Onwards and upwards

Year after year schools break records in pass grades achieved by students in GCSE and A-level examinations

When criticisms are advanced that there has been dumbing down, that exams are easier now because they are modular and parts may be re-taken or that students are now taught to pass exams rather than the cores of the various subjects, there is a uniform rebuttal.

The rebuttal is that students are brighter than their predecessors and work harder and that teaching is more efficient. It is difficult to believe that all increase as rapidly as the grades suggest.

Evidence is often impressionistic - about syllabus content, format of questions, etc. Various researchers have compared papers in various subjects over a period of years. A recent study by King's College London and Durham University, into Mathematics standards, is an example. Their conclusion is that although there is a small improvement in some areas, - for example students now are more familiar with decimals, - perhaps because of the use of calculators and also metrication, there are off-setting shortcomings now in understanding fractions.

Overall, it appears that there is little to suggest that there has been any significant improvement in overall mathematical ability over 30 years. In Maths, at least, there seems little to lead us to expect the massive grade inflation which has occurred.