99% Pass rate?-Are we being fair to our teenagers?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

School results are based on the performance of the student on a handful of days in exam conditions, something you will never suffer again in your entire working life.

What about all the course work that is part of exams now. Not something I am in favour of unless it is all done in school under exam conditions. Its far to easy to get someone else to do the work for you when its done outside of school.


When they say pass I am assuming they mean any grade. I would like to know the C and above pass rate figures as that is what was loosely classed as a pass when I was at school.

[Ken Moss]

One of the highest marks I got was for a 100% coursework GCSE and it was a far better reflection of my abilities than being stuck in a sports hall, baking to death in mid-July and knowing that every scribble is going to determine your final mark, regardless of how well you've just done over the past five years.

Conversely, there were a number who were some of the laziest people I have ever met and yet aced their exams. The marks they'd had during school were hardly outstanding, they didn't take study seriously and yet they came away with a top-grade GCSE.

It's the ability of the person and a degree of adaptability to the job in hand. If you want to be a farmer then a degree in Agricultural Studies is not going to help unless you're prepared to get your hands dirty as well. I also run a landscape gardening business with my best mate and people are constantly surprised that one day I'm up to my knees in fertiliser and the next I'm filming weddings at 5-star hotels.

Flexibility and a willingness to work would probably be the two things I would look for in someone. Qualifications don't really tell you about the person.

[Less]

If exams are now easier, it is the education system at fault not the pupils having to take the exams.
They only sit the exams, they do not set the standards.

Well done to all that worked hard and acheived as high a grade as you could.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Less

Well done to all that worked hard and acheived as high a grade as you could.

...and to young Master Lineker.

George Lineker fails to get into university (but dad Gary insists school is to blame) | Mail Online

Agreed. It's not the young people's fault exams are resulting in so many top grades.

I think in future universities/employers will be looking at what else people have done with their lives, when it comes to trying to distinguish between umpteen candidates, with matching A* grades.

[Gordon Booth]

Less, no one has suggested the pupils are at fault, my whole line of direction was that it was the exam system at fault! And that NO political party is prepared to act to make exams meaningful again.When I was at school some didn't work and failed,some worked VERY hard and scraped through or still failed and some,the real university material,didn't have to work very hard but still walked through with 'A's. The rest of us weren't jealous of them, we didn't feel cheated or failures, we just accepted that they were an awful lot sharper academically than us.
With a 99% pass rate in GCSE and 97.6% pass in 'A' level(+27% 'A' passes) the whole point of the exams is being lost, how do universities and employers make a choice?
Yes, every credit to the young ones who have worked hard and done well within the system they have been given. My point is that system is wrong and is failing them.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

Less, no one has suggested the pupils are at fault, my whole line of direction was that it was the exam system at fault! And that NO political party is prepared to act to make exams meaningful again.When I was at school some didn't work and failed,some worked VERY hard and scraped through or still failed and some,the real university material,didn't have to work very hard but still walked through with 'A's. The rest of us weren't jealous of them, we didn't feel cheated or failures, we just accepted that they were an awful lot sharper academically than us.
With a 99% pass rate in GCSE and 97.6% pass in 'A' level(+27% 'A' passes) the whole point of the exams is being lost, how do universities and employers make a choice?
Yes, every credit to the young ones who have worked hard and done well within the system they have been given. My point is that system is wrong and is failing them.

your point is bang on,in my opinion.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by cashman

your point is bang on,in my opinion.

Have to agree, there is something not quite right when marks are regularly so high, it like saying all kids are know geniuses, which ain't right in any shape or form, there is no doubt that lots of kids today DO work very hard on their exams, but when the results are continually so high how to you separate them, Universities and potential employers need something to separate them otherwise the exams are pointless

[steeljack]

British educational college standards have been lowered so much that an "Advanced City and Guilds FTC/ONC/HNC" awarded in the late 60s/early 70s are now awarded more points on immigration scales to the US/Australia/New Zealand than a "degree" from one of the new British uni's which formerly taught cake decoration and tire changing .
Be interesting to see how all these kids who got multiple A+s on their GCSE's would do if they had to take the late 50s 11 plus exam at age 16 or 17, just as a social experiment to see how/if things had changed .

[Margaret Pilkington]

We have to admit that not all children are academically gifted, and those who aren't will struggle with the work required of them at Uni.
I agree that schools should differentiate between those with practical skills, and those who are academic...and if we do not wish to rear a generation of disillusioned young adults. then these should be directed towards achieving life skills.......teach plumbing, gas fitting, woodwork. metalwork....things that will make good use of the hands on stuff that some children would be better at.
It is better to be able to succeed at something than to constantly stuggle with concepts that you are never going to grasp.

Do refuse operatives need a degree couse to do their work?

We really need to value those who do the jobs that make life bearable, but that do not require the mental sharpness of an Einstein.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

We have to admit that not all children are academically gifted, and those who aren't will struggle with the work required of them at Uni.
I agree that schools should differentiate between those with practical skills, and those who are academic...and if we do not wish to rear a generation of disillusioned young adults. then these should be directed towards achieving life skills.......teach plumbing, gas fitting, woodwork. metalwork....things that will make good use of the hands on stuff that some children would be better at.
It is better to be able to succeed at something than to constantly stuggle with concepts that you are never going to grasp.

Do refuse operatives need a degree couse to do their work?

We really need to value those who do the jobs that make life bearable, but that do not require the mental sharpness of an Einstein.

Back in the 50s and 60s you took your 11+ if you were good enough you went to Grammar School if not Secondary School, but then it was tampered with much in the same way as Social Engineering, put the chaff with the wheat hoping that the wheat will drag the chaff up to their levels, doesn't work never will, the wheat gets fed up and bails out leaving everything for the chaff to ruin

[Less]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

Less, no one has suggested the pupils are at fault

I wasn't suggesting that you were suggesting it was their fault.

Just felt like giving our yoof a bit of a compliment, they are going to need a bit of a boost to carry them through the next few frustrating years.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Less

they are going to need a bit of a boost to carry them through the next few frustrating years.

'I'm afraid it's three no's.'

[jelly baby]

When I did 'O' levels in 1972, the lowest pass mark for a Grade 'E' was 43%.
Nowadays a percentage of sample papers collected from schools nationally, are marked to set the average pass rate. Therefore, if the exam samplers are poor the pass rate is lowered. I know this to be true as a friend of mine checks the samples in this area.

[anzac]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Have to agree, there is something not quite right when marks are regularly so high, it like saying all kids are know geniuses, which ain't right in any shape or form, there is no doubt that lots of kids today DO work very hard on their exams, but when the results are continually so high how to you separate them, Universities and potential employers need something to separate them otherwise the exams are pointless

Couldn't agree more. I have worked in the education system for a long time and have seen it fall apart over the past few years.
Establishments today are based on inspections and pass rates and every single place can be outstanding for a week whilst the inspectors are in and can make sure the pass rates are good.
It is a major problem that those young people who work very hard go out of school/college with exactly the same certificates as those who do not even try and then towards the deadline date for work to be handed in cram a full years coursework into 1 week with all the help they need just to make sure they pass. Who does the employer pick from 2 people with the same qualification

That is why so many decent individuals are leaving the teaching profession in droves as they can see exactly what is wrong and are powerless to do something about it.

[Gordon Booth]

anzac, it's good to hear someone on the 'inside' confirming what a lot of us feel. Just watch that the Thought Police don't track you down, Big Brother IS here!