A-levels
The tension between the old and the young
Thousands of teenagers ran out of their schools and sixth form colleges clutching GCSE and A-Level results last week, many of them excited about what the future holds. But that future is rarely in their hands.
By Caroline Mortimer | Notebook, Opinion | Tuesday, 28 August 2012 at 12:00 am
After results day: Are UK teenagers driven enough?
Official figures released yesterday show that the proportion of GCSEs awarded at least a C grade has fallen for the first time in the exam’s history.
By Nyima Pratten | Notebook, Opinion | Friday, 24 August 2012 at 9:00 am
The wait and arrival of my GCSE results
In the months following examinations, and the days leading up to that ominous 23 of August, entitled ‘Results Day’, there seems to be a constant reminder that GCSEs ‘mean nothing’ in the greater scheme of things by those at university or finishing their A-levels.
By Jack Foden | Notebook, Opinion | Thursday, 23 August 2012 at 12:27 pm
On GCSE results day: The great university con trick
At this time of year tens of thousands of excited young people are busy packing kettles and ironing boards ready for next term while others are desperately scrambling through Clearing in the hope that they might, just might, get a place to study something – anything – in a higher education institution a long way from home even if it’s only Horology with Romanian at the University of NeverHeardOfIt.
By Susan Elkin | Notebook, Opinion | Thursday, 23 August 2012 at 4:00 am
Why bother changing the GCSEs?
If you wish to change something, abolish exams completely, instead of making them more stressful for us.
By Jack Foden | Notebook | Monday, 20 August 2012 at 4:00 am
FirstGroup, results day, Prince Philip’s health, cosmetic surgery
What’s trending and why?
By Ellen E Jones | Notebook | Wednesday, 15 August 2012 at 10:47 am
Time to cancel the end of term?
British school children are in school for just a few hours five days a week for around 38/40 weeks a year. It really doesn’t add up to very much overall so why do we allow so much of that precious time to be wasted?
By Susan Elkin | Notebook, Opinion | Monday, 2 July 2012 at 10:26 am
In my GCSEs, we practised with O-Level papers knowing nothing that difficult would come up
It’s easy to dismiss Michael Gove’s decision to replace GCSEs with O-Levels as a “ludicrous” move. In fact, that was the exact term used by Mary Bousted, leader of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, who accused the Education Secretary of having a rose-tinted view of the past. As the news emerged last night, the Twitterati jumped all over it. Why stop at bringing back GCSEs, they cried. What about leg warmers and fax machines?
By Liam O'Brien | Notebook, Opinion | Thursday, 21 June 2012 at 3:30 pm
What is left of A-levels? Exams that prepare poorer students neither for work nor academia
As a student who didn’t have the luxury of going to a fantastic state school, I can only welcome the fact that Michael Gove has decided to offer kids in a similar situation the opportunity to have an academic education. That is, an academic education that children from a private school have been able to [...]
By Thomas Byrne | Notebook | Friday, 13 April 2012 at 1:12 pm
Hey unis, leave our exams alone
As a student from a middling state school approaching the end of my time in higher education, I think A-level examinations set by university lecturers could be seriously damaging for both the aspirations and the achievements of those at less successful schools.
By Helen Crane | Notebook | Friday, 6 April 2012 at 1:47 pm
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