Goves plans for end of 2yr exams

Recently as you might have heard, education minister Michael Gove has announced plans to give A levels a 'face lift'. He plans to move all As/A2 exams to the end of the 2 year course. Surely this would mean fewer passes and less people going to university. Is Gove attempting to revert to past stage whereby university was just for the richer classes? It seems like it. Years ago when there was exams at the end of the 2 yrs few working class kids went to uni as they weren't inspired or failed to achieve whereas the middle classes did because of their cultural, social and economic capital. To me these plans seem unfair and very extreme. I fail to see where Gove is coming from. I am sure that he thinks Alevels these days are 'easy'. Well I'd love to see him sit his a levels today and see how he does. The students of this generation aren't being given enough credit for all their hard work. This is disgusting.
What are your thoughts on these soon to be changes?

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Reply 1

Aquacel

It won't happen because the reforms are to start in September 2015; the Tories will be out of government then anyway and none of these plans will matter.

Reply 2

andrew2209

Removing AS Levels is going to give Universities hell, as they'll be at the mercy of predicted grades, which could be "inflated" by some schools.

Reply 3

sophus18x

True. However... in a sociology class we discussed that as many politicians are middle class it is in their interests to introduce such policies. Just something to think about. I mean if you think about it, it was Labour who raised the tuition fees to £9000..isn't labour supposed to be representing the working class?

Reply 4

mynameisntbobk

Yeah it won't happen. Also, Gove is a bastard

Reply 5

sophus18x

Exactly. Personally having AS levels gave me a shot at actually going to university. Without them I would have had no indication of how I was doing and what needed to improve so I would have most likely failed. Also, whilst this may seem very extreme, I once read an article that discussed how the depression and suicide rates will soar if these policies are allowed to go ahead. Interesting and very saddening.

Reply 6

gdunne42

Original post by sophus18x

I don't support the move to change to linear assessment but..
1. There is no reason to assume fewer passes, grade boundaries will be adjusted to achieve similar outcomes
2. IF the system is engineered so that there is a large fall in results, universities will adjust entry requirements so that they fill their courses.
3. Years ago many working class kids did not aspire to attend university and there were plenty of jobs for them to go to - linear assessment had nothing to do with it.

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Reply 7

newblood

Good idea but very worrying in terms of uni applications as it will all be based off predicted grades.

Given the time they will save in April-June from no AS exams they should have these final exams in march time of 2nd year and then apply to unis with results in hand

Reply 8

gdunne42

Original post by sophus18x

There wil still be AS LEVELS to give those who need it a kick up the back side, just the marks won't count towards the final A level grade

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Reply 9

meenu89

Original post by Mutleybm1996

Tories will be in government in 2015.
Reasoning:
-everyone remembers how much Labour increased the deficit by
-lib dems are perceived as liars
-UKIP are just racist.

Hence:Tories in power in 2015

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Tories will not be in power. They need to be 8% ahead of Labour to get a majority of 1.

Reply 10

Old_Simon

Very few incoming governments ever put the brakes on and completely reverse a policy which has been planned for roll out over some time and at huge cost plus work / stress for schools. This is the end of modular assessment.

Reply 11

Mutleybm1996

Original post by meenu89

Tories will not be in power. They need to be 8% ahead of Labour to get a majority of 1.

Another coalition then

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Reply 12

Aquacel

Original post by Mutleybm1996

Do you not think the mass voters care about cuts to the NHS, education and councils? Do you think most people agree with Gove's education policies? Labour is going to be the best of a bad bunch and the Tories will not get in again. Nobody cares about the deficit when their front-line services they use every day are being chopped up. Joe Bloggs doesn't care how much his country is in debt when he needs to go to A&E for a broken arm and he needs to get his daughter into secondary school.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 13

Clip

Original post by sophus18x

Anything else you'd like to add to that? Rising sea levels? Alien invasion? Worldwide Caliphate? Pandemic of haemorrhagic fever?

Reply 14

sophus18x

Either way I think this policy will be in some way or another carried on regardless of who is in power or not.
Heart goes out to all college students of 2015 onwards.

Reply 15

Katie_p

Modular assessment and high percentages of coursework have been taken a bit too far in some subjects, when kids can take home a sheet of questions and memorise the answers, or just copy a pre-written essay in their "assessment" class.
But linear exams at the end of 2 years is only going to benefit those with good memories, and a good memory doesn't make someone clever. Our exams already focus too much on regurgitation of facts and not applying them, and this would only make it worse (especially coupled with other changes the current Government seem determined to make, like rote-learning vocabulary and grammar in language exams, and not having the texts in literature exams). I've got a great memory, I'd ace these new style exams if I just spent a few hours cramming before each one, but that's not fair on people who understand the work but just can't cram it all in - I'm sure many of them would be better at certain jobs than me!

Linear exams are only harder because you have to memorise anything, all an A* will say if this happens is "hey, I've got a great memory", which is not something most employers will care about. It's definitely not the right solution.

Reply 16

nulli tertius

Original post by sophus18x

Either way I think this policy will be in some way or another carried on regardless of who is in power or not.
Heart goes out to all college students of 2015 onwards.

To some extent we became locked in a vicious circle.

Schools always did do internal exams at the end of the lower VIth year. Therefore when AS levels were introduced, it did not represent a great change. What has happened over the ensuing 20 years is that universities have reduced the extent to which they interview and greater importance has been placed on examination results. In consequence VIth forms have spent less time teaching the subject and more time prepping for examinations and strategies were developed to utilise the ability to sit both in January and June to the the full. At the same time universities were complaining, particularly in the sciences, that undergraduates were coming to university with less subject knowledge but it was equally obvious that VIth formers were working much harder than they had done in the previous generation.

Gove is trying to redress this and I think you are right, other Secretaries of State are likely to do something similar if not the same.

Will universities simply work on GCSEs and predicted grades; will there be more interviewing; will there be more admissions tests? I do not know. The Pearson system of testing facilities is a big game changer. Obviously it is used for LNAT and the like. It enables universities to run tests without support from schools.

Reply 17

Old_Simon

We should never underestimate the clout and firepower of Pearson. They are huge in education here and the USA and other countries as well.

Reply 18

James222

Why doesnt gove advocate
Law and accountancy professional exams be made into 1 final exam

Why pick on people who cant vote coward

Reply 19

TenOfThem

Original post by gdunne42

There wil still be AS LEVELS to give those who need it a kick up the back side, just the marks won't count towards the final A level grade

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This is not the case