Just over a quarter (25.8%) of A Level students gained a A* or A grade in 2016.
The pass rate for the top grades follows a trend seen across this decade, with another drop on last year’s results to 25.8 per cent of students getting A or A* across all subjects.
Students have performed well in mathematics and foreign languages, while courses such as ICT and media studies have struggled to get their students achieving the top grades in 2016.
The worst performing A levels
The lowest pass rates in 2016 were seen in ICT and media, film and TV studies.
This has followed recent years, where these subjects have struggled to get their students to achieve the top A or A* grades.
One in 10 ICT students gained an A or A* in 2016 – down from 12 per cent in 2011. Some 8,700 students took the course this year, falling by 3,300 in five years,
2016 results : Media / film / TV Studies Number sat : 28140.
A*+ : 1.2%
A+ : 10.6%
C+: 80.4%
Mathematics Number sat 92163
A*+: 17.5%
A+: 41.8%
C+:80.2%
This shows that somewhere Media education is failing to produce the same amount of high passing grades that the likes of mathematics are producing. There is a missing link here that needs to be fixed. I think that this is highly down to people and other academics who teach a traditional path such as maths, sciences and English
Pushing through the notion that media film and tv studies are mickey mouse subjects that have no relevance to the world or a paid job. When the exact opposite is the case. A blog I found online that was published in 2014 states that ofqual the government office of qualifications and examinations regulations. Had mistakenly taken Film studies off of the list for examinations. He states in a letter to OFQUAL:
( http://failingtolearnbetter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/in-defence-of-media-and-film.html )
On an academic level, I would draw your attention to the already demanding nature of assessment: GCSE involves extended comparative writing which motivates many to improve their linguistic abilities; A level examinations are currently substantial essay-based examination papers. Both subjects include assessment of research skills, as well as analytical skills. These are the bedrock of the “traditional” curriculum we seem to be returning towards, so why would we withdraw subjects which reinforce such skills?
Second, there is a popular perception of Media and Film Studies as “soft” subjects, which I would disagree with fundamentally. The vast majority of my students will also tell you that Media and Film were far tougher courses than their “academic” counterparts. In part this is the fault of the mass media itself and its largely biased reporting of the subjects: The tabloids have no qualms about labelling our subjects as lesser subjects compared to the “traditional” subjects being pushed by the present government. The fact that the broadsheets put inverted commas around the word soft does not in any way absolve them of blame for reinforcing this perception, in my opinion. The message from the media is clear: Studying media or film is an easy option.
He later goes on to explain why he thinks media and film studies is a hard subject and how it is really an extension of English and how the two relate and how media and film takes in aspects of other more “academic” subjects.
However, I would argue that OFQUAL is equally to blame in this process for not countering this perception explicitly with evidence. I would contend that the level of demand at both GCSE and A level is very high: Students analyse film and media texts in exactly the same way as they do in English, except that they must take account of not only linguistic characteristics of texts, but also the way the layout, camera angles, editing and sound work in tandem with these linguistic features. This adds layers of meaning which are very subtle, additional to those studied in English, and indeed constitute an entire language of their own. And this only covers the textual analysis aspects of the courses. Film and Media Studies also require that students understand why texts are the way they are, by taking into account institutional, social, political, economic, historical and technological factors which may influence meaning and interpretations of texts. While this is a skill which is taught in English, I would argue that the up-to-date nature of film and media studies enquiries makes it much more challenging for students to interpret the influence of these contexts, as they are not doing so with the benefits of hindsight, or with the help of “expert voices” to guide them. Media and Film students learn a basic framework of analysis, but from there they are applying this to texts which are so new they are largely untouched by academic study. They have to apply their learning very subtly, often drawing in a range of material which benefits other subjects, such as History, English, Philosophy and Ethics, Sociology and Psychology.
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