You are here: Home » Comment »

The GCSE debacle – a harsh but important lesson to Britain’s young people about the grim realities of Tory Britain

August 30, 2012 2:04 pm

Author:

Tags:

Share this Article

The debacle over the downgrading of GCSE results serves to deliver a harsh but important lesson to Britain’s young people about the grim realities of Tory Britain. You have to wonder whether Education Secretary Michael Gove had been getting ideas from the old adage about taking candy from a baby when he decided to deliberately downgrade GCSE-results mid-year.

Yet this whole fiasco strikes me as a powerful metaphor which encapsulates the flawed policies of this Government. And the message is clear: the deal you get from the Tories isn’t about equity or fairness but about circumstance.

I mean, seriously, how low is this Tory-led Government prepared to go?

I’d like to see Mr Gove try to justify his excuse that the policy was to counter so-called “grade inflation” to the many 16-year-olds who have been affected. Those young people must carry a D-grade on their CVs instead of a C-grade for the rest of their lives – just because their coursework was submitted in the summer instead of the winter.

It is patently unfair. But then fairness doesn’t appear to be a word the Tories comprehend.

They certainly weren’t thinking about fairness when they decided to offer a tax break to Britain’s millionaires in the last budget, while simultaneously heaping more pressure on those struggling to make ends meet. Fairness wasn’t on the agenda when the Government announced changes to council tax benefit schemes which will force local authorities, against their wishes, to turn the knife on society’s most vulnerable forcing many into poverty. Nor was it fair when student tuition fees were pushed through the roof, when the public were denied a judge-led inquiry into the Libor banking scandal, or when the Tories proposed hair-brained taxes on charities, caravans, skips and even pasties.

But it is not just the unfairness of the GCSE grading farce which baffles me; moreover it is the apparent lack of thought, logic or justification.

If Mr Gove really believes the step was necessary due to steadily improving grades over a number of years, then why do it mid-year? Surely this will just muddy the waters for years to come because 2011-12 will forever be the academic year for which the statistics were twisted by dodgy accounting. It would have made much more sense to make such a change between academic years rather than during one.

Yet there is little point in analysing the whys and wherefores of this decision – to do so gives the Government too much credit.

The reality is that there was no logic to the decision because it was taken hastily without proper consideration.  It is not the first such action since the Tory-Lib Dem coalition stumbled into Government and I’m quite sure it won’t be the last. And that’s the lesson that our young people can learn from this shameful situation.

While the travesty over GCSE grades might seem to some like a fairly minor sham compared to some of the others we’ve seen along the way, it is indicative of what this Government stands for.

The social experiment being forced on Britain is neither about fairness nor logic but about political dogma. We’ve got a shrunken, battered economy to show for it along with a growing list of victims.

The 16-year-olds whose GCSE papers were marked down are the latest to join that list, but the light at the end of the tunnel may yet be that it is the Tories and Lib Dems whose scores ultimately suffer at the ballot box.

Chris Williamson is the Labour MP for Derby North

Related posts:

  1. Single issue groups are important to young people – but If you really want to change the world, join the Labour Party
  2. Ben Bradshaw: There’s unfair demonisation of young people in Britain
  3. Time for the government to start supporting young people
  4. Those who will lose out most will be talented, disadvantaged young people
  5. EMA provides a vital lifeline to struggling young people
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=564361715 Jeff Maughan

    “to counter so-called “grade inflation””

    It is one thing to say that grade boundaries should not be changed during the course of one academic year.  The author of this piece seems to be arguing, however, that he does not think that grade inflation is a problem.

    This is a much stronger point than simply criticising the GCSE English marking issue.  It does see to imply that Mr Williamson has his head in the sand regarding levels of academic standards in schools.

  • charles.ward

    “… 2011-12 will forever be the academic year for which the statistics were twisted by dodgy accounting.”

    1988-1989 the percentage getting at least a C grade rose by 3.7 percentage points.
    1989-1990 it rose by 2.1 percentage points.

    Even the rise between 2010 and 2011 (0.7 percentage points) is much larger than the fall 2011 to 2012 (0.3 percentage points).

    Why is a small fall in grades “dodgy accounting” but much larger rises year on year perfectly legitimate?

    Also the head of OffQual has denied over and over again that the grades were reduced because of orders from Mr Gove.

    Don’t forget that inflated grades dilute the value of all the GCSEs awarded in previous years affecting far more people than few who didn’t get the grades they expected this year.

