Teaching to the test

The Independent reports on research undertaken by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), in which 1,600 of the country's brightest 16 year olds took "The Five Decade Challenge" - a two-hour exam which included questions from past science papers spread over the past 43 years.

The overall average score was 25 per cent, but the RSC reports that some pupils scored no marks at all. In highlighting what the RSC calls a "catastrophic slippage" in exam standards, the average score for the 2005 paper questions was 35 per cent, compared to 15 per cent for the 1965 questions. Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the RSC is quoted as saying, "The fact that highly intelligent youngsters were unfamiliar with these types of questions, obtaining on average 35 per cent from recent papers and just 15 percent from the 1960s, points to a systematic failure and misplaced priorities in the education system."

Read The Independent article in full.

Traditional subjects increase in popularity

University heads have welcomed the comeback made by traditional academic subjects displayed in this year's A levels.

Science subjects are ranked 3rd in this year's fastest growing subjects, behind critical thinking and mathematics, showing an increase of 7.96%. Biology and chemistry also feature in the list of the 10 most popular subjects, ranked at 4th and 8th respectively.

Steve Smith, vice-president of Universities UK and vice-chancellor of Exeter University said that the trend towards traditional subjects put paid to suggestions that students were "turning to 'soft' subjects" and was "good news for universities, the economy - and for the UK generally".

The cash carrot gathers support

The Guardian is reporting that the Liberal Democrats are also considering whether incentives should be offered to students taking subjects such as maths and physics at university after a recommendation made by the CBI, which wants £1000-a-year "cash carrot" bursaries.

Stephen Williams, the party's schools spokesperson said, "The fall in the number of pupils studying science at school is having a knock on effect in universities, where prestigious science departments are [closing] because of a lack of students".

http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels/story/0,,2149674,00.html

Results of the class

The Independent is reporting that selective state grammar and independent schools are overwhelmingly responsible for the rise in A-grade passes at A-level. This growing divide in achievement between state and private schools is now at its widest for more than a decade. This comes from Mike Creswell, director general of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance.

The education charity, the Sutton Trust has also published a report revealing that the gap in private and state schools in higher in the UK than any other country in the Western world.

The rise in A-level passes has been far more limited in comprehensive schools and, in the country's remaining secondary modern schools, there has been no improvement in a decade. Headteachers are concerned that the introduction of the A* grade, available to those who sit the exam in 2010, will only widen this gulf.

Professor Alan Smithers, the head of the Centre for Education and Employment at the University of Buckingham, said the private schools' rise in performance was largely down to their students' subject choices. "These schools would offer subjects like further maths and physics and foreign languages - subjects where there are a high percentage of A grades. Across the system as a whole you've got this growth in subjects like media studies and the expressive arts - whereas it is more traditional academic subjects which have the highest percentage of A grade passes."

http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2866779.ece