Grades/marks inflation in school education is not a peculiarly Indian phenomenon. In Britain, every August when the GCSE (class X) and A-level (class XII) exam results are announced, the issue of grading inflation is hotly debated in the media and education establishment as British teenagers continuously chalk up higher grade point averages. For instance, a fifth of all who write GCSE and a quarter who write A-levels are awarded top grading. In 2010 the national pass percentage for A-levels also touched a record 97.6 percent. Moreover the percentage of scripts awarded A-grade pass has steadily risen over the past quarter century to the point where 27 percent of scripts were awarded top grade last year.
The continuous rise in the percentage of students being awarded A grade over the past three decades has prompted misgivings that the A-level testing has become progressively less rigorous. A research study conducted by Durham University in 2008 indicates that a student who would have got C grade two decades ago is likely to get an A currently. The study conducted by Dr. Robert Coe reveals that “candidates of comparable ability are being awarded higher grades each year, both at A-level where the trend has been consistent and substantial since 1988, and at GCSE.”
Another study (2009) conducted by Civitas, a London-based think-tank, found that the year-on-year rise in A grades is because exams are easier to pass and students are granted multiple re-sits to boost scores. The study, based on responses of 150 A-level teachers across England, reveals that none of them believes the rise in A grades is due to students being brighter. Most teachers interviewed for the study said better marks were not due to improved lesson standards or more talented candidates, but easier coursework.
Against this backdrop of fears of dumbed down standards, it’s unsurprising that Britain’s top universities are increasingly rejecting A-levels grades as reliable indicators of ability, in favour of conducting their own entrance exams/tests. In 2010 the top-ranked Imperial College, London, introduced its own entrance exam to select students for admission. Oxford and Cambridge universities also conduct aptitude tests to supplement A-level grades for admission into their law and medical study programmes.
Reports in the British media also indicate that an increasing number of secondary schools — independent as well as state-owned — are weighing alternatives to A-levels, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB), offered by the Geneva-based IBO. UCAS, the national university admissions service, has given the IB diploma a higher points score rating than A-levels.
Increasing distrust of A-level grades has prompted the Tory-LibDem government which was voted into power in May 2010 to announce plans to reform the examinations system, with a focus on tougher questions and addi-tional credit points for teenagers studying more difficult subjects such as physics and maths. Michael Gove, the education secretary, admits that reform is vital to address fears of A-level exams having been “dumbed down”. In an interview (The Guardian, June 18, 2011), Gove said: “It has become easier to get an A at A-level or GCSE than it used to be, and that’s a problem … If you are doing art or geography, you’ve got to have a work of art or a field trip. But if you’re doing mathematics or English or French then the logical thing is to have a proper rigorous exam at the end of year 11.”
Meanwhile, even as British students perform spectacularly in national exams year on year, they are losing rank in international student assessment surveys. According to OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests 15-year-olds from dozens of countries (most recently 65), in literacy, mathematics and science, UK fell from fourth rank in science in 2000 to 16 in 2009; 7 to 25 in reading and 8 to 28 in maths.