[EDLING:941] Re: 'Language catastrophe' blamed for surge in top GCSE grades

[Richard Hudson]

Dear Susan,
I don't know any list of acronyms (which are a real pain, aren't they?) 
but I'll be glad to help. Read on, but the main point is that languages 
are in serious crisis in our schools, with the real possibility that 
French, German and Spanish could end up with the same status as Latin 
and Greek - only taught in non-state (fee-paying) schools. I can suggest 
some reading if you want!
    Dick Hudson


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*GCSE *= General Certificate of Secondary Education, a national exam 
taken at the end of compulsory schooling, i.e. at age 16.
*GNVQ *= General National Vocational Qualification, a more vocational 
and less 'academic' kind of exam than GCSE, again taken at 16.
(Incidentally, the other national exam is *A-level* = Advanced Level, 
subdivided into AS (= Advanced Supplementary, taken  one year after 
GCSE) and A2 (a year later).

In both these exams, in contrast with the International Baccalaureate, 
students enter for a number of different subjects (e.g. English, Maths, 
Science, History, French, ...); in GCSE academic kids often go for about 
10 subjects, strugglers for fewer. At A-level, they specialise in 
(typically) five at AS and three at A2.

*Grade *- A* is the highest, and F is (as you'd guess) a fail; so G to 
A* is any kind of pass; C is considered a reasonably respectable pass so 
C-A* are 'good' results. Each subject is graded separately, and there's 
no attempt to boil all the marks down into any kind of overall average.

*Ofsted *= the Office for Standards in Education, the school inspectors 
- again a national system.

*DfES* = the Department for Education and Science  = the government 
department responsible for education nationally.

*Institute of Directors* - the organisation that represents the 
interests of business - the bosses' trade union, as it were. They're 
generally taken pretty seriously.

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Susan Metheny wrote:

