Support For The A Level Continues To Be High

Since March 2003, Ipsos has conducted research on behalf of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to assess perceptions of the A level and GCSE exam system.

Findings from the latest wave of the research, conducted in November 2006, show that support for the A level qualification remains high despite frequent debates regarding the future of the A level and the potential impact of the 14-19 Diploma.

Although teachers' confidence in A levels remains stable overall, confidence in the quality of marking and grading of A level exams has dipped slightly, but still remains at a high level. As in previous waves, teachers' concerns about A levels remain focused around incorrect grading/marking (16%), there being too many exams (12%) and the workload being too heavy (10%).

A level teachers remain highly critical of the media's coverage of the announcement of A level results, with four in five (80%) stating that they find it "unhelpful". However, there appears to have been a softening of opinion, as there has been a decrease in the proportion of those who 'strongly agree' that they find the media's coverage unhelpful: from 70% in 2005 to 60% in 2006.

• GCSEs and A level: the experiences of teachers, parents and the general public pdf, 1.5MB

Technical details

A representative sample of 506 teachers, including 295 AS level, A level and Vocational A level teachers, were interviewed by telephone across England. In addition, a representative sample of 1,964 members of the general public were interviewed face-to-face across England using the Ipsos Social Issues Omnibus survey (for details of findings from this group please see the report). All interviews were conducted between 6 and 24 November 2006. Data have been weighted to match the known population profile.