The GCSE results came out yesterday, and showed yet another rise.
Top grades have improved again on average in the GCSE exam entries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
More than 600,000 students have been getting results, almost one in five of which were an A* or A - up 0.4 percentage point to 19.5%.
The proportion of entries getting grades of A* to C rose from 62.4% to 63.3%, a rise of 0.9.
The gender gap narrowed, but with girls still ahead. (BBC)
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.More than 600,000 students have been getting results, almost one in five of which were an A* or A - up 0.4 percentage point to 19.5%.
The proportion of entries getting grades of A* to C rose from 62.4% to 63.3%, a rise of 0.9.
The gender gap narrowed, but with girls still ahead. (BBC)
The proportion of students gaining five good (A*-C) GCSEs including English, maths, science and a language, has fallen from 61 per cent in 1996 to 44 per cent last year. Over the same period the overall pass rate for five good GCSEs in any subject has risen from 44 to 58 per cent...
Michael Gove, the Tory education spokesman, who carried out the analysis, said the results suggested that schools were trying to maximise their league table position by moving away from core subjects, the very subjects that universities and employers were looking for most...
The Conservative analysis shows that, although the proportion of pupils getting five or more good GCSEs in any subject has increased by 13.6 percentage points in the past decade, the improvement when English and mathematics are taken into account is less than ten points.
Figures including English, maths and science have improved by only 5.4 percentage points on the period. Figures including English, mathematics, science and a modern foreign language, have declined since 1996, by 1.5 points. (The Times)
So even though the grades suggest a rise, the reality is far different. This is certainly not a good thing.Michael Gove, the Tory education spokesman, who carried out the analysis, said the results suggested that schools were trying to maximise their league table position by moving away from core subjects, the very subjects that universities and employers were looking for most...
The Conservative analysis shows that, although the proportion of pupils getting five or more good GCSEs in any subject has increased by 13.6 percentage points in the past decade, the improvement when English and mathematics are taken into account is less than ten points.
Figures including English, maths and science have improved by only 5.4 percentage points on the period. Figures including English, mathematics, science and a modern foreign language, have declined since 1996, by 1.5 points. (The Times)
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
