A ‘Grade A’ Cock-Up

”’TOUGH on crime, tough on the causes of crime.” ”Education, education, education.” ”If you have another baby, I’ll change the law so I can stay at home too.”

”Eeny, meeny, miney, A…”

Just three of the highlights from the dissertation module of ACL Blair’s politics exam of 1997.

Tony passed the test with flying colours, but it came of something of a shock that others did less well, and some even failed to get reach the average mark: an A grade.

And now the Mail, school heads and teachers want to know why. They want to know why everyone didn’t get top grades in their A-levels.

Head teachers claim that exam boards deliberately lowered marks under orders from the Government’s Qualification and Curriculum Authority, who were worried that improved results had devalued the system.

So to cries of ”blatant”, ”shocked”, ”It was a farce”, ”I was stunned” and the A-star winning ”I was mortified”, the Mail hears students cry foul.

And even former schools standards watchdog chief Chris Woodhead, who once took the selfless step of living with a sixth-former to help her though her A-level in home economics, finds it ”inconceivable”.

But what is the Government doing to put it right? Well, to start with in true Tony tradition it’s agreeing that there is a problem.

”I take it very seriously,” says Education Secretary and former PE teacher Estelle Morris in the Mirror.

And secondly it wants all the papers marked by the exam boards at the centre of the row to be remarked.

And so what if the markers have criminal records as long as your arm, these are children’s lives we’re taking about here. And that must come first.

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Posted: 19th, September 2002 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink