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Back to the A* issue

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24031437-pupils-say-non-to-languages-because-its-too-hard-to-get-an-a.do

Clare Seccombe kindly tweeted a link to the above article in the Evening Standard. It's the severe grading issue raising its head again, but especially the question of A* grades. We have known for a long time that at GCSE modern languages are the hardest subjects to achieve high grades in. At A-level the picture is similar, but with a particular issue with regard to A* grades. I won't go over old ground here, as I have blogged about this before, but I was browsing an old Ofsted report from our school the other day. It dated from 2000 and referred to GCSE results from the year before. French results were particularly good, with a third of our cohort of about 120 students getting A* grades (about 40 A* grades). Last year the equivalent figure was 12.

I find it surprising that the claim is made that standards have remained the same. It is not true. Because the number of pupils entering for MFL has fallen hugely over the last few years, following the decision to make MFL optional at key Stage 4, it has been hard for the exam boards and the monitoring body (now Ofqual) to maintain the same standard for each grade. There are relatively more able students taking languages and far fewer less able candidates. This trend has not been accounted for to a great enough extent.  Essentially, it has got harder to achieve A* grades at GCSE. Alongside this, it is apparent that A* grades at A-Level in MFL are also too rare.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel for students and teachers of MFL at GCSE level. As the number of entries rises again with the advent of the Ebacc, then maybe we shall see a gradual return to the patterns of the late nineties.

It is so disappointing that we cannot trust the Ofqual and exam board statisticians to get things right.

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