Downloadable from a link on this ALL London page.
Friday, 18 August 2017
Letter to Ofqual July 2017
Here is the letter sent to Ofqual in July 2017 by ALL, ISMLA, ASCL and HMC following the publication of Ofqual's position paper on Inter-subject comparability.
Downloadable from a link on this ALL London page.
Downloadable from a link on this ALL London page.
A level MFL results 2017
I attended the JCQ briefing on A level results on Thursday 17th August.
Amidst the continuing concern about the decline in numbers
studying A/L and GCSE Modern Languages, and the serious impact of severe
grading, one positive step has emerged with the correction being applied to
grading this year to take account of the impact of native speakers.
On Ofqual's page for the AS and A level results for England 2017
one of their 3 Key Points is:
3. In A level French, German
and Spanish, outcomes at grades A* and A are up following an agreement with
exam boards to make an adjustment to take account of native speakers in these
languages.
So the percentage of candidates gaining grades A and A* has
risen from 2016 to 2017 in all 3 of those languages: French 37.3% to 39.0%; German 39.6% to 41.4%
and Spanish from 34.4% to 36.9%
This adjustment is in addition to the highly technical
correction made last year to redress the incorrectly low (ever since the
introduction of A* grade in 2010) percentage of candidates gaining an A*
grade. The proportion of A* grades
relative to the number of A and A* grades in total is now around 26% meaning that ML candidates
are being treated comparably to other "facilitating" arts subjects
such as History.
Both of these adjustments have been made by Ofqual following
research undertaken after joint representations by ALL (Association for
Language Learning), ISMLA (Independent Schools Modern Language Association),
ASCL (Association of School and College Leaders) and HMC (the Headmasters' and
Headmistresses' Conference).
All 4 organisations recently wrote a Joint Letter to Ofqual
welcoming the action they proposed to take this year regarding grading at AL ML
this year linked to the issue of native speakers, as they did to the action
taken effective in June 2016 to address the anomalies in the proportion of A*
grades in A/L ML.
They also welcomed the offer of further work to address
grading issues in A level ML, but expressed their deep disappointment that
Ofqual's announcement about inter-subject comparability (ISC) does not address
the issue of severe grading at GCSE.
Links
Further information:
Joint Council for Qualifications: Press release and full
Results: https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels/2017
Department for Education: Minister of State for School
Standards, Nick Gibb congratulates students on A level results day
Ofqual Guide to AS and A level results for England, 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guide-to-as-and-a-level-results-for-england-2017
Guardian: Grades will be fair, UK exam regulator tells
A-level students https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/17/a-level-grades-will-be-fair-uk-exam-regulator-tells-students?CMP=share_btn_tw
Evening Standard: A-level language marks improve after
criticism exams were too hard for non-native speakers
The Telegraph: Number of top grades awarded in language
A-levels increases amid decline in students taking French and German
TES : Foreign languages set for less ‘harsh grading’
ALL London: How do grades in languages compare with grades
in other subjects? http://www.all-london.org.uk/archive/severe_grading.htm
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