A-Level results day – updates, news and comment
ALL would like to congratulate all of the students receiving their results today, and thank them and their teachers for all their hard work.
Trends:
Cohort: The number of 18 year olds in the UK has decreased, but the number of 18 year olds taking A Levels has risen overall. However, the number of A-Level entries has decreased. In other words, of the slightly fewer 18 year olds in the UK, proportionally more are studying for A-Levels – but each candidate is on average taking fewer A-Levels.
Entries: The number of entries for traditional modern foreign languages has again decreased: French by 5.2%, German by 7.6%, and Spanish by 5.8%. In contrast, the overall number of entries in other modern foreign languages has risen by 2.0% (although these numbers are still relatively low).
However, it is worth pointing out that while, numerically, language A-Level entries have fallen (as have A-Level entries overall), as a proportion of the total these have remained static. As a percentage all A-Levels sat, French comprised 1.5% in 2012 (compared to 1.5% in 2011), German 0.6% (0.6% in 2011), Spanish 0.9% (0.9% in 2011) and other modern foreign languages has very slightly increased to 1.1% (1.0% in 2011).
In comparison, entries in STEM subjects have increased: Maths by 3.8%, Biology by 1.7%, Chemistry by 2.4% and Physics by 5.0%, as have their proportions of the total A-Levels sat.
AS Levels: The number of AS-Level entries declined overall, and specifically for French (from 20,579 to 18,721), German (7,859 to 7,119) and other modern foreign languages (9,923 to 9,591). However, Spanish bucked this trend, with entries up 3.0% this year (from 11,433 to 11,781).
Results: Overall, the proportion of A-levels awarded an A or A* grade has fallen for the first time in over twenty years. 26.6% of A-level entries achieved A or A* – compared to 27% last year.
Relating to languages specifically, there is still an issue with the proportion of A* to A grades – although language subjects generally get high numbers of A grades at A-Level, comparatively few of these convert to A* grades. For example, in French, 39.4% of students got a grade A and 6.8% an A* in 2012 (5.79 A grades for every 1 A*), compared to 40.1% and 7.7% in 2011 (5.2 : 1). In German, 41.4% got a A grade and 7.9% an A* in 2012 (5.24 : 1), compared to 42.0% and 9.1% in 2011 (4.64 : 1). Other modern foreign languages show a higher proportion: 51.7% got an A grade and 12.8% an A* grade in 2012 (4.03 : 1), compared with 51.8% and 13.1% in 2011 (3.95 : 1).
The proportion of A* to A grades is much higher in subjects such as Maths (43.9% at A and 17.4% at A* – 2.52 A grades for every 1 A*) and Physics (31.9% at A and 9.9% at A* – 3.22 A grades for every 1 A*).
An ALL working group has been meeting with key staff at Ofqual to put forward their concerns about grading. Ofqual accept that languages have a lower percentage of students achieving A* grades. They believe that this is because language students get most of their marks on AS units, rather than A2 units. They are currently carrying out research into this issue. The ALL working group fully support this work, and are keen to ensure not only that this information is transparent, but also that any problems identified are dealt with.
Links:
Joint council for Qualifications:
Michael Turner, Director of the Joint Council for Qualifications, said: "Today is about celebrating the successes of our young people and recognising (their) hard work. The STEM subjects continue to rise (but) over the next few years, it will be interesting to see if, with the existence of the English Baccalaureate, the continued decline in students taking a foreign language is reversed."
You can also view the Joint Council for Qualifications press release, and the JCQ data tables.
BBC:
A-levels 2012: Top grades down this year: “There has been a fall in the proportion of A-levels awarded an A or A* grade for the first time in over two decades. This summer’s results show 26.6% of A-level entries achieved the top two grades – down from 27% last year. About 335,000 students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving their results – with many finding out whether they have made the grade for university. Students in England will be the first intake to face fees of up to £9,000. Although girls have continued to outperform boys for getting A grades – this year saw boys narrowly ahead of girls at achieving the highest A* grades – 8% compared with 7.9%.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19266381
Independent:
First fall in 21 years for A-level A grades: “Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the drop in top grades was a "minor fluctuation". He said: "The important point here is, if you look at the trend of improvements in schools, the numbers now succeeding at GCSE and accessing A-levels has been a success story of our education system." Mr Lightman added that there were more people taking A-levels this year and large numbers of students getting "very good results", and that the fall in the very top grades was not significant.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/first-fall-in-21-years-for-alevel-a-grades-8052776.html