> Hello to all -- especially UK educational linguists. I'd really like 
> to understand the stats in this article better. Is there a website or 
> text available that offers the meanings of UK and European acronyms 
> and research measurements in articles like this?
> Thanks,
> Susan Metheny
> University of New Mexico Educational Linguistics Program.
>
> >From the Times on-line,
>
>>> August 25, 2005
>>>
>>> 'Language catastrophe' blamed for surge in top GCSE grades
>>> By Simon Freeman, Times Online
>>>
>>>
>>> Teachers' leaders warned the Government today that the record rise in
>>> pupils gaining the top grades at GCSE was the result of students
>>> abandoning languages and other challenging subjects for softer options.
>>> Overall GCSE pass rates among the 600,000 candidates were a shade up
>>> overall, with the number of candidates achieving any grade from a G 
>>> to A*
>>> rising by 0.2 per cent from last year to 97.8 per cent.
>>>
>>> The big improvement has been at the top end of the spectrum, with the
>>> number of candidates awarded at least a C grade up by 2 per cent, to 
>>> 61.2
>>> per cent - the largest rise since 1992. The Government was urged 
>>> today to
>>> reverse its controversial policy of allowing pupils to drop modern
>>> languages at 14 after a dramatic fall in the number of French and 
>>> German
>>> entries, down 14.4 per cent and 13.7 per cent respectively since last
>>> year.
>>>
>>> The figures were even lower in the year-long language GCSE Short 
>>> Courses,
>>> where numbers dropped by 49.8 per cent in German and 42 per cent in
>>> French. The collapse coincided with the first year of modern languages
>>> being optional after the age of 14, a controversial government move 
>>> which
>>> came into force last September.
>>>
>>> David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head
>>> Teachers, condemned the decision: "The collapse in languages is a
>>> catastrophe," he said. "The Government is going to have to reverse its
>>> policy of allowing students to opt out at 14." Mr Hart said that 
>>> although
>>> the policy change was not implemented until September last year, it had
>>> been pre-empted by many schools a year earlier, who opted to make
>>> languages voluntary for students selecting subjects in 2003.
>>>
>>> He added: "The results are excellent news for students and teachers, 
>>> but
>>> there are real concerns. It is obvious that students are understandably
>>> playing the system by studying their stronger subjects outside the
>>> compulsory core of English, maths and science. "The entry patterns for
>>> science and modern foreign languages make this abundantly clear. "We 
>>> are
>>> in danger of reaching a position where league tables and Ofsted are
>>> driving the system in a way which is not in the interests of the 
>>> students
>>> nor in the interests of this country."
>>>
>>> Ellie Johnson Searle, director of the exams watchdog the Joint 
>>> Council for
>>> Qualifications, said tht the decline in French, German and Spanish 
>>> at GCSE
>>> was "much to be regretted". She said: "Less able candidates are
>>> increasingly less likely to take these subjects, as demonstrated by a
>>> significant rise at the higher grades at the same time as a decline in
>>> grades D to G." But a DfES spokeswoman defended the Government's 
>>> language
>>> reforms. She said: "We need to be realistic about what will make 
>>> language
>>> learning flourish in our schools. Forcing 14-16 year olds to learn a
>>> language wont achieve that. What we need to do, and what we are 
>>> doing, is
>>> getting children involved in learning languages at a much younger age.
>>>
>>> "That's why we are investing 115m over the next three years to 
>>> ensure by
>>> 2010 every child aged 7-11 will be able to learn one or more 
>>> languages as
>>> part of their curriculum. Having a large number of children keen on
>>> languages - as starting early will deliver - is what will make the
>>> difference. Already over 40 per cent of primary schools offer language
>>> learning, compared to 20 per cent in 2001." Physical education once 
>>> again
>>> saw the biggest increase in entries, up 7.5 per cent from 134,134 in 
>>> 2004
>>> to 144,194 this year.
>>>
>>> Jacqui Smith, the Schools Ministers, said the results were a clear
>>> reflection of the Government's efforts to drive up achievement in tthe
>>> core subjects of English and maths, the "bedrock of every child's
>>> education." The A*-C maths pass rate increased by 1.7 per cent from 
>>> 51.7
>>> per cent to 53.4 per cent - the biggest rise for five years - and the
>>> English pass rate was up from 59.9 per cent to 60.9 per cent.
>>>
>>> Praising the efforts of students and teachers, Ms Smith said: "Young
>>> people need a firm foundation in the basics - no matter what their 
>>> choices
>>> are at GCSE - to ensure they have the skills needed to progress and
>>> succeed in further learning, employment and life - and that means 
>>> English
>>> and maths." Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) figures showed 
>>> 272,140
>>> entries for French in 2005 compared with 318,095 in 2004. There were 
>>> just
>>> 105,288 exam entries in German this year, compared with 122,023 last 
>>> year
>>>
>>> John Dunford, general secretary of Secondary Heads Association, said
>>> things were likely to get worse because todays figures represented the
>>> last batch of candidates for whom taking a languages was compulsory. He
>>> said: "These figures, from a year before modern languages became 
>>> voluntary
>>> for 14 and 15-year-olds, are very bad news, not least for the future of
>>> this country as a trading nation. Next year will be even lower.  I 
>>> think
>>> the figures are in free fall. We are losing a generation of 
>>> linguists." Mr
>>> Hart also criticised the weighting given to grades from work-related 
>>> GNVQ
>>> courses, which are worth four GCSEs.
>>>
>>> Experts have warned that less bright pupils are encouraged to take this
>>> GNVQ route - often in subjects such as Information and Communication
>>> Technology (ICT) - in order to boost their schools league table 
>>> ranking.
>>> Entries for vocational courses in what are known as Applied GCSEs - 
>>> which
>>> are worth two GCSEs in subjects including construction and 
>>> hospitality -
>>> were up by nearly 40,000 this year. And entries for the work-related
>>> Intermediate GNVQ courses were up by more than 4,000 to about 
>>> 105,000. Of
>>> more than 100,000 GNVQ entries last year, 54.2 per cent were in ICT.
>>>
>>> Professor Alan Smithers, director of the University of Buckinghams 
>>> Centre
>>> for Education and Employment Research, said: "Schools are bailing 
>>> out of
>>> GCSEs and getting into this GNVQ, which Ofsted inspectors have said is
>>> softer in terms of the amount of time and effort it takes. "We may be
>>> raising scores but the numbers are failing us in terms of what we are
>>> providing as an education."
>>>
>>> The Institute of Directors said that many children left school without
>>> basic skills of reading and writing and argued that employers were 
>>> crying
>>> out for an improvement among applicants. Richard Wilson, IoD leader, 
>>> said:
>>> "The starting point for employers recruiting staff is surely to have
>>> access to candidates with basic literacy and numeracy skills. We are 
>>> not
>>> there yet." A DfES spokesperson said: "GNVQs have existed in the
>>> performance tables in their current from since 1997. They represent 
>>> a very
>>> limited percentage of the over all A to C grades.
>>>
>>> "The fact is that these qualifications - which have helped many young
>>> people - are now coming to the end of their use in schools as we 
>>> develop
>>> newer qualifications. We can debate the relevant worth of 
>>> qualifications
>>> all day, what we do is take the advice of the experts - QCA. "Of course
>>> how useful a particular qualification is, is linked to what young 
>>> people
>>> want to do in terms of their employment and continued education. But 
>>> what
>>> we do see as key to everything is English and maths, that's why future
>>> performance tables will be much more focused around performance in 
>>> English
>>> and Maths - the bedrock of the education system."
>>>   
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>
>

-- 
Richard Hudson, FBA,
Emeritus Professor of Linguistics,
University College London
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm
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