  • aracataca

    ‘Also the head of OffQual has denied over and over again that the grades were reduced because of orders from Mr Gove.’
    Believe that denial and you’ll believe anything.

    • charles.ward

      Care to supply a shred of evidence that the head of OfQual is not independent or that she has some motive to grade students down?

      Mindless cynicism doesn’t constitute an argument.

  • geedee0520

    Meanwhile, out in the real world, Universities are running remedial classes to bring students up to an acceptable standard, and employers are having some difficulty recruiting numerate & literate UK young people.

    But, grades are down fractionally & therefore once the numbers are corrected all will be OK.

    • Mr Arthur Cook

      I’m afraid you seem to entirely lack a realistic grasp of the situation. If we may, for a moment, take your claims which seem familiar from my last encounter with the Daily Mail, and subject them to the “anecdote test” I am at a loss to find “university remedial classes”. As I work in higher education, I am aware of a number of programmes which offer “fill in” courses where a student may lack a specialist background but I am unaware of classes running in the three “Rs”. Perhaps you can tell me the names of these institutions?

      You comments about employers are also rather spurious. I cannot remember a time in my life where the Mail has not bleated “they can’t read’n rite like what we used to do in the old days”.
      We may as well wait for a headline stating “All passengers satisfied with bus services”.
      Educational policy and strategy cannot be based on nonsense ……. but political positions, I suppose, can. 

  • Alexwilliamz

    Not quite for the rest of their lives, they can take the exam again and probably will very soon. Think perhaps of those who get E grades and below, already consigned to the scrap heap before their working lives have begun.

  • Alexwilliamz

    Not quite for the rest of their lives, they can take the exam again and probably will very soon. Think perhaps of those who get E grades and below, already consigned to the scrap heap before their working lives have begun.

  • John_Dore

    I doubt Chris will come back to answer. If you have absolutely nothing else worthwhile doing read some of his prior articles, he really is clueless on everything in this dimension..

  • Daniel Speight

    A far worse example of unfairness is happening at London Metropolitan University where Damian Green’s Immigration Department have put the future of hundreds of kids into doubt. In order to punish the university for not behaving according to their rules they are willing to accept collateral damage to both overseas students half finished studies and Britain’s reputation for fairness abroad.

  • Hugh

    ” If Mr Gove really believes the step was necessary due to steadily
    improving grades over a number of years, then why do it mid-year?”

    He didn’t; the exam boards did. Having allowed significant grade inflation over two decades they then ballsed up moves to address it once it was clear the government wasn’t going to stand for it any more.

  • aracataca

    Mindless gullibility in respect of a government minister also doesn’t constitute an argument. The political motive behind such a move is clear. Gove evinces a faith in ‘traditional’ education at regular intervals. Sometimes this belief takes laughable forms. For example, when he established the English Bacc last year he included the extremely relevant and vitally important subject of Ancient Hebrew in the list of subjects needed to obtain this qualification. However, he excluded useless, worthless and pointless subjects like Computer Science and Design and Technology. In Gove’s world the country clearly  needs more translators of Ancient Hebrew than it needs qualified designers, technicians or computer programmers. 
    As with most Tory measures there was a punitive element to his proposal, since no state schools teach Ancient Hebrew fewer of their pupils were able to claim the Bacc qualification. Gove is pompous, arrogant and dim enough to hold the erroneous view ( and of course without supporting evidence) that exams  taken when he was at school were far harder than the exams taken today. Therein lies the motive.

    • charles.ward

       Not a single word about the head of OfQual in this whole rant.  I’ll ask again, do you have any evidence of her lack of independence?

  • Hugh

    “I’d like to see Mr Gove try to justify his excuse that the policy was to counter so-called “grade inflation””

    I’d like to see you provide some external evidence of so-called “improving standards” other than rising grates.

    • PeterBarnard

      “Levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy of 13-19 year-olds in England, 1948-2009″ (Sheffield University/University of London) : pages 32, 49 and 68.

    • PeterBarnard

      “Levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy of 13-19 year-olds in England, 1948-2009″ (Sheffield University/University of London) : pages 32, 49 and 68.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZPXYLRVP4XOIGGDJWAL6HUO7U4 David

        From the Guardian report on that study:

        “The government-funded study of the levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy of 13- to 19-year-olds in England, from 1948 to 2009 found rates of innumeracy and illiteracy had remained at the same level for at least 20 years.

