Category Archives: Sixth form

Sunak’s plan to ditch A-levels is out of touch with reality, says union

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Head of National Education Union says new qualification would need 5,300 additional teachers in England

Rishi Sunak wants to scrap A-levels and replace them with a single qualification that includes compulsory English and maths, bringing upheaval to sixth-form education in England that would last a decade.

The new baccalaureate-style Advanced British Standard, which Sunak announced in his speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester, would also kill off the T-level vocational qualification the government launched just three years ago.

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Rishi Sunak’s planned A-levels reforms could include baccalaureate

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PM wants pupils in England to study a wider range of subjects including maths and English until they are 18

The A-level system in England could be reformed with a new style of British baccalaureate in which children would study more subjects after the age of 16, according to reports.

The proposals include English and maths becoming compulsory up until the age of 18, the Times said. Students would also be required to study a wider range of subjects in post-16 education.

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England’s concrete crisis could extend to hospitals and courts, experts say

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Labour demands urgent audit of government’s handling of longstanding concerns about Raac

England’s growing buildings crisis could expand beyond schools to other public buildings such as hospitals and courts, experts have said.

More than 100 schools were forced to partially or fully close this week after a dramatic escalation of the government’s approach towards crumbling concrete.

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Thousands of pupils may have to start term online as over 100 schools affected by crumble-risk concrete

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DfE guidance sent days before start of term means students and teachers at dozens of schools in England will need to be moved off site

Thousands of pupils in England may have to begin the autumn term taking lessons remotely after the government ordered more than 100 schools to immediately shut buildings made with aerated concrete until safety work is undertaken.

The guidance from the Department for Education was sent to 156 schools and colleges just days before the start of the new school year.

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A-level results 2023: students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive grades – live

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School leavers in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man will also receive their results today

The number of students accepted on to UK degree courses has fallen this year, Ucas figures show.

Press Association reports:

Firstly, I want to say a huge congratulations to the hundreds of thousands of students up and down the country who are celebrating their results and next steps today.

I am delighted to see more than 200,000 UK 18-year-olds have secured their first choice, which is testament to their hard work and commitment to progress to higher education in a year that has seen many complex factors at play, such as geopolitics, the economy and job market, and cost of living.

Labour recognises the enormous effort that all of our young people have put into their studies over the past year.

Young people have achieved these results despite the challenges they’ve faced: with a Labour government behind them, offering them pathways to good prospects, there will be no limit on what they can achieve.

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Disadvantaged students to bear brunt of grade deflation, say experts

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Social Mobility Foundation says it expects GCSE and A-level attainment gap based on income to grow this year

Disadvantaged students are likely to bear the brunt of grade deflation when this year’s A-level and GCSE grades are published, according to experts, who said the government’s decision to impose pre-pandemic grading in England was premature.

This week hundreds of thousands of sixth-formers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive the results of their A-level, BTec and other exams. But a survey of students by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) found that those from disadvantaged or low-income backgrounds in England were less likely to have received the help they needed to restore learning lost during the pandemic.

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Students face fierce competition as fewer university courses become available

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Ucas tells applicants to act quickly to avoid disappointment, with A-level results due in England, Wales and Northern Ireland next week

Students who miss out on their expected exam grades face fierce competition for university places this summer, with fewer vacancies on courses than in previous years.

A week before A-level results are published in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, several popular universities are reported to be full. This means applicants who fail to meet their grade offers will need to act quickly to secure a place elsewhere, the head of the Ucas admissions service said.

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Sunak’s maths to 18 plan ‘misguided’, says man asked to promote it

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Film-maker asked by No 10 to be ‘maths champion’ says ‘nobody thought to ask me whether I support this policy’

Downing Street has reportedly ditched a campaign to promote Rishi Sunak’s “maths to 18” policy after officials only obtained one case study – a film-maker who actually thinks the proposal is “misguided” and “tone deaf”.

The prime minister’s office appears to have left it until the last minute to seek endorsements from people across British industry for a social media push, the Times reports. Stephen Fellows, a leading film data analyst, was approached on Friday, three days before the PM relaunched the policy with a speech in London.

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53,000 UK students enter university clearing, the most in over 10 years

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Strong competition for places means many of those who dropped grades in their A-levels are missing out on preferred institutions

More than 53,510 UK-based students were scrambling for places on university courses on Friday, the day after receiving lower grades in their A-level results, with many missing out on their offers in the most competitive year for university places in a decade.

This year’s number of applicants marked as “free to be placed in clearing” on the Ucas website is the highest in more than a decade, and compares with 39,230 at the same point last year. Some of these students missed their grades while others declined their offers, and some may decide not to go to university.

By Friday, 6,640 UK school-leavers had found places through clearing, a 33% increase on last year. A third more students – 23,640 – accepted their insurance choices after missing the grades for their top choice.

University admissions directors reported unprecedented levels of demand in clearing, with phone lines busier than ever, including from students with top grades.

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First post-Covid school leavers face fight for fewer university places

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Parents and teachers say some students predicted to gain A* grades are being rejected after a surge in applications

The first post-Covid cohort of school leavers face a summer of uncertainty that “threatens to hold back a generation”, as students compete for fewer places on popular university courses.

After A-level grade inflation during the pandemic forced universities to take on more students, institutions are now retrenching in popular subjects despite a surge in applications.

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Wales government says there will be no GCSEs or A-levels next summer

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Education minister says teacher-managed assessments will replace exams in 2021

There will be no end of year exams for GCSE, A-level and AS-level students in Wales next summer, the Welsh government has said.

The education minister, Kirsty Williams, said that in place of exams the government would work with schools and colleges to carry out teacher-managed assessments.

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Boris Johnson drops advice against face mask use in English schools

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Prime minister makes another coronavirus U-turn days before return to classrooms

Pupils in England will no longer be advised against using face masks in secondary schools after Boris Johnson made an 11th-hour U-turn days before classrooms reopen.

In lockdown areas such as Greater Manchester, which have greater restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, wearing face coverings will become mandatory in school corridors where social distancing is more difficult.

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UK coronavirus: top GCSE grades surge to record high in England – live news

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Nearly 550,000 pupils in England receive GCSE results awarded entirely by assessment for first time, but BTec students face further disruption

My colleagues Pamela Duncan and Tobi Thomas from the Guardian’s data unit report discrepancies in today’s GCSE results:

A rising tide lifts all boats and this year’s algorithm-to-teacher-graded-U-turn has resulted in an increase in top grades across every subject. However, some subjects’ boats were lifted higher than others.

After all the uncertainty of the exams fiasco, head teachers across the country are celebrating their pupils’ GCSE success, but they say recent experiences have damaged relations with the Department for Education (DfE).

Jules White, head teacher of Tanbridge House secondary school in Horsham, West Sussex and leader of the Worth Less? education funding campaign, was with pupils this morning, watching with delight as they found out their grades.

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Gavin Williamson seeks to blame Ofqual for exams debacle

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Education secretary forced into humiliating reversal on A-level and GCSE grades in England

Gavin Williamson has tried to lay the blame for the exams fiasco at the door of the regulator Ofqual after a humiliating climbdown that overturned up to 2.3m grades but left thousands of pupils in limbo.

Two days after saying there would be “no U-turn, no change”, the education secretary apologised and ordered a complete reversal whereby pupils in England will be able to revert to the A-level grades recommended by their teachers, if those are higher.

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