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A-level pass rate rises again amid north-south divide row



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Published Date: 15 August 2008
By Fiona Macleod
EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT
THE A-level pass rate increased for the 26th year in a row, exam results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland revealed yesterday.
Record numbers of teenagers achieved top grades yesterday. But controversy surrounded greater improvements in the south-east of England than in the north-east.

Overall, the national pass rate was above 97 per cent for the first time, while one in four sixth-formers was awarded an "A" grade.

English and maths were the top choices for candidates and the number of maths candidates rose from 60,093 last year to 64,593 this year.

Entries in biology and chemistry were at the highest levels for a decade. Physics entries were also up, sparking claims of a revival of maths and science subjects.

An extra 1,447 candidates studied biology, 1,395 more students took chemistry and an extra 630 took physics.

Fears of a languages slump proved unfounded as the number of candidates taking A-levels in French rose to the highest level since 1993.

Spanish entries were at a new high of 7,055.

Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, said that the numbers taking science and maths A-levels must continue to rise substantially for Britain to thrive.



The full article contains 216 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 14 August 2008 10:04 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

JayDeeTee,

15/08/2008 00:34:05
Well? What's the controversy then? Come on.....tell us.
2

Guga II,

Rockall 15/08/2008 01:08:39
#1. Who cares what they do in England.
3

Anne,

Eaglesham 15/08/2008 06:21:08
#2 - we all do, as their results impact upon our children's bids for university places.
4

The Answer,

Glasgow 15/08/2008 07:18:58
#2

Dont worry about the English, watch youre own back, far fewer scotch manage to qualify for university when compaired to the English.

7% of new undergraduates come from scotsland!
5

Boy Wonder,

15/08/2008 07:28:06
#4. Scotch is a drink.

Do you even live here???
6

Climate change is a fraud,

15/08/2008 08:48:33
Dumbing down.

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/
7

Vincent-W,

15/08/2008 09:21:57
Anne - Don't even bother, he lives in a darkened room with a black felt bag over his head and he had a very frightening experience in the woodshed when he was small, someone told him there be dragons beyond Crianlarich.

Boy Wonder - "You know I am an enthusiast in old Scotch songs." Burns wrote of himself in 1787. In any case Scotch is also properly applied to eggs, a corner, beef, lamb, pork, pies, raspberries etc etc. While the use of the adjective 'Scotch' is considered archaic and even pejorative (only in Scotland), it is a perfectly proper word to use. In other parts of the world people use it freely with no intention to insult. Personally I only use it when I'm teasing 'ultra-serious-up-their-own-bottom' Scotsmen. Clearly, as 'The Answer' has shown, it works! Who knows - in years to come it might become like the 'N' word is now amongst many black people?
8

The Former Mr. Angry,

Perth 15/08/2008 09:36:47
"Overall, the national pass rate was above 97 per cent for the first time, while one in four sixth-formers was awarded an "A" grade."

Remembering the good old days of O levels and Highers you'd be lucky if 3% got an "A" pass and if memory serves me well a lot more than 3% failed - i.e. to get C or above. Am I right in saying that no one loses here? If you get A to E you're OK?

As in Stalinist Russia where there was "no crime" looks like in Bean-Stalin England there are no academic failures either!
9

JayDeeTee,

15/08/2008 11:18:03
#8. Were they not called O grades up here and O levels down south?
10

Fairfax,

15/08/2008 11:31:13
The Former Mr Angry (8): "Remembering the good old days of O levels and Highers you'd be lucky if 3% got an "A" pass"

As I recall, "A" grades were roughly the top 10%, as opposed to the current 20-25%. For universities like mine (Cambridge), where we're primarily interested in recruiting from within the top 1% (if not top 0.1% for some colleges) for mathematics, this renders "A" levels particularly unsuitable (hence the requirement for A2, or other qualifications). I'm sure Edinburgh and Imperial, say, have similar problems.
11

Vincent-W,

15/08/2008 12:36:00
Fairfax - It's not just top Universties that have a need to discriminate between good and very good. All sorts of employers; civil service, armed forces, pharmaceutical research, industry, engineering, design need to be able to get the very best brains.

The problem seems to be that elitism is a dirty word to many. Poppycock and balderdash!!!!! While the less than top brains have an essential role in organisations, it's the elite who make the difference.
12

Douglas,

Bathgate 15/08/2008 23:20:42
This is what happens when you outsource the marking to the Zimbabwean electoral counting office.

 

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