h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No, I ain't starting the debate, I ain't that stupid. Well I hope I ain't.

Anyway, before I make a decision on which of the various viewpoints I might choose to believe, anyone got a source of total a-levels gained at each specific grade per year? cos all the reports I have seen concentrate on A Grades, or A-C Grades or just total passes. If our education system is working better than ever before then presumably the number of E, D (and F if they have them, or is it N below E still?) grades has also gone up by a similar amount and the number of fails will have gone down. But I can;t find any source for this info.

Well total fails will be 100% minus total passes, obviously.

Otherwise, all you're asking after is the number of B and D grades, which seems a bit pointless, really.

B

so you don;t know where to get the information then, you just wanted to pass on your opinion of my question, yes?

On R$ this morning they were quoting that 96% of A-levels were passed this year compared to 95.4 last year. Suggests that all grades are increasing, not just A or A-C. I don't have a source though, other than the BBC - there were a lot of links off the news article about it - have you had a trawl through those?


k

"so you don;t know where to get the information then, you just wanted to pass on your opinion of my question, yes?"

Well, I hardly think that qualifies me as unique in this forum.

B

Yes, the information is available. Yes, someone here does know where it is. I'll be back - with links.

The tables are for all subjects, but each page has a drop down so that you could compare a specific subject.


2001 - Last set of results for linear system
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/education/2001/exam_results/a_level.stm

2002 - First set of results for modular system
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/education/02/exam_results/html/a_level.stm

2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/03/exam_results/a_levels/html/33.stm

2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/04/exam_results/a_levels/html/all_subjects.stm

Any further questions, just ask.

Is there a collective noun for teachers?

I've often thought we should have an h2g2 staff room, a place to let off steam and for others to tentatively knock on the door and ask questions like this.

Sounds good to me.

I believe the collective noun for teachers is a 'lack'.

B

Something to pass round at break:
http://www.deadbrain.co.uk/news/article_2004_08_19_4211.php

A "lack"! Very good. If I do make a staffroom, you know who gets to make the don't you, Master B? The NQT.

That's fine, I'll just tell all my trouble-making year 11's to sit in the corner Mr Coelacanth's class when I send them out...

You have to find small pleasures as an NQT

B

Mr? Did I look like a Mr when I was trying to get the mike off you at the meet? What subject do you teach again?

I shall, in return, send my dumbest 6th former off to your lab to ask you for a long weight. See how long a wait you can give them before they work it out.

Oopsie. There was an s on that when I posted it, honest.

6th form _are_ so gullible, aren't they?

B

Not as gullible as the year 7.

A staff room?Why?Can't stand the infighting that goes on in most of them (which as a supply teacher I see more of than most).

However it might possibly be better than the TV so called dramas and comedies that portray us as complete morons.At least we can be erudite and...and...what's the word I'm thinking of.......oh well it was a nice thought for a short moment.

What has annoyed me about this place is that you can get a diva,chef,scientist or a doctor smiley but there is no teacher or educator one.

Best I can do is this

Incog.

WEll I wouldn't normally post this, especially given the helpful replies from coelcanth which I have found to be very interesting reading, but given Master Bs lack of concern over offending people, and given that I believe Incog can take a joke, then perhaps given the old saw about teaching and those who do it, then the collective noun for teachers should surely be an 'inability' ?


Ok, ok, I shalll now go into hiding!

When I was at school (way back in the last century) you were allowed to try any A level - hence my lack of Latin A level and inability to go to Cambridge for which it was necessary in those days.
League tables these days mean that only kids with a chance of getting A-C are allowed to enter. So the number of lower grade passes will not necessarily increase.

"League tables these days mean that only kids with a chance of getting A-C are allowed to enter."

Really? Well I never. All my years in teaching and nobody told me that. What am I supposed to do with all these students of mine who got below a C then? Ignore them? They are about half of my class! ABC for the top half, DEF for the bottom.

Given that the way the grades are worked out (using the standard devaition for each paper, so it changes every year) if you entered no students below what you could guess might be a C then the board would simple lower the grade boundaries to make sure that there was a spread of marks.

Wand'rin , if you haven't been inside a school since the last century and you're not actually a teacher, the it's possible you don't understand the system.

Schools could, in theory, fix the league table position and I'll give 2 examples of how. Don't assume that any school I have worked at in the past or present is actually doing this.
1) Enter all students, but tell any that you think are below a C (or whatever grade you choose) that they must enter and pay as private candidates. If, on the day, they get a C or above, claim them for the school and refund their fee.
2) If a student gets a fail for A level on results day, decline their U grade and just cash in their A/S. That way every department can show a 100% pass.

Ictoan, you are forgiven, by me anyway. However, I'm always on the look out for interesting guest speakers so if you fancy a look at teaching from our side, then let me know!

Incog, you are right about the need for a smiley! I sometimes use although maybe is more appropriate!

coelacanth, I think I am far too scared to find out what education is like from the other side of the desk. Having various friends taking or just finishing their PGCE (or whatever it is now) it sounds like bloody hard work and, with the way things are these days, not that rewarding. By which I mean the value judgement for teaching seems to be how well the kids do (strange that) but with no real way to enforce the learning. Fine if the kids are into it, and many are I am sure, but those who don't understand the value of an education, perhaps through example of their environment or simply cos they don't understand why they are doing it, seem to be being let down by a system that has totally ineffectual controls. The reason I worry is that it can often be the most able who are let down as they find school easy and want to go off and find something more interesting to do. Although there are some initiatives I know of, my nioece has just been put on some scheme run by Warwick Uni for those with very high aptitudes to push them and stop them getting bored and giving up.

Anyway, I actually started this post to say I just found http://www.qca.org.uk/ages14-19/subjects/mathematics_2472.html
Which I don't fully understand yet, but it is interesting to see that sometimes the percentage goes up, but the number sitting the exams goes down. And what happened in'93 - '95? Sudden drop in number of stuidents taking A-Levels?
What I am currently thinking is that the Govt. line seems to be that the exams are as hard as ever, but the kids are doing better. Now that means that either the kids these days are good deal brighter (looks out of window, nope, cant seed that!), or the teaching is far better. So presumably, if we are to accept that this years results are all down to hard work, good teaching and Govt. initiatives, then back when I got my 3 A-levels and getting 4 As at A-Level was a one or two per school, and not always that, affair, then presumably we were all lazy and stupid and our teachers weren't very good? Which, I might add, I dispute! Well, OK, I was lazy, but I am not representative of my school year.

Don't forget that there was an entire generation of children who were eductated during the teachers strikes.

I cannot evern remember if these took place in the 80s or 90s, but they want on for about five years, which would have done immense damage, as I said, to the education of an entire generation of children.

B