GCE debate rages as study shows UK kids'
maths woes
Study findings come amid education
secretary's 'idea' to reinstate O levels
BY JONATHAN EYAL
EUROPE CORRESPONDENT
LONDON - English children are half as likely to attain top maths
grades in international tests as their peers in other developed
countries, a study by a British educational charity shows.
The Sutton Trust used data from the Programme for
International Student Assessment which is administered by the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a
grouping of wealthy nations.
It found that only 1.7 per cent of English children
achieved the highest level in maths, half the OECD average, and
well below the 4.6 per cent of children in Germany or the 7.8 per
cent in Switzerland and South Korea. The comparable figure for
Singapore was 15.6 per cent last year. In educational terms,
England ranks 26 out of 34 OECD countries.
The Sutton Trust's report comes at a sensitive time, just
as the British government is embroiled in a passionate debate about
the need to reform the country's school exams. And going by the
discussions, ideology and social distinctions appear to be
precluding any practical outcome.
The biggest controversy is over the General Certificate
of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams which British students sit at
the age of 16. Government papers recently leaked to the media
suggest that Education Secretary Michael Gove wants to abolish the
GCSE and reinstate the O-level examinations, which operated until
the late 1980s and are still used in many English-speaking
nations.
In theory, the current system is flourishing. Last year's
GCSE passes rose for the 23rd year in a row, with three times as
many students gaining top grades compared with those in 1988, when
the exams started. But in every single international test, British
students fared worse than their counterparts in many developed
nations.
Critics of the current system claim that the only
explanation for this discrepancy is that GCSE exams are getting
easier.
The reason for this is GCSE papers are set by five
different exam boards which are commercial enterprises; they make
money from the marking and textbooks they endorse. Schools tend to
pick boards where pass rates are highest, so the result is "a race
to the bottom", as Mr Gove calls it.
Recent studies back this. A survey by Ofqual, the
national regulator, found GCSE exams are now less taxing. The
British Academy, in a separate study, had the same conclusion: The
anomalies "in a system fraught with options for alternative ways of
doing things is producing an unfair outcome".
Mr Gove denies making any decision; the documents leaked
represent "various ideas", he says. But he uses the example of
Singapore to reject the contention that the problem is one of
resources. Singapore spent 3.3 per cent of its gross domestic
product on education in 2010, half of what Britain did. But the
results are incomparably better in part as, Mr Gove suggests, most
Singaporeans sit an O-level exam. Britain requires "explicitly
harder examinations".
The snag is that a return of the O levels requires
separate arrangements for students who are incapable of sitting
them but need a document attesting to the completion of school.
In the past, this was the Certificate of Secondary
Education (CSE) which was associated with failure and class
distinctions, since those who performed badly were also the poorest
in society.
Mr Gove points out that there is no reason why the CSE
should return with the O levels.
Still, the stigma associated with the old structure means
that any reform encounters fierce opposition. Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg, who leads the Liberal Democrats, has said he is "very,
very hostile" to the change.
And teachers claim the current system is the only one
able to ensure social mobility. Mr Chris Keates, who runs the
teaching union NASUWT, argues that introducing any new exams will
"brand individual young people for life" according to social
classes.
But the evidence shows upholding a rigorous exam
curriculum increases social mobility and attendance at leading
universities.
When Britain had the O levels, up to 70 per cent of
students gaining places at Oxford and Cambridge universities came
from state schools, where poorer children study. But, since the
GCSE system was introduced, the proportion has fallen to 50 per
cent.
Top of the news. The Straits Times, Monday, July 2012, Pg A2