AS entries plummet by nearly 40%. Was this Gove's worst idea yet?

[noblegiraffe]

"Overall, the number of AS-Level entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland decreased by around 468,000, or 39.1%, from 1,196,000 to 728,000 – on top of a 13.7% decline we’d seen last year.

The drop is driven by what is going on in England – with the decoupling of AS- and A-Levels leading to AS-Levels being abandoned en masse.

In geography, AS-Level entries were down 50%; in biology they were down 55%; while in psychology down 56%, to look at just three examples."

educationdatalab.org.uk/2017/08/a-level-results-day-2017-the-key-trends-in-three-charts/

Many schools are now moving to students only taking 3 subjects from the start, making it much trickier to deal with a duff choice or bad result at the end of Y12. Cambridge University was against the decoupling because good AS results from less typical Oxbridge candidates were what gave them the confidence to apply.
And I'm really worried about the effect this will have on Maths A-level entries. Will people be put off taking what is perceived to be a difficult subject if they don't have the safety net of being able to drop it at the end of Y12 and still get an AS in it?

Was this Gove's worst idea yet?

I'd still put free schools some way ahead.

Slightly surprised that Michael's worst ideas do not have their own league table yet. We seem to need a league table for seemingly everything else in education.

As far as AS goes DS1 went through the old system. For him huge benefits. Good but not outstanding GCSEs. AS though stellar results, and suddenly academic confidence skyrocketed, and the realisation that he was a very credible candidate for the most academically elite universities, and in truth with 48-50% of the marks already in the bag did not need to worry about only putting unis with AAA or higher requirements on his UCAS form. Five offers and now at Cambridge, where that academic upward trajectory continues further.

DS2 just taken AS. Limited to three subjects as standard - not a big issue for him, but it may well have been for DS1. Middling results. He's disappointed (understatement), however these may act as a real kick up the backside. All linear subjects so effectively the slate is wiped clean. On the other hand the AS grades will be on his UCAS form.

As far as the pressure from public exams in year 12? I've mixed views. None back in my day, and the old lower sixth was a great year. DS1 has never found exams to be overly stressful, a bit different though for DS2.

Maths hasn't been hit by the reforms yet, the new maths A-level is for first teaching this September. Given how AS entries for other subjects have plummeted, we'd expect to see Maths follow suit.

Apparently while two thirds of schools have already cut the number of ASs on offer, 86% will do so in the future. People might think the restriction to 3 A-levels is because the new A-levels are harder, but they're not intended to be. It's because of funding cuts. Not offering AS levels is partly because of the curriculum time that exams take up, but it's also because schools can't afford to run them.

Michael Gove's worst ideas league table, arrange in your own order to suit. For me it's:

1. Compulsory Ebacc (my subject is compulsory anyway, I suspect I'd bump this up if I were an arts teacher)
2. UTCs and studio schools
3. Scrapping national curriculum levels without replacement
4. Bonkers KS2 SATs
5. Trying to make every school an academy
6. 9-1 grading and the new GCSEs which are too hard for the bottom end
7. A-level reform including decoupling AS levels

I fully expect numbers 2 and 1 to switch places next Thursday.
I've got a nagging feeling I've forgotten some stinkers of ideas.

Slightly surprised that Michael's worst ideas do not have their own league table yet. We seem to need a league table for seemingly everything else in education

Fantastic idea, and thanks to noble for starting us off.

I am confused by the AS, when do people think they started? I did an AS in maths 1989 - it was the first yeat they did them and were standalone from A levels. I was the only one who wanted to do AS so joined the A level class for a year and learnt some A level stuff as well. In the end the school entered all the A level maths students for AS (and was only AS the school did that year).

AS back in 1989 was not the same course as AS today, but they are called the same thing which is confusing. AS back then was 50% of an A-level sliced vertically and could be taken as a 2 year course that was entirely separate to A-level. The most recent AS levels were the A-level sliced horizontally, everyone took the AS exams at the end of Y12 and the results formed 50% of your final A-level grade.

Just looking at this twitter thread about not allowing students to continue to A2 maths twitter.com/adamcreen/status/898165992576122881

If a kid gets an E at AS level, from that thread they have a good chance of failing A2. But if they only have three subjects, then not letting them continue one would probably mean a third year of sixth form. So do we let the student on an E continue and see our results plummet, and them potentially walk away with nothing after two years? It's going to be a very tricky decision.

