Gove’s boring English GCSE blamed for plummeting A-level uptake

[noblegiraffe]

A survey of 200 schools has shown a collapse in English language A-level entry with some schools now with ‘unsustainable’ class sizes.

The blame is aimed at Gove’s English GCSE reform.

I’m not sure the aim of Gove’s ‘more rigorous’ GCSEs was to turn pupils off from further academic study, but here we are.

The response from the DfE is “The Department for Education's position is that the new GCSEs are more rigorous, prepare pupils for the world of work and were implemented after a long and careful process of reform.”

Which is bloody hilarious for anyone who remembers the implementation of the new GCSEs. Long and careful the process was most definitely not.

www.tes.com/news/schools-dropping-level-english-due-tedious-gcse

One for @piggywaspushed

We offer Lang-Lit and Lit at a level - used to offer Language until about 6 years ago but it was dropped as it wasn't a facilitating subject (relevant at the time). Our takeup took a big hit when the reformed GCSEs came in, particularly that first year when Eng and Maths had the new tougher curriculum but other subjects didn't. It's not far behind where it was now though. For us, the biggest damage to numbers is the lack of a 4th a level; lots of our brightest took 3 Stem subjects and an English (at least at AS) 'for fun'.

I have a super-top set this year. They are an absolute delight - talented, funny, insightful... but most are intending to do 2 Stem + maths. It's not the English curriculum that's putting them off(they are so clever that we don't have to labour how best to approach Q3 etc, they get it) the it's the continual drive towards Stem as the 'best' subjects offering the best outcomes for the brightest.

I’m sure that in my young day if you had a good fluent writing style for both formal non-fiction and creative work, impeccable SPAG, excellent comprehension and knew what assonance was, then that would be enough for a decent Eng Lang O Level pass. And as an employer I feel that I’d be entirely happy if that’s what the qualification showed.

DS has all of those skills, as do DH and I, but the current GCSE defeats all of us. I’m not saying we should be able to get 9s on the mere basis of an excellent ability to read, write and comprehend English, but you’d hope that it should be enough for fives.

Admittedly DS’s ASD is causing him to freeze when confronted with a tricky question, but honestly his literacy and comprehension is flawless, the creative writing he does as a hobby is very good, and he works really hard on his prose style. But the sodding GCSE...

My DCs are in years 11 and 9. Y11 is only doing Lang (he has SENs and is finding it particularly hard). The school ran a parents workshop a few months ago where we all sat an Eng. Lang paper. With my grade A at O level and a love of languages I thought it would be a doddle. It most certainly was not. He is loving History though. My DD (y9) is dyslexic and still thinks she's rubbish at English thanks to the horrors of the new style y6 SATS experience - she is actually pretty good at it apart from spelling but it's hard to shift old impressions.

I agree about the importance of it, despite being in STEM myself - I did some essay subject OU modules a few years ago and found my skills quite lacking (I only did Lang not Lit at O level, no idea why).

I do wish there wasn't this insistence on "the classics" as if they were the be all and end all of literature. There is some amazing twentieth and twenty first century literature out there that would draw kids in to the subject so much more effectively.

@BlouseAndSkirt is that true about Oxbridge on AAB for English , obviously it it harder to get an A* in English and History rather than Physics and Maths partly because of the subjectivity of the subject but I had not heard of people slipping to a B and still getting in

I actually disagree re the texts for Literature GCSE - the kids really enjoy them. What they don't enjoy is writing essays about them all! :)

Do you remember the days when it was AAB (old school A levels) to get into most places to do English and BBC /BCC to do maths or science?

Pease yes, the lad over the road!
I know his Mum, Ds knows him, so sure about his grades, he started this Sept.

He is a very bright lad and deeply immersed in literature though.

Dd1 is currently taking English lit A level . She got a 9 at gcse and a 6 for language . Her school encourage 4 A-levels and to drop 1 after a year. She'll drop the one with the lowest predicted grade I guess. It won't be English though she loves it and is planning to study it at Uni.

Her school encourage 4 A-levels and to drop 1 after a year

Why? Dds hod said this is madness. I think if you are super clever then they let you do 4 for a term.

It’s a shame because the humanities have many transferable skills , there is no point being able to understand the numbers if you are unable to explain them . Perhaps if our critical thinking skills and powers of analysis were more advanced we wouldn’t be in the political mess we are in today where everyone expects the answer to be black or white where in reality it’s many shades of grey .

@BlouseAndSkirt without wanting to labour the point Cambridge it Oxford? I speak as someone with a ds currently at one for interview

DS yr11 & I were discussing A level options and I asked him if Latin appealed. His reply was 'it's too close to the dark side' which apparently meant English. Damning. (He writes strong analytical essays in other subjects.)

Oxford has a slight tradition of (slightly!) lower entry grades for English and languages. Oxford's English degree is very different from Cambridge's which is more 'standard', I'd say.

The idea that Gove should even be interfering with the syllabus is ridiculous. The man has absolutely no expertise his opinion is or should be completely irrelevant and it's unsurprising that it hasn't had a good effect.

Trewser My DD suspects English Language will be her lowest grade.
*EwwSprouts" DD has chosen Latin and Classical Greek for A level with either History, Class Civ or English Lit as the third.

My year 11 DS is at a normal comprehensive and they offer A Level Eng Lit, Eng Lang and Eng Lit/Eng Lang with excellent take ups for all 3. He really enjoys GCSE Lit and Lang, and is going to do one of the three A Levels on offer - can't quite decide which. Plenty of parents I know though seem to think humanities aren't as valuable as STEM, and can't understand why he isn't choosing sciences/maths. Mocks were 9s x 7, 8s x 2 and 7s x 2 with maths/physics his weaker ones. He wants to do Eng, possibly history or geography and perhaps one science - probably biology. Politics is offered for A Level, which he is thinking about and history can either do straight history or ancient history A Level. He isn't sure which he would prefer at the moment. By the sounds of it we are lucky with the breadth of A Level choices. School don't "push" STEM to the detriment of humanities - it is more parental perception locally I think ... He has enjoyed the texts for English, some more than others, but enjoys arguing why he doesn't like something as much as why he does!

This really does not sound like a normal comprehensive especially the Ancient history. Not a criticism!

Tbf our local normal comp (on Bristol contextual offers list) offers Ancient history and eng lang and lit

I am genuinely amazed about the AH!

I think we are just lucky! Yes mixed comp with 1500 kids. We share a sixth form with a neighbouring comp (one RC and other CoE) so very large sixth form.

I actually disagree re the texts for Literature GCSE - the kids really enjoy them. What they don't enjoy is writing essays about them all!

Not my son. He found the texts incredibly boring and got his worst GCSE results in Lang & Lit (not helped by a truly crap teacher). It wasn't lack of ability, he got grade 9 in History, Geography and RE. Just bored stupid by a crap teacher trying to teach boring texts. (He'd got A* grades consistently in years 7 to 9 with a different teacher).

At DD’s uni everyone and their dog is studying Engineering or Geography. DD2 is doing gcse mocks at the moment and cried during a maths paper. Her teacher says she’s a 6 student (7/8/9 in arts) but the exam will make them feel like they’ve failed as it’s so hard(higher) so I think Gove is a tosser and can’t wait to tell him so at the ballot box tomorrow.

it wasn't lack of ability
lack of effort then??

And you can't get 'A*' grades in years 7-9 but that's a whole different thread...