ePolitix.com speaks to Dr Mike Cresswell, director general of the AQA, about the 2009 exam results season.
Thousands of students will be receiving their A-level and GCSE results in the next fortnight. What confidence can they have that the qualifications they gain are of the same standard as qualifications awarded five or ten years ago?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: The answer to that lies in looking around the world. There have been various studies and international comparisons done over the years looking at how we go about setting standards and, every time these studies are conducted, GCSEs and A-levels are recognised as using world-class procedures, and using them effectively. That is the bedrock upon which we would expect people to have confidence.
We undertake a great deal of research ourselves and this shows that the exams are reliably marked and the standards are appropriate and comparable with those of the past. Students who work as hard as they do to gain these qualifications can be justifiably proud of their achievements.
The media often reports problems with marking such as with last year's SAT tests. How confident can students be that the marks they receive are accurate?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: There is a disparity between some of the reporting and what the public actually thinks. There have been opinion polls for several years now which have consistently shown that parents, teachers, students and the general public all have considerable confidence in the accuracy of GCSE and A-level marking. People do have confidence in the system. We have been marking question papers for a very long time, we have conducted a lot of research on it and we have very thorough and rigorous processes in place, which fully meet the code of practice that our regulator requires us to meet.
Equally, it is one thing to mark with perfect reliability a mathematics question paper; it is very different to mark with complete agreement an essay on the character of Juliet in an English literature examination. There is room for difference of opinion and that is why there is a process in place where students can very rapidly challenge their grade if they think the marking is incorrect.
As a result of those challenges only about 0.002 per cent of the GCSE results change after the event and only 0.003 per cent of A-level results are changed. There are obvious limitations to the perfection of any human process, but the evidence is that very few grades are challenged or change when they are challenged.
The AQA launched new GCSE specifications in English, maths and ICT last month for first teaching next year. Why have these new specifications been introduced and how are they different?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: Qualifications have a very significant effect on the curriculum as it is taught and the level of learning that young people are required to achieve. Therefore, it is absolutely critical that exam specifications remain up to date, cover the sort of knowledge, skills and understanding that a young person in 2009 needs and prepare young people to be well informed, well educated and effective citizens. We, additionally, need to prepare young people to go on and achieve their ambitions in employment or higher education. You can only do this if you keep exam specifications up to date and relevant to the needs of young people now. That is why specifications are regularly revised.
GCSE maths is a particularly interesting example and there are to be some significant changes to its structure. There will be a much bigger emphasis on the functional aspects of mathematics and a much greater emphasis on problem solving and applying mathematics, rather than studying it for its own beauty. GCSE maths will become much more relevant to today's young people. We have been the main awarding body running pilots of this new approach and all of that work is motivated by the desire to ensure that our exams really do meet the needs of young people in the modern world.
Today's learners, perhaps more than ever, are likely to live and work in a global environment. How do you ensure that the qualifications you offer help make learners globally literate and equip them with the skills they need for success?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: The way that we do that is to research and find out what people think is needed for education in today's global environment. We work extensively with teachers, learners- for example the English Secondary Students' Association which represent learners- and with focus groups. All this is intended to give us a good understanding of what skills students and their teachers think young people need to function in today's global society.
For example, in GCSE information and communication technology the students are taught about the importance of responsible behaviour online and how to address problems such as cyber-bullying. These are issues that cross national boundaries and which young people need to know about.
But the global environment is not just about academic learning. The AQA's new Baccalaureate offers a breadth of learning across subjects. Students have to conduct an in-depth study into an area of their choice and this develops their research skills. The Baccalaureate also offers acknowledgment and accreditation for learning which is less formal, but just as important, such as providing contributions to your community, work experience and personal development. The AQA Baccalaureate has some similarities to the International Baccalaureate as a qualification that reflects a broad range of learning and should help equip a young person to function effectively anywhere in the world.
'Controlled assessment' is replacing traditional coursework in many GCSEs from this September. Why has it been introduced and how will it benefit students?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: That has been introduced to solve a perceived problem with the authenticity of the old coursework. It was claimed that young people could plagiarise too easily and be helped by adults to complete the work that was to be assessed. I don't believe that there was a great deal of evidence of that on a large scale and certainly our examiners weren't reporting it to us as a major problem but, despite that, the qualifications regulators decided to replace coursework with controlled assessment.
Controlled assessment is a way of assessing the same skills that coursework assesses - depth of study, research skills, analysis, report writing and creating a sizable piece of work rather than just answering a set list of questions. The key is to do that in a context where one can be certain of the authenticity of the product, because the actual piece that is assessed is done under supervision by the teacher. So that, yes, the students do go away and do their research independently, but the creation of the assessed piece is done in a supervised manner, which addresses that issue of authenticity.
Legislation is currently wending its way through Parliament that will create the new qualifications regulator Ofqual. You are on record as expressing concerns over the lack of powers of Ofqual. What extra powers do you think they need and why?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: What we would really like to see the creation of Ofqual do is dispose of the tired and destructive argument every summer that standards are falling. To overcome that, what we need is a regulator that is very clear about exactly what they mean when they provide assurances that standards are consistent between the awarding bodies and consistent over time.
We would like to see the legislation require Ofqual to establish clear measures against which they will report on consistency of standards and we would like it to empower them to direct an awarding body to implement that in a particular exam on a particular occasion. This would give the best opportunity to end the annual 'standards' debate and it would provide much more assurance to the public that there were no differences in standards between awarding bodies.
We would like to see Ofqual establishing criteria and being clearly empowered to enforce them. The bill going through the Lords may or may not give Ofqual that power, but it is not clear and explicit that it does. Public assurance deserves that level of explicitness on this particularly important topic.
How do you see the future of assessment? Will students be taking all their exams online in the next five years or so?
Dr. Mike Cresswell: They certainly will be doing more on computer screens and they are already doing quite a lot. This summer we have had over 6,000 entries for AQA tests online, for example a large part of our GCSE science examination can be taken online. Just as specifications have to stay up to date, assessment has to keep on track with learning. Increasingly young people are using computers to learn and do their work at home or in school. The days when students need to turn up for an exam with a pencil or pen are rapidly disappearing.
However, it is vital to ensure the quality of the new assessments. AQA has a major development programme about assessment online and is investing substantial resources in this area. We are addressing issues such as how to use online assessment with types of questions other than multiple choice.
We are researching the whole area in depth, talking to young people and school staff and attempting to find out their needs and concerns. We aim to be ahead of the game so that, as the educational world becomes increasingly one where students learn and do their work on computer, our assessments keep up with that. We need to ensure that the assessment process matches the learning process as closely as possible, because that is the route to valid assessment.
Please view Dr. Cresswell's statement on A-level standards.
