Is it far too easy these days to get the grades to go to university?
TO ACHIEVE Tony Blair’s objective of half of young people going to university, it appears that entry qualifications and the level of courses on offer have been reduced to accommodate lower abilities. When are politicians going to accept the need to raise the overall standard of teaching in the state sector to improve results, rather than lowering standards? The decision to tighten the grading of A-level and GCSE papers was attributed to slipping standards, where the UK has been lagging behind in international league tables, and because universities were complaining that students were poorly prepared for the demands of degrees. So what was the result? Ill-prepared students unable to cope, with pass marks adjusted so no one is
‘disadvantaged’ and grade boundaries contrived to ensure the same number get the questionably good grades of previous years.
NEIL KELLY, Hove, E. Sussex.
I DISAGREE with the description of an ‘all will have prizes culture’ in this year’s A-levels (Mail). As the regulator for England, Ofqual ensures that standards are maintained between cohorts. It is incorrect to suggest there has been grade inflation in recent years: the proportion of students achieving a grade A or higher in 2010 was 27 per cent, compared with 26.4 per cent this year. Every year there are small changes up and down caused by factors such as subject choices and the ability of the cohort, not declining standards. A-levels have been reformed to better prepare students for university or employment, rather than to make them harder or achieve greater discrimination in grade boundaries. Far from awarding prizes to all, our approach ensures students achieve the results they deserve.
ROGER TAYLOR, chair, Ofqual, Coventry.
YOUNG children who do not win in the races at school sports day are given a prize for taking part to lessen their disappointment. Reducing the pass mark for A-levels is based on a similar mentality. This is all part of the nanny state. The World Cup had great national support and proved there has to be winners and losers.
Name and address supplied.
THERE was not a mention of my exam results in the newspapers in 1955. However, a few days later I received a brown envelope from the Government — my National Service call-up papers.
M. E. BROWNJOHN, Droitwich, Worcs.