Massive decline in English A-level take-up thanks to Gove reforms

[noblegiraffe]

One for @piggywaspushed who warned of this.

Take-up of English A-levels has declined massively since 2016. There has also been a decrease in the take-up of Maths and Further Maths A-levels after years of steady increases (and the country cannot afford this).

Good job everyone. Well done.

Full figures here: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/803906/Provisional_entries_for_GCSE__AS_and_A_level_summer_2019_exam_series.pdf

I think what tapas means is that some children (my ds included) find anything that is not black and white or where you need to draw inference or have an opinion on something very difficult.

Isn’t it horses for courses? My natural intellectual leanings throughout school were towards maths & science which I studied at A level, but in later years I also studied law, and found the art of inference from complex text, came surprisingly easy. Logic has purpose beyond Maths & science.
My youngest is gifted at Maths, but her logical intellect enables her to attain highly across the whole curriculum, not just in maths & science.
My eldest has always struggled with maths & science, and very much enjoyed English Lit at A level. Interestingly a lot of the girls who struggled with it, or those who hadn’t top grades at GCSE, were encouraged to take an ‘easier’ A level, usually Media studies, which by and large was often the subject which earned them the higher grade. There was a brief period where my daughter wished she had chosen this too, but thankfully she stayed with it and to her immense relief emerged with an A. It was interesting though how the school were discouraging those whom they knew would struggle to achieve a respectable grade, and were steering them towards the subjects that would get them an easier grade.

piggy reading has been in decline for years though, and a 20% drop in Englishes since 2017 is too big to be explained by that. They used to be (put together) the most popular subject at A-level until recently.

There has to be a more recent change- the Gove reforms. Most students now taking only 3 might be a big part of that - they need their subjects to count rather than be a nice to have - do many unis specify English A-level outside of English degrees?

I don’t think the rise in computing is due to them stealing potential English students - the increased numbers doing computing are still too small to have had that much impact on a big-hitting subject.

why is the maths A level awful now?

I think some of my antipathy is undoubtedly due to it being new and not liking change, plus the usual teething problems of a new qualification with the resources not being in place, the textbooks being rubbish and not being sure what is required.

But apart from that, the new A-levels weren’t meant to be harder, just linear. The papers are horrible. The grade boundaries last year (for further maths kids who did A-level in a year) were really low. Edexcel had massive complaints about the difficulty of this year’s papers so it’ll be interesting to see grade boundaries there, especially with the paper being leaked.

The introduction of the large dataset is a pointless waste of time and sooo boring. Some schools have looked at the marks on the papers for it and decided not to bother teaching it at all.

And because we don’t have 4 A-levels any more, kids who would have done perfectly well at AS, then dropped it because it was a step too far are now forced to limp on painfully through Y13.

Previously if I had an A-grade student who was considering maths I’d have advised them to give it a go as it’s such a good A-level to have, and they could drop it at AS if needed, so still having a maths qualification.
Now with less secure grade 7 students, I’d seriously hesitate. That’s not good at all.

You see, I never understood this. Why is it optional!!?? In Ireland you HAVE to pass English, maths, Irish (and up to a few years ago a foreign language) to even get INTO university REGARDLESS Of what course you are doing!!
So you would need;
English
Irish
Maths
French, or German, Italian etc
And then you would choose 3-5 more subjects out of the rest of the subjects. See attached list.

They wanted to make maths compulsory to 18 but the conclusion was that there aren’t enough teachers.

all those crowing about the decline of English in favour of REAL jobs, might like to know: Only a minority of science graduates work in STEM jobs, according to the Nuffield Foundation.
Most recent graduates - and I also checked this anecdotally with DN yesterday - end up working in the bullshit job sector know as Finance. Welcome to GB PLC.

The study also found:
In the medium to long term, STEM graduates did not have a better chance of entering graduate-level employment than those studying non-science subjects.
Although higher proportions of STEM students entered graduate jobs shortly after graduating, students with degrees in other subjects had caught up by their late twenties.
In fact, computer science and engineering graduates had above average rates of unemployment six months after graduating.

“some children (my ds included) find anything that is not black and white or where you need to draw inference or have an opinion on something very difficult”

Thank you @Comefromaway. You have put it far better than I have

Youngandfree with the A levels structured as they are anyone who didn’t find English easy would end up with a very low grade and unable to get into a good university. It sounds like the Irish system is more like the IB where more subjects are taken. At A level most students take 3 subjects, or 4 if they are very bright.

That sounds depressing JC4PMPLZ

Youngandfree - yes but there is often the option of taking IB.

The specialisation offered by A levels suited both my DC (one dyslexic, the other now taking a PhD in, effectively, Applied maths). The idea that a one-size-fits-all system is better than the choice available in the UK seems odd.

I'm not convinced it's the Gove reforms. I think it's much more likely to be the constant message that STEM subjects are the ones that are important, that help you get a better (and better paid) job. I don't know whether that is true or not, but it is the message that young people are being given.

