P191 CEEFAX 191  Thu 17 Aug  19:14/55
  -|l4|l4|,     1/3 
  -n2n2     
  -/.%/.)/,      DISPATCH   
 
 Wendy Jones reports on the arguments   
 about the latest round of A-level      
 results:                               
                                        
 A-level results have been going up     
 steadily since 1985. More people take  
 the exam and more people pass it.      
                                        
 This year's improvement - while not as 
 great as last year's - takes the pass  
 rate to 84% compared with 70% 10 years 
 ago. The proportion of top grades has  
 also gone up.                          
                                        
 $hj teaching unions say this reflects  
 the hard work of students and teachers.
 But inevitably it raises the question  
 of whjthjr the exam is getting easier. 
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   P191 CEEFAX 191  Thu 17 Aug  19:22/30
       2/3 
  -n2n2     
  -/.%/.)/,      DISPATCH   
 
 Wendy Jones reports on the arguments   
 about the latest round of A-level      
 results:                               
                                        
 The Govjrnmjnt has welcomed assurances 
 from the exam boards that standards are
 being maintained.                      
                                        
 But it is also awaiting the outcome of 
 a comparability study to bj carried out
 by its own advisers.                   
                                        
 However, there are also concerns that  
 that improvements are not coming on    
 stream fast enough.                    
                                        
                                        
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   P191 CEEFAX 191  Thu 17 Aug  19:15/45
       3/3 
  -n2n2     
  -/.%/.)/,      DISPATCH   
 
 Wendy Jones reports on the arguments   
 about the latest round of A-level      
 results:                               
                                        
 Labour suggests that at the current    
 rate the nationbl target of 60% of     
 young people having the equivalent of  
 two A-levels bz the year 2000 will not 
 bj mit.                                
                                        
 It sbys that Britain still lags behind 
 Germbnz and Japan in this respect.     
                                        
 Labour points out that last year the   
 percentage of 16-year-olds staying on  
 at school or college actually dropped  
 slightly for the first time in a decade
                                        
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