A-level gap closes
More young people are staying on at school to avoid unemployment but this is also resulting in lower A-level performances. The gap between Northern Ireland and England is closing.
The percentage of Northern Irish pupils receiving the best results at A-level has fallen by 5 per cent over the last three years, according to official results published in August.
30.7 per cent of A-level pupils received AAA grades in 2013. This has fallen, in consecutive years, from 35.9 per cent in 2010. If the decrease continues at the current rate, Northern Ireland’s performance will fall behind that of England by 2017.
The most plausible explanation is that more non-academic pupils are staying on at school or college as jobs for young people are scarce. Since the start of the economic downturn in 2008, the number of A-level entrants has increased by 3,000 and the number of AS-level entrants has gone up by 6,500. Before the downturn, pupil numbers remained steady year-by-year.
Around a quarter of pupils who enrol for AS-levels do not go on to sit A-levels. The drop-out rate has remained relatively constant over the last three years.
Northern Ireland pupils at A-level still performed better than their counterparts in England and Wales. 26.3 per cent of English pupils and 22.9 per cent of Welsh pupils received AAA grades in the 2013 exams. As the table below indicates, performances have decreased in England and Wales but not as sharply.
These trends mark a reversal in the grade inflation which has occurred over the last 30 years. Between 1951 (when the A-level was introduced) and the early 1980s, less than 10 per cent of A-level pupils received AAA grades. A Department of Education spokeswoman acknowledged that the “ability range has broadened” with the increasing pupil numbers in recent years. The department had therefore expected to see “some fluctuation in performance at a system level.”
She added that the department wanted to see “every young person performing to the best of his or her ability” and pointed to its school improvement policy (Every School a Good School) and the Entitlement Framework, which broadens the range of subjects studied at school.
