http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19355959

Gove obviously thinks so and I suppose he may be right.

Are people really this stupid?

A bit of punctuation never goes amiss, especially if you’re on (or near) the grade boundary.

dont worry i have my grades already

Just wait ’till hes home secratary imagine the damage he’ll be able to do then!

Obviously, if anyone thinks the GCSE now bears any resemblance to those in ’88.

Head teachers are angry at a drop in the number of pupils who achieved at least a grade C in their English GCSE.

What, 0.4%?

I’d be more bothered that somehow nearly 70% attain a grade C or above, or have kids got brighter since I took mine in 1981?

Oops, just seen this after starting my own thread. How embarrassing 😳

you could argue it’s the reverse and it’s political manipulation that has seen the % achieving grades increasing every year up to this year….

doesn’t fit with the class war rehetoric though does it 🙄

Well you think the Kiwis are scared of Gav so the answer has to be yes 😉

The man’s an elitist snob who would like to stop social mobility by re-introducing O-levels, and probably secondary schools. I imagine he was bullied at school in the Gym changing rooms, and is now getting his revenge with his new powers. He’s a charmless chinless wonder if you ask me.

as to the original question

are people really that stupid?

well…..

Granted, that is better evidence than my rant seven.

I’d be more bothered that somehow nearly 70% attain a grade C or above, or have kids got brighter since I took mine in 1981?

CSE or GCE? there was no such thing as a GCSE in 1981.

you could argue it’s the reverse and it’s political manipulation that has seen the % achieving grades increasing every year up to this year….

doesn’t fit with the class war rehetoric though does it

I’d be happy to admit both are true, its just Gove told us that more people would fail, told the exam boards to fail more people and they did, but he now says he had nothing to do with it.

Well you think the Kiwis are scared of Gav so the answer has to be yes

Why do you think SBWilliams is off to Japan, scared to face a really man at 12 😆

😆

there was no such thing as a GCSE in 1981.

Exactly, it was proper exams back in 81 then they added 33% more letters to the exam title and so of course all the results went up by 33%.

CSE or GCE? there was no such thing as a GCSE in 1981.

Well maybe not the exact acronym, but a Grade 1 CSE was seen as equivilent to a Grade C at ‘O’ Level – had a quick Google but couldn’t find the relevant stats.

But back in the 80s you looked down on CSE kids if you did O levels

Every time the pass rate goes up, everyone declares exams are too easy. When it goes down, it’s also a problem?

Having said that, we were anticipating another increase this year so it’s a wee bit surprising.

Having said that, we were anticipating another increase this year so it’s a wee bit surprising.

Using the mark*year formula pass rates go up till we have to invent another A*# grade so we can tell who got the top grades.

Yup. But, generally speaking the exam-pass forecasts we get have proved accurate (we use them to set entry grades to uni courses)

I like to post the statement below whenever there is a thread about the English education system:

‘However f*cked up things are here in Scotland I’m still glad I don’t teach in England.’

Other than that I’ve got nothing to offer but condolences 😉

When it goes down, it’s also a problem?

If it was just the exams getting harder and the pass rate dropping, and everyone knew in advance, then that would be fine. The accusation is that the Gove moved the goalposts after the exams had been sat, which is totally different and completely out of order.

Having said that, we were anticipating another increase this year so it’s a wee bit surprising.

really? Because Gove said it would fall and the exam boards wrote to schools saying it wpuld fall

anagallis_arvensis – Member

really? Because Gove said it would fall and the exam boards wrote to schools saying it wpuld fall

UCAS admissions cycle starts a long way back, and the forecasts were all for the rising trend to continue. A paranoid person might suggest that something intervened to change this mid-cycle 😉

have kids got brighter since I took mine in 1981?

Teaching has got a lot better though (good), and it’s more exam focused (bad).

who would like to stop social mobility by re-introducing O-levels

how does that work, then?

Sonny Bill scared of Gav the Orange Muppet ?? My sides !! You continue to provide Rugby fans with entertainment Mr AA. You are almost as much fun as Quade Cooper.

edit: wrong thread – doh!

TurnerGuy, I may not have thought it through properly, but the mere mention of Gove’s name makes my blood boil. But I believe you did O-levels OR CSE’s regardless of the fact that you might be a maths genius but can’t spell for toffee and were separated early on in your academic years. Wealthier and better educated parents are more likely to invest time and money in their kids early on to ensure they pass what was the 11 plus, thus ensuring better prospects later in life. White collar – blue collar jobs have become more blurred in the last couple of decades. And Gove gives me the impression at least, that he would like to return to this hierarchy, with him in a privileged position.

I remember years back doing my exams and asked a teacher regarding how the past rate was set
and was totally shocked that if a higher rate of pupils past then the past rate was set higher.

But if the past rate was lower that year then the past rate was lowered
What the Fudge is that!
Every rate should be standard regardless of the success of a particular year.

grantway, its not a fudge. Basically its bloody hard to write an exam paper each year that is exactly as hard as the previous year. So the assumption is (and accross 1000’s pupils its a fair assumption) that the proportions of A,B,C etc remains fairly consistent. It drifts, but big swings from one year to the next are more likely due to an easier/harder paper than changes in education levels.