T.E.S. have discovered that Edexcel’s profits have risen seven-fold in three years and that one of Edexcel’s directors earned a whopping £450,000 in pay and pensions contributions last year – easily the highest known figure earned by anyone in British education.
In 2005 Edexcel became the first large examination board to be held in private hands when Pearson PLC took complete control. Edexcel was formerly a charity.
Pearson PLC is a media conglomerate and is the largest book publisher in the UK and the second largest in the US. Edexcel’s status as a profit making company has led to criticisms and calls into question conflict of interest within the education system, as a private publisher runs an examining board, which relies on set texts for many of its courses.
According to the report in TES, since its takeover by the Pearson publishing group in 2003, Edexcel has moved from a yearly profit after tax of £3.6 million to the latest total of £25.1m on a £203m turnover.
In January 2007, Pearson announced that it had agreed to acquire Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International for $950m in cash. Harcourt Assessment is a company that publishes and distributes psychological assessment tools and therapy resources. Harcourt Education International is a leading educational company who in the UK publish as Heinemann.
In response to the profits announced by Edexcel John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said, “This raises a big question as to who this money is for. Is it for a private company or is it for the good and quality of the examination system?”
Here is the story in TES
The AQA (A) specification is still the clear leader in terms of number of students sitting the different specifications.
Last June (2007) 60.6% of students sitting A level psychology followed the AQA (A) specifications and 60.4% of students sitting AS psychology followed the AQA (A) route.
Below are figures taken from the various awarding bodies’ websites.
Percentage of students sitting A level psychology June 2007
AQA (A) 60.6%
OCR 19.9%
AQA (B) 10.2%
Edexcel 9.2%
Percentage of students sitting AS level psychology June 2007
AQA (A) 60.4%
OCR 19.2%
AQA (B) 10.1%
Edexcel 8.6%
WJEC 1.8%
Below are the percentages of students sitting A level psychology June 2006
AQA (A) 60.3%
OCR 18.5%
AQA (B) 11.0%
Edexcel 10.2%
The percentages are all rounded up to 1 decimal point.
Last month Warwick Mansell, a journalist working for TES, discovered that examiners who were remarking OCR psychology papers were told not to change students’ A-level marks after school or college appeals unless there are overwhelming reasons to do so.
This is of course particularly cruel for those students who had their papers badly marked the first time and damages the trust that psychology teachers have with OCR.
The advice for those examiners remarking said, “When scripts are re-marked, additional marks should be awarded (or marks deducted) only when a demonstrable error is found in the application of the marking scheme. If a degree of subjectivity is involved, very strong grounds are needed to change the original mark. If you are broadly in agreement with the mark, please do not change it.”
Furthermore, a number of teachers have e-mailed me noting that attempts at discussing this on the OCR psychology e-list have been censored.
Read the full story here
This course looks fascinating, and should be of interest to psychology teachers wanting to extend their knowledge about human brain anatomy. The three-day programme incorporates integrated lectures and dissection-room practicals, examining human brains and includes functional anatomy of the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia and limbic system.
The course is led by Dr Paul Johns BSc BM MSc (Specialist Registrar, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square) and provides a detailed overview of human brain anatomy presented in a very clear and accessible way.
The 3-day programme will be held in the Easter holidays (2nd-4th April 2008) at the Institute of Child Health, London WC1
Go over to the web site www.neurocourses.com to find out more.
Individual candidates who move to another centre or who, for other reasons, have to change their course of study part way through a GCE psychology course may be eligible to transfer credit between specifications. Transfer is not automatic – an application must be made to the receiving awarding body.
However, transfer is not possible from AQA to OCR. According to J.C.Q. documentation OCR does not accept AQA because the OCR specification is thematic whereas AQA specification is topic based.
Has the number of students sitting A level psychology reached a plateaux or are we going to see a decline?
According to data from the J.C.Q. the number of students sitting A level psychology has fallen for the first time.
In June 2007 52,048 candidates sat A level psychology whereas in June 2006 the number was 52,621. Both figures however still represent approximately 6.5% of the total number of students sitting A levels.
A level psychology is currently the fifth biggest A level and the third biggest AS level.
Psychology has until this year been growing at an incredible pace when, for example, one notes that only as far back as 2001 31,740 candidates sat A level psychology. The initial examination entry in 1972 was 272 candidates and by 1997 the number of candidates had grown to 28,ooo.
Below are the data for the past seven years
Number of A level Psychology candidates sitting the exams in June
2007
52048 which is 6.5% of total students sitting the June exams. 13176 were male and 38872 were female
2006
52621 which is 6.5% of total students sitting the June exams. 13485 were male and 39176 were female
2005
50035 which is 6.4% of total students sitting the June exams. 12798 were male and 37237 were female
2004
46933 which is 6.1% of total students sitting the June exams. 11875 were male and 35058 female
2003
41949 which is 5.6% of total students sitting the June exams. 10193 were male and 31756 were female
2002
34611 which is 4.9% of total students sitting the June exams. 8038 were male and were 26573 female
2001
31740 which is 4.2% of total students sitting the June exams. 7188 were male and 24552 female
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Insight Conferences have sent me an update on their November and December crime conferences. They still have some places available. The conferences will be suitable for students studying Law, Psychology, Sociology, Forensics etc.
Venues will include:
- Friends House, Euston Road, London, Friday 16th November 2007
- Gala Theatre, Durham Monday 26th November 2007
- Hulme Hall, University Manchester, Friday 30th November 2007
- Torquay Riviera Centre, Monday 3rd December 2007
- Portsmouth Friday 10th December 2007
Speakers will be people who work or research the areas they are speaking about and who have a true insight. The conference will consist of presentations with at least two during the day being interactive and requiring student participation.
The conference will run between 10am and 3.30pm and the cost will be £20.00 per student.
Areas covered include:
Death Row – Hear from a death row prisoner who was exonerated after 8,057 days. He was the first death row prisoner to use DNA science to prove his innocence. Hear his story ……
Psychopaths – Nature v Nurture – The concept of the psychopath (or more currently dangerous severe personality disorder) is central to many arguments on the nature and nurture of homicide and particularly serial homicide. These issues will all be explored with their relevance to the study of psychology in mind and illustrated by reference to case examples.
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According to my email delivered on the 6th November
“OCR have produced Schemes of Work for the revised A Level qualifications, with a new approach piloted for a range of subjects. For these, we have adopted a ‘by teachers, for teachers approach, working with teachers from a number of different centres. For each Scheme of Work that is produced, a set of accompanying sample Lesson Plans is also available. Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans can be downloaded from the OCR website”. No surprise that Psychology is still “coming soon”
As for their 2008 specification meetings I am tickled by the distinction made between the free half-day “Get ready event” and the full day (£130) “Get Started Event” Free if you want to “Get ready” but it will cost you if you want to “Get Started”.
