General Chat

At GCSE the grades A*-G are 'passes' with a U as a 'fail'. At A-level the grades A-E are 'passes' with U as a 'fail'. I teach Maths and have mixed feelings about all this....I remember one girl who worked SO hard for 5 years of secondary school but didn't have much ability - she got an F at GCSE - and for her to have 'passed' was fantastic. But for your average job then a meaningful pass has to be at least a grade C. Standards ARE dropping - I've been teaching nearly 7 years (not that long really) and have seen the difficult end of GCSE Maths moving into the A-level course. And the difficult end of A-level Maths moves out into Further Maths. And the universities, quite rightly, complain that students don't know what they once did. Anyone who claims that standards are not dropping does not know what they are talking about. I heard one mother comment, 'But my daughter was so stressed over her A-levels and worked SO hard - so standards can't be dropping'. She would have been more stressed 5 years ago... Rant over. William

I got 4 C's 2 D's a G and a U!!!

My OH did his A levels in the late 60s and our son took his 8 years ago. OH was staggered at how much easier our son's A level maths syllabus was than when he took it. English language GCSE is certainly a lot easier than the old O level was but I think it is better in a lot of ways. It isn't often that anyone is called upon to parse a sentence, which is what we had to do. The emphasis now is on effective communication which is a good thing. However, I do feel there is not enough emphasis on spelling and grammar. Gwynne

Hi Foxy, I am a teacher and have to take issue with it being a poorly paid job. Certainly it is not as well paid as some jobs - but you would probably complain if your taxes shot up to give all public sector employees a comparable salary to those in the private sector. Also, most teachers are not in it for the money. As for Gordon Brown giving £8 billion of our hard earned tax money to improve the standard of education in Africa. If we waited till our own problems were sorted out completely then we would never help others. I taught as a volunteer in rural Kenya for a year. £100 fees for a year of secondary school. £2 fees for a year of primary school. Imagine the vast resources they can afford! I don't think we have very much to complain about. William

I think basic arithmatic is being lost nowadays. About 36 years ago I used to wait on in a pub and serve behind the bar. I could add up to about £12 in orders in the old pound shilling and pence up in my head. Nowdays barstaff cant add two drinks up without using the adding machine in the till!! Davex

I don't think it is just underfunding we are sufferenig from years of interference from the educational dogooders who 'know best' and this is what we get as a result. Standards have been dropping steadily since the end of the 1960's, children are unrully, wont do as they are told and quite frankly bone idle. One size fits all doesn't work .There will always be those who do their utmost but will never get more than a bare pass. Of course these children need encouragement and something at the end of it all. The problem with the way things are now is that the better performers are not performing to their full extent either but we are pretending they are by giving then A's when many in reality are no better than C. At best only 15-20 % or so can achieve top A grades. Any one who has studied basis statistics understands the principle of distribution curves. If you try and fix the distribution so that more appear to be A's then you are sadly kidding yourself. My company (a well known bank) is strarting to have real difficulty in recruiting. We are now looking to stop taking school leavers with just GCSE's and concentrate on A level students and graduates.

In terms of discipline at school - surely discipline starts at home. Parents must take the brunt of the blame for the poor discipline in schools. Teachers cannot undo the damage done at home in the short time they have with each child - though they might be able to control it if they are good enough. Obviously - I hope - I am not aiming this at all parents equally. But it only takes one disruptive student to destroy a lesson - many classes have far more than one. William

Christine, While I very much agree with your basic premise, as I said on the spelling thread yesterday , does it really matter that he uses a calculator - the technology is there so why not use it.? I write as an old fogey who can usually tut tut with the best of them. Very best wishes. Happy days

Can anyone tell me what 'O' levels are worth, then ? I only put my 'C' & above passes on my CV, so should the rest be counted too ? :0) Joan

An A at GCSE is probaly equivalent to grade 3 or at best a grade at GCE O level.