By Sarah Harris
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| Students concentrate during an A level exam |
UNITED KINGDOM: One in four employers believe the national examinations
system is not doing a good job and should be reformed, according to a study.
They lack confidence in the reliability of GCSEs and
A-levels and are increasingly bringing in their own tests to measure
applicants' ability.
The findings come as this year's A-level results saw the
number of pupils gaining straight As fall for the first time in record
following the introduction of more challenging questions.
An analysis of this summer's results showed a surprise drop
in the number of young people achieving three or more A* or A grade passes.
Only 12.4 per cent received at least three top grade passes
compared with 12.7 per cent last year.
This came after an overhaul of A-levels by the Labour
Government in a move designed to introduce tougher, essay-style questions in
exams and to allow students to study fewer modules in more depth.
Exams watchdog Ofqual surveyed 210 employers, 314 A-level
teachers and 358 students to gain their opinions about exam reliability.
It found that 23 per cent of employers think the exam system
is not up to scratch and needs to be reformed, 48 per cent believed it was
doing a good job but wanted improvement and only 18 per cent had no
reservations.
Just 14 per cent of employers admit to turning to
candidates' exam results when filling jobs. However 65 per cent 'sometimes' use
their own tests to assess their skills.
Overall, 61 per cent of employers say they are not confident
in the exams system, along with six in ten students (58 per cent) and nearly
four in ten (38 per cent) teachers.
The report said: 'It would be expected that teachers would
be more confident in the examinations system than students and employers as
they use the system more than students and employers and are more familiar with
the system.'
About 89 per cent of teachers felt their pupils got the
grades they deserved, compared to 66 per cent of employers. Only 17 per cent of
students believed they got the correct grades.
The survey also shows that significant numbers of those
questioned believe that differing proportions of candidates are getting the
wrong grade at GCSE, depending on the subject.
Maths and science were perceived to have fewer 'grade
misclassifications' than English, where over a third of employers thought at
least 30 per cent of candidates had unreflective grades in this subject.
Some 22 per cent of employers believed that more than half
of pupils had the wrong grade in English.
The publication of the report comes as Ofqual has set out
details of its inquiry into the incomplete marking of Assessment and
Qualifications Alliance (AQA) GCSE, AS-level and A-level papers this summer.
This resulted in 615 pupils across the country receiving
lower grades than they should have.
The regulator will identify 'precisely what went wrong' with
initial findings expected by mid-December.
