ISC pupils take the lead on so-called ‘harder subjects’

Written by Rudi Eliott Lockhart

With impeccable timing given the publication this week of A level results, Cambridge Assessment have released new research that seeks to explain why pupils choose the subjects they do. Their research highlights a whole range of factors, from gender to ethnicity, but what leaps out as interesting is the data showing the difference that the school pupils attend makes. Pupils at independent schools are more likely to do A levels in maths, sciences and in modern foreign languages. They also tend to take a greater number of AS levels alongside their A levels.

This isn’t a huge surprise. Research published by ISC earlier this year showed the key role pupils in ISC schools play in bolstering A level entries and results, particularly in key subjects. Over the last seven years, ISC pupils have made up 10% of the A level candidates. These candidates have taken 15% of all A levels taken, although this figure rises in the key subjects of science, maths and languages. Most strikingly they made up 33% of language entries and secured 63% of all language A grades awarded.  For almost two-thirds of A grades in language subjects to be coming from schools that provide just 10% of A level candidates is a startling figure. These figures demonstrate more than just the fact that independent schools outperform other schools when it comes to exams, they underline the crucial role they play in supplying school leavers with qualifications that are important for our society as a whole. There’s clearly a wider public benefit in having schools teaching maths, science and languages extensively: the economy needs people with these skills, if the independent sector didn’t provide them, the UK would be in a more parlous state.

The need to bolster some academic subjects was made even more apparent this week by disturbing figures obtained by the Conservative Party demonstrating the alarming number of schools in the maintained sector that have no candidates at all in certain key A level subjects. 15% of comprehensives had no candidates in geography, 14% had none in physics, 8% none in history, 7% none in biology and 6% none in maths. These are pretty concerning figures, particularly when it’s considered that almost 60% of the schools that had no candidates for history A level did have candidates in sociology, media, TV and film studies or communication studies. Clearly the independent sector had an important role to play in flying the flag for more traditional subjects.

This is a crucial issue, in particular given the debate over the low proportion of state school pupils going to the top universities: the choice of A level subjects really matters. If pupils pick the right subjects then they might have greater opportunities when applying to university or for jobs, whereas if they pick the wrong ones they might inadvertently be limiting their future opportunities. Cambridge University and LSE warn that they prefer candidates to have studies some subjects rather than others.  Pupils selecting their A level subjects need to be given good advice; it is telling that Cambridge Assessment found that pupils in the independent sector felt they got more than pupils at other schools.

It is reassuring to see that pupils at independent schools tend to choose the sorts of subjects that are generally well regarded. Cambridge Assessment’s research attempts to explain why pupils at independent schools are more likely to choose the subjects that they do. They found that for pupils in the independent sector the biggest factor in making their choices was whether they found the subjects interesting. This is a fascinating finding.  We hear so much about the ‘dumbing down’ of subjects in an attempt to make them more appealing and encourage wider participation, yet here is research showing that pupils at the schools where ‘crunchy’ subjects are most popular choosing these subjects because they find them interesting.  Good teaching and good advice can lead to good results.

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• School league tables, websites and independent schools guides: How do I decide which school is best for my child?

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 10:03 am by Rudi Eliott Lockhart and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.