The claim
Education Secretary Michael Gove has been on his finest Head Prefect form today, addressing the Conservative Party conference. The Fact Check team has been looking at the claims in his speech about poor performance in exams, pupils no longer being rewarded for correct spelling and grammar, and the suggestion that science exams are too easy.
The analysis
“I can’t rest when nearly 600 secondary schools can’t get more than 35% of their pupils to secure decent passes in GCSE Maths and English.”
League tables from 2009 show that in GCSEs taken that summer, there were 577 secondary schools in which fewer than 35 per cent of pupils achieved A to C grades in English and maths. So, full fact marks for the Education Secretary on that one.
“Thousands of children… leave school unable to compose a proper sentence, ignorant of basic grammar, incapable of writing a clear and accurate letter. And it’s not surprising when the last Government explicitly removed the requirement to award a set number of marks for correct spelling, punctuation and grammar in examinations.”
The Conservative Party told FactCheck that from 1992-2003, five per cent of marks in most GCSEs were awarded for spelling, punctuation and grammar. When GCSEs were “recently redeveloped”, this was replaced with “guidance designed to incorporate accuracy in written communication in the wider marking”. Even in English GCSE, “arguably just 13 per cent of English GCSE marks are for accuracy”.
But FactCheck has been told that while specific extra marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar are no longer allocated, pupils can still be marked up or down in those GCSE subjects that involve extended writing, according to their abilities in these areas.
So, perhaps it’s not quite as straightforward as Mr Gove suggests.
“In Massachusetts in the USA 16-year-olds are asked in their science exams to identify the shape of a carbon tetrabromide molecule as predicted by the valence-shell repulsion theory. In England sixteen year olds are asked in their science exams whether we sweat through our lungs or our skin.”
FactCheck looked into the “carbon tetrabromide molecule” question online. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website says that in high school chemistry exams, pupils are awarded top marks if their “response gives the correct Lewis dot structures for carbon tetrabromide, correctly identifies the shape of the carbon tetrabromide molecule based on valence-shell electron-pair repulsion theory , and clearly explains why this shape is predicted by VSEPR”.
Mr Gove’s aides told us this was their source too. But when we called the folks in Massachusetts they told us that the pupils taking that test would be aged between 16 and 18, and that they could be 19.
The sweating question came from an AQA biology GCSE in 2008 , which would have been taken by 15 and 16 year olds.
So, it’s not really clear if Mr Gove is comparing like with like – the high school exam seems more comparable with A-Levels, than with GCSEs. And of course, one is a chemistry exam and one is a biology exam.
The verdict
Not quite top marks for Mr Gove. The exam paper comparison seems a bit wooly. And while it is true that pupils are no longer awarded specific extra marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar, it is wrong to imply that exam boards do not take these into account when they are marking GCSE papers that involve extended writing.
