OxBowBusiness

Resits ... Chris was right all along

Now I only bought The Daily Telegraph yesterday because of the free DVD: the fantastic Saturday Night Sunday Morning starring Albert Finney and Shirley Ann Field. It's old, in black and white but it's from the era of great British films that were really the precursor to soap operas such as Coronation Street and eventually Emmerdale Farm and East Enders (and many more). Even if you're only 16 years old you will enjoy this story of work and love in Nottingham in the 1950s/1960s.

Well anyway, on the front page of yesterday's Telegraph was an article entitled, Pupils raise grades with up to 5 re sits. The thrust of the story is that pupils are taking their AS and A2 exams, let's say three AS papers and three A2 papers and then if, eg, they get A, A, D for their AS exams, thy will retake the D and attempt to turn it into an A or B or at least a C grade. Don't forget that only the best result is taken into account by Universities.

The article (also available on line here) starts with this shocker: Sixth-formers are re-sitting A-level papers up to five times to improve results, it was disclosed yesterday.

More than that, Universities are not told which candidates achieve grades by multiple re sits and which reach the standard at the first attempt.; and There is no restriction on the number of times pupils can sit each of the six parts or "modules" that make up an A level and ... the facility was widely used.

Not surprisingly, what has been found is that At grammar and independent schools overall, 43% of students gained an A grade and 21% a B grade in maths. The figures for schools putting candidates in for all six papers at once were 34% A grade and 19% B. So, what would you do?

So what's the problem if the system allows them to do all of this? Why should we complain? Well, now we can begin to see why the "pass rate" for A levels is now so high ... as Prof Alan Smithers, who is the director for education at Buckingham University, said the grades gave a false picture of a young person's ability and potential to succeed at university because there was no longer a level playing field between those who re sat the exam and those who did not.

They also interviewed John McIntosh, who is the headmaster of the London Oratory School, which has educated Tony Blair's three eldest children, said: "I very much regret the re take culture. It's bad enough that the integrity of subjects has been fragmented by modularisation; continual retaking of units drives the nails deeper into the coffin."

Chris has argued strongly against the resit philosophy and has been pilloried for taking that stance. Now the truth is coming out in the mainstream press so it's official ... Chris was right!

Duncan Williamson

posted by Duncan Williamson @ 7:43 AM