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Students at Brighton Girls school in Brighton, East Sussex, receive their A-level results, August 17, 2023
THE annual media storm over exam results always provides a window into the class realities in British education.
This year A-level results show a growing gap between the richest and poorest youth, with regional differences in attainment and grade gap widening between independent and state schools.
To the annual campaign to suggest that the curriculum is not rigorous enough, exams are too easy, that schools are failing and teachers are inadequate, is now added the news that the proportion of students gaining A and A* grades is 27.2 per cent down from the highest score of 44.8 per cent, which was achieved during Covid.
Cuts are sweeping campuses as cash-strapped universities slash staff and politicians fail to act on a growing funding emergency. VINCE MILLS reports
NICOLA SARAH HAWKINS explains how an under-regulated introduction of AI into education is already exacerbating inequalities
Almost half of universities face deficits, merger mania is taking hold, and massive fee hikes that will lock out working-class students are on the horizon, write RUBEN BRETT, PAUL WHITEHOUSE and DAN GRACE