20 August 2004
A-level students have again achieved record numbers of passes and top grades, triggering the ritual accusations of falling educational standards and 'dumbed down' examinations from critics.
Statistics published by the Joint Council for Qualifications on August 19 showed that the overall pass rate rose for the twenty-second year in a row, from 95.4% to 96%. The proportion of A grades also increased, from 21.6% to 22.4%.
The figures suggested that boys are beginning to close the gender gap. Their overall pass rate rose by 0.7 points from 94.3% last year to 95%, against a rise of 0.4 points from 96.4% to 96.8% for girls.
There were 766,247 entries this year, up two points from the 750,537 entries last year. The most popular A-level subjects were English, with 81,649 entries, general studies, with 58,316, and mathematics, with 52,788.
Following publication of the results, supporters and critics of A-levels queued up to praise and denounce them in equal measure.
David Thomas, chief executive of the Careers Research Advisory Centre, warned that exam boards needed to be tougher in their marking. 'The percentages [of top grades] are now starting to get rather alarming.' He said the exam now measured a 'very wide range' of ability among students compared with 20 years ago.
'That is dumbing down, in that sense,' he added.
The Institute of Directors' policy adviser James Walsh said: 'With an ever-growing number of A grade passes being awarded, the brightest students are not shining through.'
However, schools standards minister David Miliband condemned 'elitists' for peddling the 'myth' of falling standards to stop the expansion of educational opportunities.
'At a time when Ofsted says the standard of teaching has never been higher, we should expect to have rising levels of achievement in our schools and colleges,' Miliband said.
But he did concede there were grounds for sub-dividing the A grade into further bands to enable colleges and employers to distinguish between students.
Miliband received strong backing from the teaching unions. Chris Keates, acting general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers, attacked the 'annual ritual of denigration'.
She added: 'These results deserve celebration, not condemnation.'
Support came, too, from an unexpected quarter. CBI director general Digby Jones praised the efforts of students and said claims of employers' concerns about grade inflation were 'wildly overdone'. But he added: 'Employers are more worried by the real education scandal… there are simply too many young people who cannot read or write.'
PFaug2004
