How are we doing as a country? This is such an important question – a high level question.  While we flounder around worrying about exam grading we too rarely ask the bigger question – are other countries doing better than us? In September this year the OECD published its Education at a Glance analysis which... Continue Reading →

1) Grades went up. Normally I would comment on the grade distribution but there is little point this year.  Everyone did well because teacher predictions were used. Some pupils were even awarded grades higher than their school prediction. 2) AS-levels are fading out in England. AS-levels still count towards the A-level in Northern Ireland and... Continue Reading →

Has A-level grading been a disaster? Yes for a significant minority of pupils. The Ofqual algorithm did not use centre assessment grades for most pupils, it used historic grades.  Individual pupils who are at the bottom of the rank orders, but are in fact better than their predecessors, have suffered. On the other hand, the... Continue Reading →

Extraordinary Circumstances Demand Extraordinary Measures Many northern hemisphere countries use examinations during the summer months as their main method to recognise and award student achievement. In the UK, statutory qualifications, such as GCSEs, A Levels and Scottish equivalents, have exams during the summer and the grades awarded for these are published on Results Days in... Continue Reading →

We have had the International Baccalaureate, Scottish, English, Northern Irish and Welsh public exam results in a year when no exams were actually sat. There has been general uproar.  What lessons have been learnt? 1) The exams regulators had an impossible job. Ofqual is a great organisation, one of the best in the world of... Continue Reading →

The first edition of the Buckingham Journal of Education is focussed on curriculum. The authors range across its history, design, development, impact  and social implications. The peer reviewed articles traverse a wide range of dimensions and perspectives around the curriculum. Overall, the articles present an eclectic mix of thinkers and their thinking on education. The... Continue Reading →

In the late 1990s London schools were the worst in the country.  Today they outperform schools in the rest of England, achieving the highest proportion of students obtaining good GCSEs, the highest percentage of schools rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and the highest GCSE attainment for pupils from poorer backgrounds. There is some uncertainty why this... Continue Reading →

Having read a recent blog by Dr Bethany Kelly (@imisschalk) about the value of doing a Masters degree, I began to reflect upon my own Masters journey, recently completed, and appreciated anew all of the benefits and advantages it has brought, both for the school I was working in, but perhaps more significantly, for myself... Continue Reading →

Gaming and social media may provide a sense of escapism and alternative reality for adolescents – a place that can be exciting where they can try things that they would not in the ‘real world’. Yet, this ‘other’ reality can often blur boundaries for students and disengage them further from their physical reality as their... Continue Reading →