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SecEd: On Your Side
We’re fed up with
the exam-bashing
AS TEACHERS and school
leaders arrive back into their
Pete
schools this week there should,
Henshaw
I hope, be a firm skip in
Editor,
their steps. The phenomenal
SecEd
achievements of this summer’s
cohort of students in their GCSE, A level and Diploma
examinations is to be celebrated – and the teachers behind
this success congratulated.
The reports on this page detail the most recent results, in
GCSEs and Diplomas, and we have reported extensively on
A levels in our online news section.
Let’s deal with the facts, and ignore the often vitriolic
comment that our national press choose to present us with.
Diploma students
The results are good – fact. Progress in maths and science
is good – fact. Some of the achievement gaps between boys
and girls have narrowed – fact.
Headline figures include a record 21.6 per cent of
students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland achieving
A grades at GCSE and boys making particular progress in
make history
maths, with their A* to C results rising by almost two per
cent to 57.6. Overall, 67.1 per cent of GCSEs received an
A* to C grade and there was an increase in entries for all
the individual sciences. A level pass rates are up, hitting
WHILE HUNDREDS of thousands need to do. We expect many of
97.5 per cent, and there has also been a sharp rise in the
of teenagers received their GCSE
The annual A level and GCSE results
these pupils to put those elements
number of A level students taking maths this year.
results last week, a small group in place over the next couple of
of just over 200 students were
days are familiar to us all, but this
months, meaning they will get their
Elsewhere, the national press reports on the small
quietly making education history by
number of Diploma results this week were simply farcical becoming the first ever recipients of
year we also saw the first Diploma
Diplomas during the next year.”
Dr John Dunford, general
– headline-grabbing reports showing a distinct lack of
the new Diploma qualification.
students collecting results. Chris
secretary of the Association of
understanding of where Diplomas are currently at in their
Although the vast majority of School and College Leaders, said
development. As we report on this page, a number of
the 12,000 pupils who embarked on
Parr looks at how they have fared.
this week that it was too early to be
a Diploma course last September reading too much into the Diploma
press articles labelled the Diploma results of 212 students
will not receive their results until results.
“a let down”. They focused on the fact that none of the next year, 212 young people emphasising that it is difficult those learners who have achieved He told us: “No firm conclusions
91 students who took the higher Diploma got an A* or A
took a foundation or higher-level to make a sound analysis of the this year are to be congratulated.” can be drawn from the very small
grade, and that more than half were awarded a C.
qualification in the space of 12 Diploma programme from just 212 August’s results also gave an number of students – mainly 17-
months, meaning they got their students. The figures do, however, indication of gender breakdown. year-olds – finishing their Diploma
The lack of understanding is amazing and the
results last Thursday (August 27). represent the first indication of how Of the 29 students studying courses in one year. Schools
hypocrisy is deafening when you consider the complaints
Overall, of the 212 students, 178 next year’s Diploma results might Diplomas in construction and the and colleges continue to put an
we hear if too many A and A* grades are achieved at A passed and 34 failed. There were pan out. built environment, and engineering, enormous amount of effort into the
level and GCSE. The plain fact is that after schools were
91 higher-level Diploma students, It is true to say, for example, just one was female, while in development of Diploma courses.
challenged with the introduction of one of the biggest
67 of whom passed, and of the that of the 12 boys that completed society, health and development, “Logistical problems of
121 taking the foundation-level a foundation or higher Diploma just two of the 25 candidates were timetabling and transport are being
educational reforms in recent history, and in a very short
qualification, 111 passed. in construction and the built male. In creative and media, the overcome and young people are
period of time, they have achieved wonders. Of the 212
However, it seems that environment (there were no girls), girls outnumbered the boys by 38 being offered a much wider choice.
students, 178 passed and 34 failed. What would the
Diplomas are not immune to the seven of them passed, while five to 27. However, this commitment to the
coverage have looked like if all of them had passed? I
usual criticism of results in the did not. In addition to the 212 students Diploma needs to be matched by all
think we all know.
national press. A number of reports In creative and media, of the getting their results, around 400 political parties. Schools cannot plan
labelled their results “a let down”. 28 students studying the higher other students attempted to complete against a background of uncertainty
It is impossible to draw conclusions from these results
The Times, for example, said it Diploma, 19 achieved an A* to C, the Diploma in one year. about what will happen to Diplomas
and with schools still battling to iron out the teething was “disappointing” that none while the remaining nine fell short. However, on the advice of after the general election.”
problems of these qualifications, the first ever results are
of the 91 students who took the In information technology – by their teachers, these students Chris Keates, general secretary
very promising.
higher Diploma got an A* or A far the most popular Diploma, with have decided to complete some of the NASUWT, added: “The
Looking overall at the results this year, the one area
grade, and that more than half 92 participants across the two levels elements of the qualification, such fledgling Diplomas have got off to
were awarded a C. – 81 candidates bagged A* to Cs, as functional skills, in the coming a flying start. Teachers have clearly
where I do have criticisms is in modern foreign languages.