If more people do STEM subjects, and biology and chemistry entries are both up by 9%, something is going to have to give. I don't think it's a bad thing that more people are doing 3 A levels rather than 4. My children's school never allowed more than 3, except where further maths was the 4th, on the grounds that quality was better than quantity and no universities ask for 4.

I'm absolutely not anti-English. I did English A level 40 years ago, both my children did it, and my husband and 2 sisters did English degrees. But I can see why people are moving away from it. I think many people who might previously have done English (or music, art, drama, film studies etc) may be getting the impression that those subjects are 'luxuries' and that they should study STEM subjects and read, make music, paint, act, etc as a hobby.

Incidentally, the most prolific young reader I know wanted to do A level English as a 5th A level, but was persuaded by her school, sensibly I think, not to. She did maths, further maths, biology and chemistry and is now studying chemistry but continuing to read a huge amount for pleasure.

My son will do a Btec in the subject he plans to take at university becasue for him, he is best served by specialising early. There is no way on earth he would ever pass a post GCSe English course (we are keeping all fingers and toes crossed he will actually pass GCSE English.

It's funny that people go on about Michael Gove; he was Education Secretary a long time ago now! In fact dd said at school when they were having a class discussion most of the pupils thought he was still in that job - he hasn't done it for five years.

Anyway, dd did a taster day at sixth form and complained about the English Literature session - on behalf of the boys! There were only two in the class and the teacher focused on male oppression etc. Dd said she couldn't imagine the boys taking English when they were lurking at the back guiltily whilst the teacher was on a rant.

I agree that English Literature is about, well, literature and a lot of kids nowadays are not keen on reading, or at least not classic works. Plus English (and very much MFL) do not lend themselves to the "bitesize" approach. Same with Maths. You have to build carefully from the bottom, not just pick and choose interesting or easy bits.

Interestingly his subject of choice is Music and neither his school or the large FE college he will go to, offers A level Music which is a real shame.

Huge uptake of english lit at dds all girls independent. They do igcse English no gcse not sure if that helps?

Dd also doing RS and Classical civilisation so three less popular subjects!

It's funny that people go on about Michael Gove; he was Education Secretary a long time ago now!

Yeah but this summer the first cohort of Y13s sat the linear maths A-level he instigated so his impact is very much current.

Yep and my GCSE students are still doing compulsory formal speeches for 0% of their GCSE on his say-so!

@Fibbke I think the iGCSE is WAY more interesting to teach so maybe...

Well, the IGCSE being nicer than the GCSE is DEFINITELY Gove's fault!

Ds wanted to do A level music . 3/5 of the local 6th form options are not running it. They are all very big colleges/ schools.

Yup, no A Level music at DSs' school next year and only French A Level, despite having German and Spanish at GCSE. No English Language A Level any more at their school which had been offered for a number of years. No film (went about 4 years ago) and no Media. But they do do engineering. maths, further maths, core maths, finance and all three sciences, plus creative media BTec and computer science. Politics is bucking the trend and increasing in popularity : perhaps because of Brexit/Trump etc? Philosophy has gone after many years from their choices.

My own school has a wider range of subject choices , I'd say, but definitely drama, English, film , RS have declined in popularity and MFL has remained low in uptake (although German had a large class last year and classics is popular)

Wish they did film at dds school it sounds ace

It is fibbke!

I do think some of the growth in sciences may be down to (over?) emphasis on 'facilitating subjects, of which science has quite a lot : each separate science, plus maths, further maths. In the hums, it is only history and Geog, in the arts only English Lit . If one was really set on two (or more) of those subjects, the sciences might well take at least one of the three slots up. And , once you take one science, the department would probably persuade you to take another and/or maths to complement and support it and - hey presto- Bob's your uncle.

I think you are right Piggy.
Isn't maths the last subject to become linear noblegiraffe?

DD (and her teachers) struggled with the new geography A level syllabus which started in September 2016. Her year was the first cohort to take it.

Maths and a couple of others were in the 'last wave'. I asked a few of my year 10 girls today.One said she couldn't understand the love for science , but that she felt 'everyone thought they should do it' and 'they are pressured and persuaded to take it'. Followed by 'God, not me!' . But it seems she feels she is rare. In this top set, the lower end of the ability are more inclined towards English than the most able. In terms of maths, a couple said they loved it. But most said it was 'too hard'. When I asked these able girls why they thought that, the said their parents and their teachers told them!

Quite a few want to take history, classics, RS. Not one of them wants to take a language beyond GCSE. The current GCSE seems to be enough challenge. Again 'it's too hard' .

Not taking English seemed to be a combination of 'it's too hard' and 'I don't read books'. 'No offence, miss'.

I should also add they don't seem to equate their role models with English Lit. The figures (beyond influencers and Love Island) they know about and look up to are scientists.