Conservative panic over the decline of the quality in A-levels is a peculiar and telling phenomenon. The fact that this is the 27th year in which the pass rate has increased is taken as unquestionable evidence that the standard has declined, but it is hard to see where in the life span of a candidate's education this decline is manifesting itself. Doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals are still graduating from Britain’s universities without any research indicating a decline in their quality.
University courses that have specific requirements (maths, languages and science subjects) are still selecting students on the basis of performance in the traditional subjects that the ‘old guard’ are so keen to preserve. Undergraduates will not get far through the course without such an academic grounding and institutions themselves are wise to the shift in the post-16 educational landscape and will have their own criteria for deciding which A-levels are sufficiently rigorous for what degrees. Meanwhile, there are interviews and personal statements, a necessary look away from grades that allows admissions tutors to examine students in more depth.
Ministers and educationalists who blindly protest that the pass rate is only down to the hard work of students are doing their cause no good. It is a facile argument, one that obfuscates the truth; no wonder they are accused of populism and defensiveness. Grades are improving because education is expanding and more students are able to access a wider range of courses. This includes subjects labelled ‘Mickey Mouse’ - a cruel label designed by fearful parents and ignorant nay-sayers to denigrate aspirational young; but let’s be clear, these topics are not grooming aspiring doctors and engineers.
What the inclusive educationalist should be arguing is that A-levels in 2009 are bound to be different from 1979. In the intervening years, Britain’s economy has made radical shifts toward provision of services and away from manufacturing. The concept of on the job learning has diminished and instead, many more jobs look for people who have been in education for longer. ‘Soft skills’ (another dubious appellation) are in higher demand than ever before. It’s all very well descrying vocational courses, favouring the old core of subjects, but not everyone is interested in pursuing this line of study, and it is progressive to keep more in education, keeping them engaged and enfranchised and realistically improving their earning potential.
What the annual A-level furore reveals about the UK, is a society neurotically fixated with finding ways to prove its self-worth. Fears abound (especially during a recession) that the country will be unable to compete in the global economy and unconsciously we search for an unrealistic ‘gold standard’ to cement middle-class ideas of value. This looks like a harmless ritual, but its undesirable side effect, is the continued reinforcement of a sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots of education. All of the students walking away with passes in the traditionally derided subjects are also having inferiority stamped firmly into their onward educational progress. The impudent defamation of A-Levels serves only to diminish the achievement of those that most need encouragement and praise for their determination to better themselves.