assessment processes more “rigorous and demanding” will deliver better access to “our culture”. </p>
<p>I am currently working with exam boards to help address one of the key challenges in the art and design A Level curriculum: why a number of Russell Group universities still do not value the qualification in the same way as other subjects.</p>
<p>Despite much complaint, art and design is still not listed in <a href="http://russellgroup.org/InformedChoices-latest.pdf">the document</a> the Russell Group publishes to advise teenagers on their A Level choices. </p>
<p>Cambridge University, for example, <a href="http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/publications/docs/subjectmatters.pdf">does not include art and design, drama and dance</a> in their list of “keystone” subjects that they suggest as useful preparation for arts and social sciences courses.</p>
<p>They add the caveat: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are, of course, many other A Level subjects we have not mentioned … the fact that we have not mentioned them does not mean that we think they are not individually worth taking. However, they are either rather specialised in focus … or else the way in which they are taught and assessed means that they do not provide a good preparation for [our] courses. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another Russell Group university, the University of Edinburgh, while currently accepting art and design for 2014 entry, <a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/entry-requirements/academic/subjects">says it will only accept</a> it for certain programmes from next year.</p>
<p>In my own school at Leeds we accept art and design A level and we highly value the creativity it encourages. But we also stipulate that we would prefer applicants to have a subject in their A level mix which demonstrates research and writing skills, given the academic nature of our BA programme.</p>
<h2>Critical research skills vital</h2>
<p>This is why I am supporting the exam boards to write the curriculum in a way that further encourages the development of critical reflection, writing, referencing and research skills. </p>
<p>This would hopefully ensure that all admissions tutors would be confident in the future that a good grade in A level art and design demonstrates preparedness to study in a research university as much as any other A level – whatever degree the student applies for. </p>
<p>The introduction of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mini-dissertations-for-sixth-formers-will-open-up-art-history-24991">Extended Project Qualification</a>, an optional mini-dissertation at A Level, which includes a product version incorporating a practical element alongside a 1,000 - 5,000 word essay, offers a helpful example of a syllabus that requires students to reflect in a way that demonstrates excellent critical research and writing skills.</p>
<p>This is not to say I am convinced this is what Gove is thinking about when he speaks of “high quality qualifications” that are “rigorous and demanding”. Much of what was called for in <a href="http://ofqual.gov.uk/qualifications-and-assessments/qualification-reform/a-level-reform/">a report produced with the support of higher education</a> before the announcement of the reforms seems to have been lost in translation. </p>
<p>I am not looking for the A level to replace the vital creativity, thinking and sheer hard work that go into an excellent art practice (all the work a student produces) with exams and essays. Our subject’s value is in the way it allows students to demonstrate excellence in many and varied creative ways. </p>
<p>But whether a student chooses to continue onto a practice-led degree or not, they need an A level they can trust will be valued by all universities as demonstrating academic ability. We need to work together to ensure that we break down the false hierarchy that places history and English above art and design and art history. </p>
<p>Only by readdressing this problem can we ensure the “access” for all that Gove desires, rather than a two-tier system which may result in less students opting to take arts A levels. The UK leads the world in terms of art and culture, and we need to ensure that we keep encouraging our brightest and best young people to value these subjects as much, if not more, than any other.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abigail Harrison Moore is part of the expert HE panel advising AQA on the redesign of the art and design A Level.</span></em></p>As part of the recent announcement that A Levels and GCSEs in arts subjects in England are to be made more “rigorous and demanding”, the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, said he was “passionate…Abigail Harrison Moore, Head of School Elect, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.