Posts Tagged ‘A-LEVELS’

Warning As A-Level Pupils Win Plaudits

Teenagers won plaudits for their record-breaking A-level results today as union leaders warned that young people are being “badly let down” by the Government.

A lack of university places, funding cuts and the promise of £9,000 tuition fees are creating mounting problems for youngsters, they said.

TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Today many thousands will be rightly rewarded for their hard work with excellent A-level results and a fantastic chance to go to university.

“But because of the rush to avoid next year’s fees hike, and the Government’s refusal to fund extra university places, record numbers of students will lose out on higher education altogether.”

She added: “Young people are being badly let down by this government – a failure that carries a devastating social and economic impact. Ministers need to step up and prioritise providing more jobs and training for young people.”

Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students (NUS) said: “It is great that so many students have seen their hard work pay off. We should be celebrating the numerous individual successes that today represents, but unfortunately we can be under no illusion about how challenging the current circumstances are for students.

“Those receiving their results today will sadly have to keep their wits about them and avoid the temptation to panic as they seek to navigate through the chaos and confusion left for them by ministers who, unlike many of the students receiving their results, have failed to do their sums properly.

“With youth unemployment once again pushing one million, now is not the time for the limits placed on university places, nor for the disastrous combination of education funding cuts and tuition fee rises which have created a perfect storm for a generation of young people.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said: “The Government places itself in serious danger of alienating an entire generation of young people.

“The continual squeeze on university places comes at a time when yet more of our 16-24 year olds – another 38,000 in fact – are not studying or working. That is now more than one in five of our young people and will have devastating consequences for this generation.

“Stripping away careers and support services for young people whose next step is uncertain entrenches the disadvantage.”

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Students should be celebrating their results and planning their futures. Instead they are hit with huge tuition fees, rising unemployment and drastic career service cuts.

“These students have come to a major crossroads, yet have no skilled help in choosing a route. If they feel that options are blocked off to them it will create a lost generation of young people.”

2011 A-LEVEL Results Break Records Again

Teenagers have scored another record-breaking year of A-level results, with one in 12 exams achieving an A* grade.

But while the proportion of top grades rose, the percentage of exams scoring at least an A stalled for the first time in 15 years.

In total, 8.2% of entries were awarded an A* this year, up 0.1 percentage points from 8.1% last year, the first year the grade was introduced.

More than one in four (27%) exams achieved at least an A, the same percentage as in 2010. The last time this percentage plateaued was in 1996 and 1997, when 15.7% of exams were awarded at least an A.

Overall this year, the pass rate rose for the 29th year in a row, with 97.8% of A-level entries receiving at least an E – up from 97.6% last summer.

Today’s figures, published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), also show that boys have closed the gap with girls on A* grades.

Some 8.2% of boys’ entries achieved an A* this year, up from 7.9% in 2010. Girls’ performance dipped slightly, with 8.2% of girls’ entries awarded the top grade, down slightly from 8.3%.

More than 250,000 teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving their A-level results today.

But while many will already be celebrating, others still face a scramble to secure a university place.

More than 384,000 would-be students are believed to have already had university applications accepted, according to the latest Ucas figures, while around 185,000 people are eligible for clearing. Both figures are up on last year.

The A-level results were published as Universities Minister David Willetts stressed the importance of “traditional” A-level subjects for university admissions.

He said that subjects such as dance and media studies should not be recognised as core academic subjects.

Mr Willetts told the Daily Telegraph that the points system used in university admissions “sends a very bad message to young people by implying that all A-levels have an equal chance of helping them into university”.

He added that Ucas, which processes university applications, needs to “signal the importance of some A-levels more than others” and that “the message is often hidden behind a tariff point model”.