Back in 1996, an article in the TES
suggested that A-Level standards were falling. Modular A-Levels were easier to
pass and examination papers were less demanding. Research published that year
concluded that the E grade had become easier. As someone who took their own
A-Level exam in 1969, and had been teaching A-Level since 1980, I agreed
wholeheartedly, and wrote about it on my website, www.mathsnet.net, quoting as
evidence examples of past examination questions such as these.
In 1971
candidates were asked: "If a+b+c = a2+b2+c2 =
a3+b3+c3 = 2, find by considering values of
(a+b+c)2 and (a+b+c)3, or otherwise, the values of
ab+bc+ca, and abc. Hence find the equation whose roots are a, b and c." By
contract, 25 years later they were being asked to "find a set of 5 numbers that
had mode 3, median 4 and mean 5".
Extreme examples maybe but
nevertheless standards were slipping. Now, inevitably, it appears that QCA has
swung the pendulum back the other way. Going by the experiences of the 70
students in the AS/A2 groups at my school, the current system seems far too
demanding for the majority of those concerned. As one A-grade GCSE student said
to me recently: "I can't factorise; I never could factorise." Messages posted
recently by students around the country on the BBC's ASGuru site should strike
alarm bells: "Something isn't right here. We haven't even started P2… For
us it is all new, it's all going too fast and even the tutors admit they don't
have enough time… The amount of work I'm getting has meant that I can't
revise the work I've already done... Everyone is really scared that they will
fail."
In Year 12 we have to plan for three examination deadlines in
June and create revision time too, so in September the students have to hit the
ground running - or should that be, sprinting? We were told that AS was to be
easier than A2 but it does not feel like that to me, or the rest of my
department, who are all long serving A Level teachers. Surely very few students
would have been ready to take a module exam this last January, although
apparently it was feasible in other subjects. Immediately after writing these
remarks recently on my website, I received a number of emailed responses. Carol
Jones, who teaches in a comprehensive said: "we are experiencing exactly the
same problems - we are a high-achieving comp, but I hear the local Grammar
school is worried too! It does not seem to be exam-board specific either."
Barbara Edwards, Director of The Maths Practice, wrote: "I agree with
you. I am a private tutor and expected to be flooded out with students doing AS
level. I haven't been - yet. I think they are probably quite overwhelmed at the
moment."
Roy Bayliss, a Head of Maths, said: "I have been using a
modular scheme for some years. We also now find that we are extremely rushed. I
do not see how we are going to get anywhere near being ready in time. Many of
our pupils are in need of time to consolidate but I have to push on to meet the
deadline in spite of the fact that they are now doing 4 subjects rather than
3."
From the Island School in Hong Kong, Paul Jackson commented: "I
share your concerns. We are under unbelievable pressure to get the modules
finished in time for the students to be able to revise properly. This means, in
effect, being finished by the end of April so that students get May to do
practice papers. We used to finish year 12 teaching at the end of June or early
July. We have as much to cover but two months less to teach it in, and one
period less per week. The whole thing is crazy."
Roger May, HOD in a
comprehensive, was more positive: "I read your comments and shared most of your
concerns. However, my staff agrees that our decision to enter for P1 in January
of year 12 has proved to be a good one. It helps the students recognise very
early on indeed the demands involved and we are delighted to see that by and
large they respond very positively to it. The January exam does disrupt the
teaching schedule somewhat and we are all having to race to finish in time but
after two years we are all convinced that we have made the right decision."
I am all for graphic calculators. The new specifications encourage
their use and permit them in some of the module examinations. But,
understandably, few AS students - those who, ironically, may benefit the most -
are going to shell out £60 on a short course. And as a consequence their
attempts at studying functions and graphs are like attending tennis lessons
without a racket.
One principle of the AS was to broaden for one year
the education of students post 16, to encourage them to study four even five
subjects rather than the standard three. But that laudable principle seems to
clash with the high academic demands of this subject. David Blunkett announced
recently a new AS Level course "Use of Mathematics" to be targeted at all
A-Level students not taking A-Level Maths (see the
QCA
website). If, as seems likely, huge numbers of students perform poorly in
the coming exams, will they all resit at the end of Year 13, or re-do the
course, or turn away from mathematics completely, wishing they'd never
attempted to broaden their horizons?
Will this be the target audience
for Blunkett's new AS Level? Is the intention of this new course to create a
two-tier system: those who take A Level Mathematics as of old, and those who
pick up a "Use of Mathematics" AS? It sounds like the principles of the new AS
are on their way out even before they've set one foot in the door! . |
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