Minister rejects A-level concerns
Schools minister Andrew Adonis has dismissed the “bogus argument” that A-levels are getting easier and instead insisted that standards were simply improving.
But he admitted that with an increasing number of students obtaining A grades, universities needed some other indications beyond A-level results to decide which candidates to accept.
As such, he said individual module grades would be made available to admissions tutors, while an advanced extension award question would be introduced into all A-levels.
In addition, as recommended in last year’s Tomlinson report, an extended project would be introduced to test a wider range of skills.
His comments come the day before this year’s A-level results are released and amid the annual flurry of concern that rising pass rates – set to hit 97 per cent this year – mean the whole system has been devalued.
Today Lord Adonis once again rejected calls to replace the A-level system with a diploma, as recommended in Mike Tomlinson’s report, insisting that the government had full confidence in the current system.
“Continued progress in exam performance is real – it is not the result of dumbing down of standards – and the roots of this success lie in a fundamental shift in the quality of teaching in our schools,” he said.
The minister highlighted the vast improvement in teaching quality in schools as the reason for improved standards, an emphasis welcomed by teaching union NASUWT.
General secretary Chris Keates said reforms intended to boost the amount of time teachers could actually spend teaching, rather than filling out forms, were the cause of this improvement.
Lord Adonis rejected as “regressive” calls for a quota on grades, saying it was “patently unfair” to restrict the awarding of As to only a certain percentage of students regardless of their ability.
“This is why we plan to strengthen A-levels, not replace them,” he said.
The fact was, only 14 of the 30 students in an average primary school class made it to A-level, of whom only one achieves three grade As. Of these, only one in 16 gains A grades in all their modules – information that will soon be available to universities.
“The challenge for Britain is to accelerate, not to slow down, our rate of improvement in the numbers achieving in tests and exams, while maintaining the robustness of the system,” Lord Adonis said.
However, Liberal Democrat education spokesman Edward Davey rejected Lord Adonis’ comments, as evidence that the government was “burying its head in the sand”.
“A-levels now have three fundamental weaknesses: they don’t stretch our brightest students; they narrow the studies of many students too early; and they totally ignore the vocational needs of thousands more,” he said.
“The major defence for A-levels was their role in helping universities select students. Now even the universities are confused by A-levels, it really is time for more radical reform.”