        “The researchers found teenagers’ average reading scores had risen between 1948 and 1960 and remained “remarkably constant” between 1960 and 1988. Between 1997 and 2004, scores had “gently” risen and then plateaued. But they discovered little improvement in teenagers’ writing between 1979 and 2004.

        “Exam scores show teenagers’ writing has improved between 1998 and 2009. The maths GCSE pass rate has risen substantially between 1989 and 2005.”

        I’m not sure that provides the “external evidence of so-called “improving standards” other than rising grades” you appear to imply.

      • Hugh

        Maybe my copy is a different issue to yours. On page 32 of mine:
        “Average Yellis vocabulary scores, 1993–2009
        1993: 54.84%
        2009: 53.86%”

        GCSE results for English, meanwhile…
        1993: Grades A to C  57.3%
        2009: 62.4%

        And that’s pretty modest: As I’ve said before, across all subjects from 2001 to 2011 the percentage of GCSE grads A* to C awarded increased from 57.1% to 69.8% – up 22 per cent.  2001 to 2011 the percentage of GCSE grads A* to C awarded increased from 57.1% to 69.8% – up 22 per cent. From 1988 to 2011 grades A* to C increased from 41.9% to 69.4%.

        The OECD last year noted “official test scores and grades in England show systematically and significantly better performance than international and independent tests”, and that “Independent surveys of cognitive skills do not
        support this development.” (Forgive me for repeating myself, as I’ve told you this before.)

        Durham University’s study for the ONS  in 2007, meanwhile, compared results from the Test of Developed Abilities (TDA) of general maths and verbal reasoning skills given to a few thousand children every year since 1988 with their A level results. TDA scores saw a modest decline over the 1990s before flatlining for   the past decade. However, from 1988 to 2006, children with the same TDA score got an average of 2 grades higher in each subject at A level.

        Meanwhile,  in 2000, the Engineering Council analysing data from 60 university departments of maths, physics and engineering that gave diagnostic tests on basic maths skills to  new undergraduates each year found strong evidence of a steady decline in scores on these tests over the preceding
        decade.

        Even taking the best of teh report you reference hardly supports the big increase in GCSE and A level results we’ve seen.

        On reading: “Some data suggest a gentle rise between 1997 and 2004, then a further plateau.”

        On writing: “KS3 test results show a substantial rise between 1995 and 2007… But studies of examination scripts suggest little change between 1980 and 2004 (with a dip in between)”

        On  numeracy: “On average, number skills in England are poorer than in many other countries, especially industrialised ones, though other aspects of numeracy are better.”

        Hardly what you’d expect given the massive improvement we’ve seen in results over the last couple of decades.

  • LordElpus

    Little Jimmy gets a D in his mocks and a C in his exam:-

    “Brilliant son, you really have worked hard, got stuck in and tried your damnedest – you deserve a pass”

     Little Jimmy gets a C in his mocks and a D in his exam:-

    “It’s the exam board son, they’ve messed up, you deserved a pass”

  • PeterBarnard

    David, (and Hugh),

    A “Guardian report,” in common with many journalist’s reports, may be contaminated by what that journalist regards as “what makes news,” (and therefore, “what sells”) and it is a fact of life that “bad news” is more “interesting” than good news. No journalist is ever going to write that N aircraft landed safely (and M aircraft took off safely) at LHR yesterday nor that X aircraft landed safely (and Y aircraft took off safely) in the whole of the UK yesterday.

    Neither is any journalist ever going to write that tens of thousands of aircraft safely criss-crossed UK and European airspace yesterday. Actually, given the complexities of modern mass-transit traffic systems, it really is good news, and testament to the skills of the people who designed and now operate these systems, that so many journeys are safely completed.

    ===============================================

    This education business can turn out like a game of ping-pong in which bits of reports here and there are selected to prove this or that.

    But what I find annoying is that Labour 1997-2010, especially, seems to be accused of “cooking the books” on GCSE results, when (in the Sheffield Univ/London Univ report) the Yellis tests show that vocabulary scores rose from 48.6% (1997) to 53.9% (2009), the mathematics scores rose from 39.1% (1997) to 47.5% (2009), and the TIMMS (ie international comparisons in mathematics) tests show a significant improvement in all benchmarks – top 10%, upper quartile, median and lower quartile - between 2003 and 2007.

