Students should be 'congratulated on their success'

19th August 2010

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ePolitix.com speaks to Ian Toone, senior professional officer at teaching union Voice, about the highs and lows of A-level results day.

What are your views on the news that one in twelve A-level entries have been awarded an A*?

One in twelve entries receiving an A* is what we would expect. Given that 27% of awards are at A grade, you would expect half of those to get the A*.

What concerns me about the A* is that it has been awarded on a largely statistical basis. Awarding bodies have taken a percentage cut off point, based on the difference between the A and B grade. They have looked at how far the B grade is below the A grade and taken a similar number above that as a cut off point for the A*.What I would prefer to happen is for examiners to scrutinise actual exam papers and make a judgment based on the quality of scripts. That is clearly not how they have decided to do things this year.

However, given that they have allocated this statistically, we would expect approximately one in twelve to get an A*.

Has the A* grade proved to be successful?

That remains to be seen, but obviously this is the first year that we have had an A*. I'm sure that the candidates who have received this award will consider it to be a success and congratulations are due to them.

However, very few universities - Cambridge is a notable exception - have used the A* to set criteria for admissions this year. Indeed universities were discouraged from doing so by the previous government, because it is experimental. In future, I believe that universities will be able to use the A* as criteria.

Because of the increasing numbers of students doing A-levels there are, obviously, more students getting any grade from A* down to E, and there are a finite number of university places. As a result, we have reached the stage where universities need a way of differentiating between the A grade candidate and the candidate who could exceed that standard. The A* gives candidates a way of showing that.

In spite of widespread success for students at A-level and a rising pass rate, up to 170,000 students, including 3,000 students with straight As, are expected to miss out on university places. What does the future hold for those students?

This year we have seen a phenomenal rise in university applications - up about 12% on last year. Altogether about 660,000 people have applied for university and there are only just under half a million places available, so thousands and thousands will miss out.

The union believes that students who achieve the grades to get into university should have the opportunity to do so, because they are meeting all the expectations that are placed upon them. They have worked very hard to achieve those goals, with the expectation that they would get to go to university. Previous governments have set the target of 50% of the population going to university - we still haven't reached that and are below other countries, notably France, Germany and the USA, who all have a greater proportion of their populations going to university.

More needs to be done by the British government to 'put its money where its mouth is'. It should invest in university places, particularly as we are coming out of recession. The jobs market is still restricted, so people are going to look to do higher education and further training when jobs are not available.

We need these minds to be nurtured for the future economic prosperity of the country. What concerns me about these 3,000 straight A students is that some may go abroad to universities on the continent and the USA - which do not have the same caps on their recruitment.

I think it is appalling, this year, that the government is going to fine universities which take additional students - in the region of £3,500 per student. There are universities that have the capacity to take additional students at little cost but, because the government is going to fine them, they will not do that.

Some students will be successful through clearing, but there are far fewer places available. Most of these students will have to wait another year as the jobs market can't accommodate all of them. This is an appalling way to treat students who have worked very hard to achieve success.

There has been a rise in the number of A-levels being taken, notably in maths and science. What does this tell us?

I think it is an indication of the value that society places on qualifications. You can no longer step into a career without qualifications - most employers do expect some form of academic recognition. With the jobs market being restricted by the recession, more students are staying in education anyway and thus more are taking A-levels.

Generally this is a good thing, because we want a population that is well educated. However, problems will arise when well educated people have their ambitions thwarted because the government keeps moving the goalposts.

What is your message to students who have received their A-level results today?

I would like to congratulate all students who have passed A-levels this year, particularly those who have achieved the new A* grade.

I do not believe that A-levels are getting easier, even though the pass rates are rising. This is more an indication of the value that qualifications now have in British society, and of the pressure on students and teachers to achieve results.

Students and teachers have responded to these pressures and deserve to be congratulated on their success.