The Guardian opted to describe while the remaining 11 went away months. worked extremely hard to ensure
But my criticism is laid at the door of the government, the results as “lukewarm”, again empty handed. A spokesman for the that a coherent programme has been
which decided to make these subjects non-compulsory.
choosing to highlight the fact that Schools minister, Vernon Qualifications and Curriculum available. The challenge now is to
The number of students sitting French and German
top grades were not forthcoming in Coaker, said the results came down Development Agency told us: make sure that Diplomas are up and
the higher Diploma. to the timescales involved. “Students who have further things running and available in all schools
GCSE and A level exams fell again. In this modern age,
Educational commentators He said: “Completing a full to do before they pass the Diploma for every 14-year-old.”
it is farcical that these subjects are not a must for every
this week defended the work of Diploma programme of study outright have been given a Progress For a breakdown of the Diploma
student, no matter what their capability. Yes, they are Diploma students and teachers, within one year is ambitious and Statement, telling them what they results, visit www.jcq.org.uk SecEd
among the tougher GCSEs to pass, and the government
has obviously realised this and, in a bid to safeguard rising
IN RESPONSE…
statistics, has cut them out of the equation.
This leaves schools in the impossible situation of trying
Last week’s GCSE results French and German fell by 6.6 It is, however, a cause for Dr Anne Davidson Lund,
to persuade students to take a subject that many find
showed record-breaking pass and 4.2 per cent respectively. concern that the inequality director at CILT, the National
difficult and are keen to drop – a decision that many will
rates, and a rise in the number gap appears to have widened Centre for Languages:
regret in later life. Add to this the pressure on schools to
of students achieving the top Vernon Coaker, schools minister: dramatically this year, with “We are very disappointed to
A* and A grades. “The good results are the product independent schools increasing see a continued decline in the
perform in the ridiculous league tables that England persists
Some 21.6 per cent of of students’ hard work and their haul of top grades at take-up of GCSE languages.
in retaining, and it is all too easy to let students divert away students in England, Wales and excellent teaching in the system. I almost three times the rate of There are energetic efforts in so
from languages.
Northern Ireland achieved the congratulate young people for their comprehensives.” many schools across England to
It is crucial that languages are very much the focus
top grades, representing an achievements today, and we should motivate language learners but
at primary school now. Surely combining this with a
increase of 0.9 percentage points all take pride in their success. Dr John Dunford, general this is not showing yet in these
compared to last year, while the However, it is disappointing to secretary of the Association of exam results.”
compulsory GCSE in the subject will help us to really drive
overall pass rate jumped 1.4 see a slight fall in the English A* School and College Leaders:
up the number of students leaving education with language points to just over 67 per cent. to C rate. We are not complacent “Nowhere is this improvement (in Professor John Holman,
skills that will set them up for the future.
However, A* to C pass rates and are targeting our efforts on A* to C pass rates) more marked director of the National Science
I cannot help feeling cynical as I write this. A
in English fell from 62.9 to 62.7 ensuring that every child performs than in the reduction from 1,600 Learning Centre:
per cent. to their full potential.” schools in 1997 to around 280 in “I welcome the strong increase
government so obsessed with statistics that it endangers the
Girls out-performed 2009 with less than 30 per cent of in numbers taking ‘triple
prospects of future generations in this way, and a national
boys again, although the Nick Gibb, Conservative shadow 16-year-olds having at least five science’ GCSEs, and I expect
press that is only interested in criticising and twisting achievement gap narrowed schools minister: A* to C GCSE passes including there to be further growth in
statistics. Who’d be a teacher eh? Have a great year. SecEd
slightly from 5.7 to 5.6 per cent. “I want to congratulate all those English and mathematics. The 2010. We need to continue
There was a 20 per cent who have just received their additional resources of the National this upward trend, so that
increase in the numbers results. They reflect the hard work Challenge need to be maintained if we reach the position where
• Pete Henshaw is the editor of SecEd. Email editor@sec-
studying “triple science”, but of teachers and students and their the most challenging schools in the ‘triple science’ is on offer to all
ed.co.uk and visit www.sec-ed.co.uk
the amount of students studying achievements should be celebrated. country are to meet this target.” students who want to take it.”
6 SecEd • September 3 2009
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