Amber Thomas:

Denis McMahon:

I am tired of the arguments we often hear at this time of year, that standards are falling, hence more people are passing or the results are not worth as much as they used to. If would be good if we could have a look at some GCE papers of the 1960s for a side-by-side comparison with papers of these days.

In a peer-reviewed article in the British Educational Research Journal, "mathematics experts judged A‐level scripts from the 1960s, 1990s and the 2010s.... the experts believed current A‐level mathematics standards to have declined since the 1960s, although there was no evidence that they believed standards have declined since the 1990s. " The original paper is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/berj.3224 (and an overview is in this Daily Mail article https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3458830/Pupils-B-grade-level-maths-today-scored-E-50-years-ago-study-shows-exams-got-easier.html)

 

Thanks, Amber. It is good to learn that a comparison had been made - and from what I read on these links, to very exacting standards.


Of course, society and education have changed. Calculators have replaced log tables; smart boards have replaced chalk boards; Wikipedia had replaced scouring through books in the library; library notes have replaced dictated notes. Teaching methods have improved and my perception is particularly so from the 1990s onwards (when I left the education profession, though I was promoting such changes before I left).   Students leaving school and university also enter more-complicated lives than previously, because of advances in technology. There is simply more to learn, and in less class-contact time. I think this is how we are progressing.

Amber Thomas:

Denis McMahon:

I am tired of the arguments we often hear at this time of year, that standards are falling, hence more people are passing or the results are not worth as much as they used to. If would be good if we could have a look at some GCE papers of the 1960s for a side-by-side comparison with papers of these days.

In a peer-reviewed article in the British Educational Research Journal, "mathematics experts judged A‐level scripts from the 1960s, 1990s and the 2010s.... the experts believed current A‐level mathematics standards to have declined since the 1960s, although there was no evidence that they believed standards have declined since the 1990s. " The original paper is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/berj.3224 (and an overview is in this Daily Mail article https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3458830/Pupils-B-grade-level-maths-today-scored-E-50-years-ago-study-shows-exams-got-easier.html)

 

Thanks, Amber. It is good to learn that a comparison had been made - and from what I read on these links, to very exacting standards.


Of course, society and education have changed. Calculators have replaced log tables; smart boards have replaced chalk boards; Wikipedia had replaced scouring through books in the library; library notes have replaced dictated notes. Teaching methods have improved and my perception is particularly so from the 1990s onwards (when I left the education profession, though I was promoting such changes before I left).   Students leaving school and university also enter more-complicated lives than previously, because of advances in technology. There is simply more to learn, and in less class-contact time. I think this is how we are progressing.