Summary of situation – redevelopment of language exams

Summary of situation regarding the redevelopment of language exams and links below article:

Summary of issues and arguments communicated by the Awarding Organisations  re. Planned discontinuation of qualifications in small-entry languages

by Katrin Kohl, University of Oxford, 23.3.2015, updated with CIE information

Information on proposals:

OCR: http://www.ocr.org.uk/news/view/%20redeveloping-gcses-and-a-levels-for-2017/

AQA: http://www.aqa.org.uk/supporting-education/policy/gcse-and-a-level-changes/structure-of-new-a-levels

Pearson has informed some key stakeholders, and emphasised that the information is not currently in the public domain, saying that Ofqual will be publishing the information at the end of week 23 March (currently projected, date keeps changing), about all subjects; they may or may not mention languages. The boards will make announcements after that. The timing was determined by the deadline for communicating decisions concerning what qualifications AOs would be offering from 2017 to Ofqual (the deadline was at the end of February).

GCSE

OCR: All small-entry languages discontinued owing to low uptake.

AQA and PEARSON: currently unaffected, although there are still unanswered questions, e.g. surrounding the need for tiered qualification.

GCSEs in the small-entry languages currently include speaking and listening

A-LEVEL

• In Curriculum 2000, provision for small entry languages (i.e. languages other than French, German, Spanish) was carved up in a kind of gentleman’s agreement between the AOs.
• Currently exemption from Listening and Speaking modules for some languages – in those cases A levels only consist of 2 written units (one unit AS, one unit A2, some candidates take both at once).

Arguments for discontinuation / reduction of provision:

OCR:

• Low uptake
• Entry size is small, in each case under 1000 and in some cases under 200 or even 100. In effect these are national figures.
• Statistical evidence is insufficient for reliable grading, given small entry size.
• Candidates are a very varied mix, causing challenges for fair assessment especially in the lie of small entries

Biggest factor: Ofqual requirement that A Levels in these languages must follow the same subject content as for the main modern languages. This would entail

• Difficulty of recruiting sufficiently experienced senior examiners
• Schools would find it difficult to find qualified internal examiners (these languages are generally not taught as timetabled languages, and consequently not systematically supported).

AQA:

• It is not a commercial decision. The need for cross-subsidising is accepted for small-entry subjects.
• Entry numbers are key because of the requirements central to the awarding process.
• The learners who currently take these qualifications are typically not formally taught learners. They do the language e.g. at a Saturday school, not in a timetabled, supported context. Some just turn up on the day and do the exam. The new A level won’t permit that as it is more challenging than the current one. The new criteria require teacher knowledge and support for learners, and will require quite a lot of CPD.
• Speaking and Listening are part of the rationale, and if the examiners are not properly trained, the candidates would be disadvantaged.
• Teaching literature is a very big challenge for a lot of schools, and overall the content is demanding. Everybody has pointed to the gap in the skills base for teachers – these will need to be built up. That is possible for French, German and Spanish but not for languages that aren’t supported in schools. Even the independent research task requires some teacher support.
• Owing to the enhanced challenge, it is likely that numbers would drop considerably and awarding would become less reliable.
• For some languages there are organisations that would be able to offer the necessary support, but the numbers are so small that it isn’t possible to deliver reliable assessment.
• Some of the small-entry languages were only introduced in the 2008 suite of languages.

General info http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28269496

General info on situation to date http://www.all-languages.org.uk/community/committees_and_sigs/list_of_committees_and_sigs/special_interest_group_for_world_languages_2

Clear list of which languages affected and which exams http://www.speaktothefuture.org/withdrawal-of-gcse-and-a-level-exams-in-small-entry-languages/

Sheet to print out with summary of changes to exams across all languages and showing those currently proposed for redevelopment http://www.speaktothefuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Languages-qualifications-from-2017-incl.-CIE-23-3-2015.pdf

Also list of various petitions, it only takes a few seconds to sign each of them.

Punjabi petition – http://www.robmarris.net/language_qualifications 

Gujarati petition – https://www.change.org/p/ceo-of-the-ocr-mark-dawe-ceo-of-ocr-uk-reconsider-stopping-to-offer-students-gcse-gujarati-examinations?recruiter=286722001&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

All languages petition – http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/save-lesser-modern-languages

Turkish petition – https://www.change.org/p/department-for-education-save-our-turkish-exams

Polish petition – https://www.change.org/p/andrew-hall-chief-executive-officer-aqa-aqa-keep-the-a-level-polish-exam-after-2018

Special Interest Group for World Languages
www.all-languages.org.uk
Special Interest Group for World Languages