Search

This research project examines the impact of removing post 16 A-level examinations for Home Economics and Food Technology in schools in England from 2016. This research explores teachers' experiences from 2016-2020, specifically their views on the progression pathway for those students who wish to pursue further study and employment opportunities in the food sector and other relevant occupations. Schools offer non-A-level courses less frequently as there is uncertainty around course equivalence, and this has resulted in an overall reduction in the numbers studying post 16 food courses. Level 3 qualifications are now focused solely on the hospitality and catering sector with only one applied general qualification. Opportunities for broader areas of study that encompass food science, nutrition and dietetics and food technology have been removed. This has meant that now fewer students access broader career pathways and interests crucially at a time when the UK requires vast numbers of highly skilled postgraduate recruits for the food sector. Teachers made a strong case for why a new A-level course should be developed.

This paper investigates England’s A-level Chinese examination from teachers’ perspectives. This examination is one of the subject-based qualifications typically taken by students at the age of 18 who plan to go to university. Despite the government’s promotion of Chinese teaching in different educational settings, there remains a lack of empirical research in this area, especially focusing on this examination. This paper, which is part of a larger project that explores the validity of A-level Chinese from various perspectives, reports findings from surveys and interviews with Chinese-language teachers in England, both native and non-native speakers. The primary aim is to understand teachers’ attitudes toward various aspects of the A-level Chinese examination, including difficulties in the listening and reading papers, textbook suitability, and continuity from GCSE studies. Potential obstacles to the promotion of A-level Chinese teaching and learning are also identified in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summer 2017 marked the first A-level examinations for the new OCR A-level specifications in biology, chemistry and physics. This article reviews the outcomes of these examinations and uses evidence from candidate responses to identify areas for improvement, both across the sciences and within individual subject areas. It will also review outcomes of the Practical Endorsement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a pilot study that explored students' experiences of test anxiety when taking A-level examinations. Four focus groups were convened with a sample of 19 participants in the south of England to explore the triggers of test anxiety and the perceived need for interventions to assist high test-anxious students cope with the examination process. The findings suggested that the participants experienced two types of anxiety: "pre-exam anxiety" (relating to, for example, revision and mock examinations) and "exam-day anxiety" (relating to practical concerns, such as school policy on the arrival of students and the time available to complete the examination). Only three participants reported feeling that their examination performance was significantly impaired by test anxiety; most reported that a degree of anxiety aided their performance. With test anxiety perceived by most participants as motivational and useful, there was little support for any interventions from examination boards, parents or teachers to help reduce or manage test anxiety. However, based on participants' experiences of the pre-examination period, it is suggested that test anxiety may impede students' ability to prepare for their examinations, and that interventions during this stage may be useful. The findings also imply that there are some practical steps that could be taken by the educational community to help reduce students' test anxiety.

This article applies Bourdieu's notion of "cultural capital" to historical, documentary research which investigates the construction of a scholastic canon within England's A-level music examinations. A digest of the ways in which this canon evolved between 1951 and 1986 is presented in support of the idea that examiners' responses to emerging trends in historical musicology were characterised by a high level of caution. An analysis of the examiners' unreceptive approaches to avant-garde works and to music written by women is employed not only to suggest an underlying conservatism within examiners' practice, but also to contend that this scholastic canon is part of a cycle of reproduction which serves to exclude certain groups of students from higher education. Effects of this cycle on social mobility are discussed both in relation to the historical period under investigation and in light of contemporary debates about the prescription of canonic works within secondary school curricula. The article's conclusions challenge the "disinterestedness" of prescription within the curriculum and identify important factors which should be among the foremost considerations of those planning national programmes of study, both in music and beyond. (Contains 2 notes, 3 tables, and 1 figure.)

This paper reports the results of an empirical study of psychological morale in further education students. Success in A-level examinations is dependant on a number of factors, not only intellectual ability but also morale and other personality factors. This investigation aimed to assess the influence of these factors in the 16-18 years age range. The sample consisted of 357 A-level students (156 male and 201 female). Students were asked to complete a number of inventories measuring various dimensions of personality, including morale, self-esteem, extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism and state and trait anxiety. Significant and positive correlations of morale with self-esteem and extraversion were reported. Significant but negative correlations of morale with neuroticism and state and trait anxiety were reported. A factor analysis of the Well-being Inventory revealed that the most significant factor was student optimism and belief in their future, but this was often moderated by the influence of anxiety. These findings have implications not only for the students who were participants in this investigation but also managers and teachers in further education colleges.

Advanced-level English and chemistry examinations in Britain were graded in several conditions: with or without examinees' names; with male or female names; and with "male" or "female" handwriting. No consistent evidence of gender bias was found in the marking. (SK)

There are two major myths concerning A level exam standards in England. First, the Ancient Myth, which insists that standards were norm-referenced until the 1980s, when they transitioned to being criterion-referenced. Second, the Modern Myth, which insists that standards transitioned again, during the 2010s, to being based upon the comparable outcomes principle. The present paper debunks these myths, arguing that: except for the occasional use of comparable outcomes to bridge qualification reforms, A level standards have always been attainment-referenced; and that this has always been operationalised using a combination of methods, including both examiner judgement of exam performances and statistical expectations of cohort attainment. The paper also argues that what has changed significantly is the degree of confidence that the exam industry has placed in examiner judgement relative to statistical expectations, which has waxed and waned over time. When statistical expectations have prevailed, pass rates have tended to plateau; somewhat implausibly. When examiner judgement has prevailed, pass rates have tended to rise; also somewhat implausibly. These trends have given a false impression of principled transitions, which the paper dispels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proposed that the dental profession eliminate entry-level clinical state board examinations in favor of licensure based on successful completion of an accredited curriculum and successful completion of Parts I and II of the National Board Examination. A 10-point strategy for accomplishing this goal is outlined. (MSE)

This study investigates the effects of student engagement and rapidity of completing exams on student performance before and during the first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020, examining the effect of the shift from face-to-face to online teaching and exams in a Master's in Business Administration degree at a university in Italy. Prior literature mainly finds that student marks benefit from student engagement, but it has been unclear how COVID-19 affected this link. We find that COVID-19 reduced this benefit in the short term. Prior literature also finds that student performance benefits from passing the exam at the earliest opportunity but the effect of COVID-19-related changes on this remains unclear. We find that the link between higher exam marks and rapidity of completing exams was strengthened by COVID-19. The research contributes to the debate on costs and benefits of COVID-19 on accounting education quality. It confirms that there are disadvantages, in terms of the lower efficacy of student engagement, and advantages, in terms of higher marks from more rapid academic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]