The GCSE results came out yesterday, and showed yet another rise.

So just under one in five GCSE result was an A or A* - less than the quarter of A grades at A-level, but still almost absurdly high. But even though the number of people getting five "good" GCSEs (A*-C) has risen, and is rising, if you include core subjects such as maths and science in the evaluation, the number is falling.
So even though the grades suggest a rise, the reality is far different. This is certainly not a good thing.

A good basic understanding and ability to apply English and maths is essential in the modern world. An understanding of science is also necessary in many ways. You could probably discount a foreign language from being an essential GCSEs, really, however. I can remember very little from my GCSE German [I got a C] - about all I can recall is that "fahrt" means journey, and that "gespeilen" is the verb "to play".

Getting five A*-C GCSEs without English and Maths being included does not count as "good". They are the two most basic subjects, and a good GCSE in them is required by most employers. The number of people who are not getting A*-C in these two subjects is horrifying. It needs to be corrected - starting with the statistics.

Sources: BBC, The Times

Why I am hardly surprised by this:

Before anyone claim it, this is not proof that A-levels have been devalued and other such crap. I wrote my piece on the A-levels on the day they came out, gobsmacked that more than a quarter of A-level results were As. But the fact that there is a "litany" of grammatical errors on A-level papers does not mean that those who got As made these mistakes. These mistakes were made by those at the other end of the scale, such as in the 3.1% of papers which failed.

This isn't a new phenomenon. I'm sure I have read basically the same article every year - but it isn't even a "recent" thing, since even "examiners in 1952 wrote about 'colloquialisms, crude forms and the abuse of punctuation'."Also, any significant increase in the numbers of these sorts of errors in A-level exam scripts than before can be put pretty much entirely down to this Labour government's drive to make people stay on at school to get A-levels, when they would be best served by going and getting a job or to a Further Education college and getting a more suitable type of teaching and resultant qualification for them.

What causes these sort of massacres of the English language in the first place? Part of it is inevitably down to modern technology - text speak on mobile phones, the spelling check facility in word processors, and the general abuse of spelling and grammar prevalent on the internet. These are of course "social" reasons for the mistakes. At least some could be simply down to exam nerves!

Can any of us claim to have never made a spelling mistake in our lives? To have a perfect grasp of the English language so flawless that no accusation could made against it? Of course not. I've made plenty of mistakes just whilst typing this post. Most of them were typos rather than actual spelling or grammar mistakes, though. I've also had essays returned to me from lecturers with grammar edits which have actually been wrong [though not all of them have been].

However, despite everything I have said above, there is no excuse for misspelling the word "Hitler" or words used in the question. Those people deserve to be given large conical hats with the letter "D" written on them, and sent to sit in the corner. Also, who would use Wikipedia as an academic source?!

Source: The Telegraph

The A-level results are again the Best Year Ever (Until Next Year), with more than 25% of the grades given being As. There is no doubt that those who got As worked hard for them, but when the number of top grades is at 25.3%, there is no doubt that something is wrong somewhere. When this is broken down into subject, there is a surprising development - 43.7% of maths A-levels given an A grade, compared with 14% of those in media studies. So media studies isn't the nice easy Mickey Mouse course - instead, maths is, it would appear. However, that 96.9% got a passing grade isn't a bad thing at all. The only issue I have is with the number of top grades.

To say that the exams were easier is a bit of a cop out. I doubt that the level of the questions in the exams have changed all that much, but what is far more likely to have changed is the marking schemes. Unlike the "back in my day" brigade [who used to have have to walk five miles to school each day, rain or shine, and it was up-hill both ways] who claim that A-levels are easier because they had "proper exams" rather than modules and coursework. But all those co-called "proper exams" ever did was mean that you crammed to pass them and then soon forgot everything again. Modules and coursework are more work but stretched out over a longer period of time, so you actually have to learn the subject, not just cram for the exam - the exam on which the last two years of your life, and your future, hung. The different system, in itself, does not and cannot account for the huge grade increases.

A-level grades have been increasing for the last 25 years. This does not mean that the youth of today are more intelligent than yesteryears, but neither does it rule that out. Even so, to claim that increased intelligence of youths is the prime or only reason for this is patently absurd. Certainly part of the increases can be put down to an improvement in teaching methods, and part of it could be explained away by an estimated increase in intelligence - but that more than a quarter of all grades is an A can mean nothing other than something is wrong with the system.

The students that have taken the exams have tried their best, like generations have before them, and they should be commended for it. It is the government and the examination boards who have let them down by quite obviously fiddling with the figures somewhere along the line. Either they mark them easier or they have lowered the grade thresholds. None of this can be blamed on the students who have simply done their best to get their qualifications.

What can or should be done about it? First of all, instead of giving universities just the grades, they should be given the full score sheet - this will allow them to actively select the best. The idea of adding an A* grade to the A-levels is necessary - to shift the grades in any other way would do nothing more than hurt the students who are yet to come.

The problem with the issue over A-levels is that people see high levels of As and think "oh, they must be easy if so many are getting As!" - but they're wrong. They're not easy. I would doubt that they are any easier than they ever were. The results may appear high to us, but that is not because the exams themselves are necessarily easier, but because the government has moved the goal posts.

Cross-posted on Educational Conscription.

Sources: BBC, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian