Whatever happened to tougher A-levels?

Proportion of A and A* grades at highest level for six years

The proportion of A-level entries graded A or A* yesterday hit its highest level in six years, triggering a row over standards.

More than one in four got these top grades this year, despite a government overhaul designed to make the qualifications tougher and more rigorous.

hundreds of thousands of pupils travelled to their schools to pick up their results having been the first to sit new exams in most of the mainstream subjects.

The qualifications had been designed to better prepare youngsters for university, and much of the easier modules and coursework have been abolished.

But it emerged that grade boundaries have been set low in many of the new exams to stop a fall in results – leading critics to accuse regulators of ‘undermining’ the changes.

One geography paper set its C pass mark at 49 per cent, in comparison with 61 per cent in previous years, while the boundary for an A was 68 per cent, compared with 77 before. Meanwhile, a physics paper set the boundary for a C at 39 per cent, compared with 60 per cent in previous years, and set the A boundary at 58 per cent, compared with 80 per cent before. It also emerged that:

÷Boys continue to outperform girls at the highest A-level grades, with 8.5 per cent of male students achieving A*s, compared with 7.6 per cent of female entries;

÷Only 1.8 per cent of english language papers were graded A*, leading experts to warn it could indicate widespread literacy problems caused by their reliance on text-speak;

÷Russell Group universities were lowering their entry requirements in clearing in a scramble to fill places;

÷A record number of overseas students were accepted onto UK degree courses despite Brexit doom predictions.

The new A-levels were pioneered by the then education secretary Michael Gove as part of a drive to toughen up qualifications.

Universities had complained that students were not being prepared properly for how they will need to work during a degree.

Officials say the new content is not more difficult in itself, but the structure of the courses is more challenging because they are assessed via exams at the end of sixth form. Previously, courses were assessed in stages and through coursework, which students tended to find easier to deal with.

The new qualifications caused widespread panic in the education world. Teachers had warned that their pupils could lose out because schools were unfamiliar with the new course content. But on results day yesterday, data showed 26.4 per cent of UK entries were given one of the two top grades – up 0.1 percentage points on last year.

The last time the proportion was this high was in 2012, when 26.6 per cent got these grades.

however, there was also a decrease of 0.3 percentage points in the proportion – 8 per cent – getting A*. This is the lowest it has been since 2013. And the proportion of A* to C grades also fell by 0.4 percentage points to 77 per cent.

A Daily Mail audit of grade boundaries found many had been set lower than in 2016 – the last year that all of the old qualifications were sat before the new ones began to be introduced.

Ofqual, the exams regulator, has instructed boards to make sure similar proportions of students get good grades as in previous years, even if overall performance drops. The measures have been taken to stop students from being ‘disadvantaged’ by the new system, in comparison with their older peers.

But Alan Smithers, a professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said: ‘What’s the point of tougher A-levels if Ofqual is going to undermine them by keeping the grades the same? Ofqual’s intervention is not allowing the marks to speak for themselves. One wonders what the point of the upheaval has been.’

Ofqual said its strategy for setting grade boundaries would remain in place at least for the next year or so while the qualifications bed in.

A spokesman said: ‘ Grade boundaries have been set using statistics to carry forward standards from previous qualifications.

‘examiners have confirmed that the standard of work in each subject is appropriate for the grade.’

A Department for education spokesman said: The high standards we expect in these exams have remained the same.’

‘What has been the point of the upheaval?’

THE Mail warmly congratulates all those hard-working A-level pupils who achieved the grades they needed to find jobs or go to university – and of course the parents who supported them. They richly deserve their day of celebration.

But their successes cannot hide the disturbing evidence that Britain’s education system remains firmly in the grip of a destructive ‘all will have prizes’ culture.

As with many regrettable trends in public life, the rot set in under Tony Blair who allowed grade inflation to run rampant. Every year, ministers would queue up to praise the ever-greater numbers of students achieving top grades and – with the utmost cynicism – dismiss any warnings about declining standards as an attack on school and college pupils.

To his credit, Michael Gove realised all this and, as Education Secretary, set in train reforms designed to restore A-levels as a gold-standard qualification.

After an interminable delay, this was supposed to be the year that exams became harder, that coursework was cut back and rigour returned in subjects such as maths, geography, French, Spanish and Latin.

Yet when the results came out yesterday, the share of passes at the top grades had actually gone up, with 26.4 per cent of pupils achieving A or A* grades, a six-year high. How depressingly predictable.

Scuppering any hope of meaningful reform, apparatchiks at the exams regulator decided to adjust the grade boundaries so no one was ‘disadvantaged’.

So while the exams got harder, passing them was – perversely – made easier. An A in biology under one exam board required a mark of just 66 per cent, down from 80 per cent in 2016. Has the education establishment ‘Blob’ triumphed, or have ministers wobbled?

Handing out fewer of the highest grades would allow employers – and universities – to better distinguish between the good, the very good and the exceptional. And it would be entirely clear from the year their certificates were awarded that students had overcome a more challenging test than their predecessors.

Meanwhile, huge numbers of pupils are handed unconditional offers – and yesterday top Russell Group universities were engaged in a desperate rush to the bottom, slashing grade offers just to fill places and protect their precious incomes. What an unmitigated shambles.