29th March 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
As a pupil growing up during a time in which the nation was beginning to doubt the current GCSE and A level system, I feel that a shake-up of the present structure is most welcome. Whilst it is human nature to adhere to an established routine as opposed to attempting to comprehend something new and unknown, sometimes revolution is essential.
100 education experts pooled their ideas in a letter which was published in the Telegraph this week which claimed that the new curriculum with its ‘endless list of spellings, facts and rules’ would lead to a dumbing down of education. But isn’t this what everyone has been complaining about for the past decade? Each year GCSE and A-level results were ‘the highest yet’ with the numbers of students achieving straight A grades constantly increasing every year. People complained that this was due to the exams being made too easy to pass with top marks.
Modules, AS levels as a stepping-stone exam and several chances for retakes all made it much easier for pupils to achieve those much sought after A grades. I am in agreement with the Education minister here that the current system is simply not rigorous enough for students and gives them far too many opportunities to achieve what becomes an ever easier and more obtainable A grade the second and third time around. Surely we are providing students with too many opportunities in which to succeed which is making them complacent in the first instant?