When I was at school an awfully long time ago clever kids did an AS at same time as GCSE - no idea why ( I didn't fall into that group ) . I think the points about good marks at AS giving kids the confidence to go to A level are very valid for those affected . Personally I valued ' chilling ' in lower six free from exams until the following year and have always felt sorry if that's the right phrase for today's youngsters having three years solid of coursework throughout the year and exams - eek as a crammer that wouldn't suit me at all ( and of course it doesn't have to ) .

There was an AS 'additional maths' or suchlike that some took alongside gcses instead of gcse further mats. I don't know if its still available but it was a couple of years ago (dd did the fm along with the other 'good' maths people, the yr 9 maths prodigy did the AS).

Love the starter for seven noble :) Presonally I'd split your number two choice, and have the former part a bit lower down the list.

I can't help but think that Gove does offer the Humanities - well English specifically - a myriad of opportunities for the expansion of language

Gove noun, a far reaching idea of often doubtful provenance

Gove verb , the act of creating such ideas

Govista noun, identifies those goving the goves, believed to have originated through a misinterpretation of the line "Hasta Govista, Baby^ in the film Terminator, Judgement Day.

Govella noun, the nom de plume of choice for Govistas who use blogs the promote govism

Govism noun, the underpinning dogma philosophy

Govian adjective, as in Govian slip.

Govely adverb, origin unkown

Govellation noun, a collective of goves normally grouped by a distinct chronological period -eg the 1st Great Govellation .NB great does not infer good but rather is used in the same context as for the Great Depression, The Great Fire of London

Govealot a mythical land where Govism reigns supreme, loosely based on the Arthurian concept of Camelot but being more akin to the Richard Gere / Sean Connery cinematic offering. It is in this fictional land that Govism celebrates the final destruction of its arch nemesis the Blob

Govan an area of Glasgow with no known links whatsoever to Gove, Govism, or as having an over-representation of Govistas.

Govi Desert - the education system in England an increasingly frequent error made by geography students at primary, secondary and sixth form when they intend to write Gobi Desert. The full reasons behind this increasingly frequent phenomenon remain uncertain. However occurrences have only ever been reported in England.

What happened to the Core Maths where pupils effectively take AS level Maths over 2 years noble?
What concerns me about the A level reforms is that they were driven by what the so-called top unis wanted rather than by employers.
I found this article on A level Science on TES the other day which is interesting reading www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/removing-practicals-a-level-science-grades-could-damage-pupils.
The new reformed Science A levels definitely have more maths content and fewer pupils taking AS Maths definitely won't help.

DD did the new physics this year, and actually reckoned the new way of assessing practicals was better. They had to do more experiments, in a more realistic way for the practical endorsement - and all the courses she applied to required this for science subjects, its not optional. And the 'practical skill' section of the exam was really tough.

that article has a somewhat misleading headline though catsilfe The comments below the article are interesting.

What concerns me about the A level reforms is that they were driven by what the so-called top unis wanted rather than by employers

Could you expand on that? Presumably by so-called top unis you mean the Russell Group ? If so I'd share a concern on the increasing RG obsession in both the media and amongst many MN posters, and the wholescale swallowing of the marketing spin that the RG Unis are the be all and end all. The various Uni tables are probably broadly indicative of where a university might be pitched, but none of them have positions 1 to 24 overall or by subject filled exclusively by RG universities.

In terms of what they wanted is this the finding of the Advisory Panel(s) ? As opposed to the initial decoupling which a lot of them, possibly most vocally Cambridge, opposed.

Don't have to just do 3 though, other add ons include core maths, epqs, fourth A level ( and still can drop it at end of y12 and do an AS even if school generally doesn't offer them, i had a couple this year do that)
Core maths is a useful extra to sciences if not doing A level maths.
Don't get me wrong i think it is a poor idea and but in itself does not need to be a problem if there are no AS level exams.
Catslife, i read the tes article too and thought it odd. However it was written by a non teacher so the author probably has limited actual experience of the new practical schemes. I like them, it has made us do more practicals, not less, and the kids have to think more about what they did and why, far more so than the old EMPA/ISA which had widespread school cheating issues as well.

2. 9-1 grading and the new GCSEs which are too hard for the bottom end

I recollect that this was Gove's intention. He didn't want the bottom 20% to take exams, so he's got his way. In the old days the CSE was invented to cater for those children who weren't considered good enough for GCEs. How long will it be before another CSE has to be invented? (Although they were always considered second best, I do believe that this was an unfair reputation - they offered a breadth of subjects and some innovative curricula.)