A levels | Schools Week

A-level results 2016: Number of universities offering Freephone clearing hotlines rises

A-level pupils going through clearing this year are less likely to face considerable phone charges after the number of universities using Freephone numbers nearly doubled in 12 months, a Schools Week investigation can reveal. Last summer, Schools Week highlighted the potential high costs for young people needing to ring round universities to secure a place on a course through clearing. […]

A-level results 2016: How Schools Week will report the day and why

Last year we canvassed opinion on what people dislike about coverage of results days – A-level and GCSE – and what they would like to see instead. Editor Laura McInerney explains how Schools Week will be covering the day. People really dislike: – Stories focused on kids getting billions of A*s – Kids sobbing […]

A-level results 2016: How can teachers help during UCAS clearing?

A-level results day can be traumatic for students who miss their university offer grades – but what can teachers do to help? It can be devastating if pupils you’ve worked with for years miss the grades they need to take their university place. UCAS Clearing can help students find a place despite their lower grades. […]

New online portal will offer schools free access to thousands of marked exams

Schools will be able to download all marked Edexcel GCSE and A-level exam scripts for free from next year in a move to make decisions on whether to challenge grades easier for teachers and exams officers, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. The education company Pearson, which took complete control over Edexcel in 2005 and currently administers […]

The Post-16 Skills Plan: What do school leaders really need to know?

The government’s new Skills Plan describes significant changes to vocational qualifications for post-16 pupils – but what does it mean for schools? Editor Laura McInerney explains the relevant parts. When post-16 education changes are announced it can be difficult for schools to know which bits will affect them. Today’s announcement of a Skills Plan […]

Skills shake-up won’t stop schools offering A-levels and BTECs

A planned overhaul of post-16 education won’t stop schools offering A-levels and vocational courses like BTECs together, the author of a government review has said. Lord Sainsbury (above right) has told Schools Week that a shake-up prompted by his inquiry into technical education in England would not prevent schools from offering BTEC and other “applied […]

What do teachers and pupils REALLY think about A-levels and GCSEs? 7 findings from latest government figures

The exams regulator Ofqual today released its annual survey on the perception of A-levels and GCSEs. Lots of people were consulted, including: headteachers (281), teachers (697), youngsters (338), parents (259) and academics (253). The survey, carried out by YouGov, comes during the government’s overhaul of qualifications in its push to make them “more rigorous”. Here’s […]

The motorway model of mental health risks

What have you been working on? We’re interested in the characteristics of schools linked to pupil mental health risks and are trying to research what those factors might be. We measure specifically a cognitive function called “steering cognition”. If you think of a pupil as a car, steering cognition (which is unrelated to IQ) regulates […]