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GCSE Fiddle

Thomas 2004 Aveling Exam Results:

The total percentage that passed at GCSE grades A* - C in the core subjects of Math's English & Science was 40% with English Lit and Science getting a very poor 33% A* - C pass.

With the amount of awards, certificates, sponsorship and public money that's been chucked at the school over the past five years, not a very good record Dick.

If we go back to the old days when the most important exams were Math's, English, Science, History and Geography, we can see the average A* - C pass for History and Geography is only 21%, with the Geography department only achieving 11% A* – C, what a farce!! Perhaps Dick thinks that his students only need to know the way to school.

Going back to a previous post, how can a school climb the league tables with these consistent results in core subjects? Take a look at the results table – add in a couple of GNVQs in I.T. and all of a sudden there is a 100% A* - C pass rate. A miracle you may think, but we all know that GNVQ is based on evidence and is assessed internally. Soooooo……… which teachers do you think are supplying the kids with 100% of their coursework? Doesn't take an A* - C in Math's to work
that one out ;-)

Let's now look at the A* - G pass rate of 98%, could there be a fiddle there too? We know that Science and Math's coursework is 20% of the exam, English coursework can be 40% of the exam, English Lit coursework can be 30% of the exam. We would expect the English department to get better results because they have a bigger percentage of coursework to give freely to the students. Do the results show this? Certainly - in the English A* - C where coursework can be 40% of
the mark, the English department achieved 58%, amazing isn't it? So, what happened in English Lit – only 33% A* - C?

The English coursework has 20% speaking and listening, there is no written input from the student. If the English department uses these options, they have a 20% fiddle factor advantage over the other core departments!!

As for the rest of the A* - G stats, to gain a G requires a 20% pass mark (not that hard after 11 years at school and copied coursework), add in a bit of teacher centred coursework fiddling and hey-presto the magical `E, F or G' appears.

Don't be fooled by Head Teachers glib ego massaging statements from schools, check out the results yourself, especially now they are replacing GNVQs with a new 'Academic Diploma' - hah, what a con.

Check out the 2005 and 2006 results - the fiddle gets worse.