The document summarizes key changes to A-level structure and assessment in the UK, including: 1) AS and A-levels will now be assessed at the end of each course rather than during. 2) AS results will no longer count towards the final A-level grade. 3) Assessment will mainly be by exam, with other assessments only where essential skills must be tested.

1. St. John Boste CAST
7th March 2016

2. Main Changes to A-level Structure
• AS and A levels will be assessed at the end of the
course. AS assessments will typically take place
after 1 year’s study and A levels after 2.
• AS and A levels will be decoupled – this means
that AS results will no longer count towards an A
level, in the way they do now.
• Assessment will be mainly by exam, with other
types of assessment used only where they are
needed to test essential skills.
• AS levels can be designed by exam boards to be
taught alongside the first year of A levels.

3. New A-Level Syllabi – 3 Phases

5. The Changes Ahead

7. The Messy Middle
Schools serving disadvantaged communities and/or with a greater
number of lower and middle pupils will be disadvantaged compared
to schools with higher attaining, usually more affluent, intakes. This
flies in the faith of Catholic Teachings on Social Justice.
It will be a concern for many of our schools.

8. Performance Tables
(Accountability Measures)
• Percentage of students achieving a “pass grade”
in English & Mathematics GCSE
• EBacc – Percentage achieving (& possibly
percentage entered and Average Point Score)
• Attainment 8
• Progress 8
• Destination Measure – Overall percentage of
students going to a sustained education or
employment/training destination

9. The Alleged Root of the EBacc

10. The EBacc Question
The percentage curriculum time in a Catholic school would be
increased to 80% as GCSE RE occupying 10% of curriculum time is
compulsory. With PSHE and PE occupying another 10% (so 90% in
total) there is only 10% of enough time for one other GCSE or
vocational qualification available.

11. Whither the Arts & Technology?
Vocational Studies?
The Schools Week Article 12th November 2015 on the E-Bacc not
affecting the Arts stated the number of entries “at the end of key
stage 4 has only dropped from 618,437 in 2013/14 to 612,348 in
2014/15.” This is in stark contrast to Design Technology where
entries at GCSE have dropped from 287,701 in 2010 to 204,788 in
2015. My guess is that this may fall even further.
The survival of Design Technology and the Arts may well depend
on how many more subjects are centrally removed from the
examination system. When taken as a whole the options
available and curriculum studied has substantially narrowed since
2010 … Depending on your educational philosophy this could be
viewed as long overdue or curriculum vandalism or somewhere in
between.

12. Performance Tables
(Accountability Measures)
• Percentage of students achieving a “pass grade”
in English & Mathematics GCSE
• EBacc – Percentage achieving (& possibly
percentage entered and Average Point Score)
• Attainment 8
• Progress 8
• Destination Measure – Overall percentage of
students going to a sustained education or
employment/training destination

13. Calculating Attainment 8
• First reported nationally from Summer 2016 results
• Given as a “fine scale” grade, i.e. C+, C or C- for example
• As much about a school’s intake as the effectiveness of the
education it has provided

14. Performance Tables
(Accountability Measures)
• Percentage of students achieving a “pass grade”
in English & Mathematics GCSE
• EBacc – Percentage achieving (& possibly
percentage entered and Average Point Score)
• Attainment 8
• Progress 8
• Destination Measure – Overall percentage of
students going to a sustained education or
employment/training destination

15. Progress 8 & Baskets

16. English, English Literature, Maths,
Religious Education (PSHE & PE)
Plus three from the EBacc Basket
and two “open choice”
How would you have to amend these option blocks
to ensure all students also gained the Ebacc?

17. Current “Open Choice” Option Offer

18. Specialist Pathway

19. Calculating Progress 8
• Progress 8 is a Value Added Measure
• Uses Key Stage 2 score as a baseline and
Attainment 8 as an end point
• Compared to what other pupils with the same
Key Stage 2 score achieved nationally
• Individual pupils Attainment 8 is +ve, same or
–ve
• School Progress 8 is the average with “0”
representing expected progress