Comparative Education
The labels in this article from The Economist may sound a bit unfamiliar, but the issues facing the British educational system are similar to the ones American schools face. In fact, they are very similar to the issues that motivated the invention of the Advanced Placement program 50 years ago.Less than meets the eye
"Every summer A-level results are met with scornful claims that the exams have grown easier... around a quarter of A-level entries are still likely to score an A. In 1991 fewer than 12% got the top mark... Top universities with far more applicants than places say they cannot distinguish between the brilliant and the bright...
"[T]he A-level system, which restricts students... to studying just three or four subjects of their choice. Many abandon sciences, maths, languages, even English... Some dons complain that students arrive at universities in need of remedial teaching. Worse, employers say that workers... do not know how to calculate or communicate effectively.
"With secondary education under fire, an officially-commissioned inquiry... proposed scrapping [A-levels]... and introducing instead an overarching diploma covering both academic and vocational qualifications.
"But many schools think that such reforms will not go far enough. More are now offering the International Baccalaureate (IB), for which pupils are required to study six subjects, including science, maths and a foreign language, and write a long essay...
"The growing popularity of the IB is causing concern that pupils without access to it may soon find themselves at a disadvantage. There are not enough science teachers for all schools to offer the IB, even if they wanted to...
"Other alternatives to A levels are also in the works. Fifty private schools... are working with Cambridge University International Examinations to develop the “Pre-U”. Less prescriptive in its subject coverage than the IB, it will be tougher and broader than A levels, with an additional extended essay. But unless the government accredits the course, state schools will not be able to offer it, and poor children will find it even harder to compete with richer ones than they do under what was once known as the 'gold standard' of secondary education."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:57 AM
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The Guardian reported on the 17th that The Economist's predictions about higher A-levels were correct and to repeat some of what the magazine said.
Maths fuels rise in top grades at A-level
"More pupils in England than ever achieved top grades at A-level as today's results were boosted by a rise in the number of A grades in mathematics.
"For the 24th year in succession, the overall pass rate has increased, to 96.6% - a marginal 0.4% increase on last year's results...
"Universities have increasingly found it difficult to pick the cream of the crop because the proportion of A-level papers which receive an A grade has risen to 22.8%, ballooning from 11.9% in 1991."
Summaries of all the exam results are also availalbe. The summaries of all results are in the form of a .pdf document.
These results show that 11,345 students sat for the A-level exam in Political Studies and that 29.4% of them earned "A"s. Almost 29% earned "B"s and 22% earned "C"s. The gender gap among those who took the Political Studies exam matches very closely with the division I've seen in classes I taught: 6,722 males and 4,623 females.
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