Annual rant in defence of students

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 17 August 2006 06:33:22

Ok, so it happens every year as confirmed by a quick trip over to the BBC and as long as this blog continues I am sure I will rehash the case for the defence.

So just to recap:
A Levels are not getting easier there is more gate keeping now in terms of who actually takes the examinations. (start quote from last year) " If students have a bad disciplinary record they are often asked to look for alternatives if they wish to undertake post 16 study and students who fail to achieve sufficiently good GCSE grades are directed away from A Levels and onto alternative courses (and from my experience and what I hear from others these standards are increasing, not decreasing). As such more selection of pupils is taking place prior to the start of courses than may have previously been the case.

Also these gatekeeping procedures are used for students at the end of the AS year now aswell. When I was at school people tended to struggle for 2 years and then just fail at the end. Now people who do badly at the end of 1 year know that A Level is not for them and tend to go onto something else. Again all of this is going to increase the percentage of those passing because those who are unlikely to pass are weeded out before they get anywhere near an exam paper.

Finally I resent the fact that the implication of much of the argument around A Levels that people pass because of easier papers. The students I teach pass (or fail) because of how hard they work and, in part, because of the standard of teaching I give them. A Levels are not an easy option." (end quote from last year)

So the message is that everybody who gets their results today should be proud of the qualifications they achieve & if they don't do so well remember there is always the UCAS clearing system. (Oh and with my ickle bro getting his results today, this year it's personal).