    As far as the OECD is concerned, they seemed to find that (at least some) of the 2000 PISA tests were not conducted properly, and so (at least some of) the results in 2000 can’t be used as a comparison with subsequent years.

    Shame on you :-) for taking the Grauniad report rather than the report itself …

    The actual facts? Who knows? I don’t … and I don’t think anyone else does, either.

  • Mr Arthur Cook

    If politicians tinker and tamper with education for their own political ends for a thousand years.

    Surely, they will say, this was their finest hour!

  • Mr Arthur Cook

    So now OFQUAL “have a bit of a chat” with the examboards and come up with a “solution”.

    The pupils can do another re-sit quickly…..AND FREE!!!!
    Such astounding generosity!!! Oh no, I’m sorry, what I actually meant was – what a criminal insult to pupils, teachers and the general public. This accompanied by the absolute denial that Ofqual’s political master at the DfE had no part in it.
    Rather like a faithful and cringing servant seeking to ‘shield the master’. 
    I do not think for a moment that Mr Gove woke up one morning and rang the examboard and said “Good morning – can you please change the grade boundaries in the English examination?”
    However, what his office means is that he is undeniably accountable for the the education system including examinations. He is responsible for whipping up popular political right wing rubbish about ‘grade inflation’. He is responsible for creating examboard panic to “end grade inflation” lest their lucrative business be taken away.
    When asked, in parliament why he had ignored the views of his self-appointed experts Mr Gove offered, with characteristic arrogance, “advisers advise and ministers decide”. As such he must now crawl out of his bunker and provide an account to parliament of how this mess occured.
    In fact a considerable amount of time might be set aside in order that we can all hear him explain his splendid efforts in:Wasting money on Free schoolsAllowing unqualified people to teachIgnoring a surging pupil populationSelling school playing fields
    …and offering state contracts to people he’s gone on holiday with!!……and he can drop in as many latin quotations as he likes! 

Latest

  • Comment Where are the women over 50 on our TV screens?

    Where are the women over 50 on our TV screens?

    By Harriet Harman

    Most people like to think that we live in a society that is fair and equal but for some it is still not equal at all. When it comes to TV presenters, women disappear when they reach over the age of 50. As part of the work of the Older Women’s Commission, I wrote to the six main UK broadcasters asking them how many older women they employ on screen and behind the camera. The figures provided by broadcasters show [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured The Loneliness of the Long Distance Leader

    The Loneliness of the Long Distance Leader

    By Stefan Stern

    That’s it. Enough is enough. I try to be reasonable. But you can only push somebody so far. It’s time to sort this out once and for all. I am fed up with this huge and growing army of sycophants and cheerleaders constantly bigging up Ed Miliband, and making helpful or supportive interventions on his behalf. The list is endless. Let’s shine a spotlight on the guilty men and women. There’s… well, there’s… er… you know… er… thingy… on a [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Europe We do not stigmatise your country, Deputy Prime Minister. It is you and your party we find distasteful

    We do not stigmatise your country, Deputy Prime Minister. It is you and your party we find distasteful

    By Rob Marchant

    Last Saturday a senior European politician wrote an article in the British press which made you want to shout at the computer screen. Not such an unusual event, you might think, but this was not a debater’s disagreement as one might have had with the viewpoint of a Tory, a Gaullist or a Christian Democrat. It was one which also left the reader feeling a bit nauseous. And that is because, rather than an honestly-expressed case justified with some evidence, it was [...]

    Read more →
  • News Watson urges investigation of “supressed” Leveson evidence – Media roundup: May 21st, 2013

    Watson urges investigation of “supressed” Leveson evidence – Media roundup: May 21st, 2013

    Subscribers to our morning email get the best of LabourList – including the Media and blog round up – every weekday morning. If you were a subscriber you would have already received this in your inbox. You can sign up here. Labour proposes teachers spend time in industry “All teachers involved in vocational education would have to spend a period of each year in industry, under Labour plans to integrate further education with emerging skills gaps identified by businesses. The strategy – announced on [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Featured Is party politics dying out?

    Is party politics dying out?

    By Mark Ferguson

    This week has brought the role of party members and activists back to the front pages. That’s rather unusual to be honest – and rightly so, as party members (swivel eyed and otherwise) make up only 1% of the British population. Being a party member is already a niche interest. You are somewhat odd if you’re a party member – sorry to break that to you, but of course I’m odd too (and quite possibly odder than you). What swivel-eyed [...]

    Read more →