Media Education Association

GCSE Media Results 2008

2008-08-21T12:07:00.002+01:00

Today's results have one significant headline. Media Studies is one of the few subjects showing a significant increase in entries in a year when the overall entries are down to the lowest figure since 2003.

There are some 6,000 less 16 year-olds according to the Joint Council for Qualifications. Add to this some students taking exams early and others shifting to vocational qualifications and this is given as the cause of decreases in some national curriculum subjects. Media Studies rose by 5.1% to 69,823 (1.1% of all entries). This quite an achievement for a non–NC subject. It represents a faster increase than seen in the A Level figures. Interestingly, ICT saw a significant decrease of 6.2%.

My main concern with the overall figures is the steep decline in French, German and Spanish which will have repercussions at A Level and therefore for media work in foreign language cinema post-16.

The results show A* grades for Media running at 3.7% (5.1% for girls only) and with 16.3% for Grade A, this means a rather higher percentage getting the top grades than for Media and Film at A Level.

A Level Results August 2008

2008-08-14T10:21:00.002+01:00

The headline news is that candidate numbers for 'Media/Film/TV Studies' (shouldn't we be agitating to get rid of this grab-all category?) are up again, but that the rate of increase is falling.

Results were announced across the UK for:

45,766 AS students in 'Media, Film and TV Studies'
32,749 A2 students in 'Media, Film and TV Studies'

5,616 AS/A2 Comms students
1,577 Applied Media AS/A2 students

Total candidate numbers for AS and A2 in Media, Film and Comms Studies: 85,708.

That's roughly 4% of all A Level entries, possibly a slight fall as a % this year, even though Media AS entries increased by 3% and A Level by 2.7%.

'A' Grades for Media fell as a %, even though they rose in many other subjects (and the rise of 'A' Grades to 25% of all awards has been the major angle of news stories so far). Are the exam boards reacting to the pressure from those who claim the subject is 'soft'?

Don't panic - what are we really worrying about?

2008-06-10T10:09:00.002+01:00

This weekend many of us will be meeting in London for the MEA annual conference, titled Don't Panic. So what's to panic about? Plenty, it would seem. If you're a primary teacher, it might be about the multitude of media pressures impacting on your pupils:issues of online safety, access to inappropriate texts, covert marketing in schools, social networking, commercial interests making kids grow older younger - let alone the difficulties of tackling these issues in a still over-tested curriculum. If you're working with secondary-age pupils, it may be more of the same, plus the huge impact of continuing curriculum change, from the revised KS3 Framework to new specs at GCSE and A level, the introduction of the Diploma, functional skills, and so on. Not to mention the broader media education concerns we're confronting both withing formal education and in the public sphere: the unprecedented pace of technological change, the new world of Web 2.0 and the raft of cultural, creative and critical skills we need as teachers, together with questions of access, entitlement, and pedagogy - what do we really need to teach, and how do we do it? And finally, there are the so-called 'moral' panics - not new to media education, but particularly acute now in the light of the media's representations of the Byron Report, inner-city youth violence, debates about videogames, commercialisation, and children's health . . . A big agenda.

MEA invites you to tell us what you are really panicking about - if indeed you are. During the Don't Panic conference, we will be looking to identify the issues which are really concerning teachers of media, and ways of addressing them, as the start of an ongoing dialogue. We'd like to know, in 50 words or less, what your own media education priorities are, and what for you are the things we should really be panicking about. Post your response below. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

Diploma uptake only 20,000

2008-05-21T17:20:00.002+01:00

The Press Association today announced that only around half the target cohort for The Diploma have actually signed up so far for September 2008. It looks like the government have been made to look out of touch again as what is essentially a 'pilot' year has recruited a more sensible number of guinea pigs. Well done to schools, colleges and students. The PA release is here.

Don't Panic Conference, London, June 13-14, 2008

2008-05-14T19:26:00.003+01:00

MEA's London Conference, June 13-14, download both the poster and the programme/booking form by clicking on the images and saving/printing direct from your browser.

Is the Diploma too complex in structure?

2008-04-06T23:40:00.003+01:00

Probably the best piece of journalism I've seen on the development of the Diploma was written by Mike Baker in Education Guardian on March 18. Find it here. Baker concludes that the government's desperate attempt to ensure the 'academic respectability' of the qualification will create confusion amongst the students who would benefit most from a new approach.

"The desire to give diplomas academic respectability is understandable in view of the British tendency to devalue vocational qualifications. But that desire is the cause of the confusion, complexity and ambivalence that could scupper this much-needed reform."

Couldn't agree more. It's well worth reading this piece (but not the two predictable comments that follow it).

Creative and Media Diploma

2008-02-20T23:55:00.002Z

The next issue of in the picture magazine, soon to become the Media Education Association's Journal will carry several items related to the launch in September 2008 of the Creative Media Diploma. We already have a blog on the Diploma (see http://www.mediadiplomawatch.blogspot.com/) but the magazine will widen the debate. If you want to add to this, please post a comment here, on the other blog or on the MEA website forum. I'll pick it up and try to incorporate and respond.

Teaching New Media Conference

2007-12-12T17:23:00.000Z

A Saturday Conference focusing on 'Teaching New Media' will be hosted by the Media Education Association and the National Media Museum in Bradford on 2 February 2008.

This is the first of several conferences that MEA will organise, possibly in different parts of the country on this and other topics.

A conference flyer can be downloaded here. Membership of MEA offers a significant discount on the Conference fee. Membership applications are available via the MEA website.

New MEA website up and running

2007-11-28T12:04:00.000Z

The new MEA website is now up and running on the same address at www.mediaedassociation.org.uk

I'm particularly pleased with the new forum, which looks attractive and easy to use. I hope everyone will be able to join debates and post their ideas. It looks like we are kicking off with the Creative and Media Diploma developments, but I'm sure a whole range of other issues will soon emerge. Please join the forum and make your contribution.

Cosmat Conference

2007-11-08T19:27:00.001Z

COSMAT PROGRAMME 2007

We are delighted to announce this year’s COSMAT CONFERENCE which takes place at the Duke of York’s Cinema on Friday 30 November. It is especially for film and Media A Level students from schools and colleges across Sussex. It is also part of Brighton’s film festival, CineCity.

This year’s conference features one of British film’s major successes of recent years: the gripping and realistic thriller London to Brighton (Paul Andrew Williams, 2006) as well as its director to speak about his career and how he came to make the film.

The day will start with documentary: we have Brighton film maker Michele D’Acosta and her extraordinary film shot in the New York subway: Hip Hop Train.

Admission is £6.

Details are as follows:

09.15 Doors open.

09.30 – 10.30 Michele D’Acosta talks about and screens Hip Hop Train

10.30 – 10.45 Break

10.45 - 11.30 Script-to-Screen discussion with Paul Andrew Williams, director of London to Brighton

11.30 – 12.00 Lunch break

12.00 – 1.25 Screening of London to Brighton

1.25 – 1.45 Q & A with the audience.

NB
Booking is now closed.
However it is worth emailing Briony at bbg@varndean.ac.uk nearer the day to see if there are places left.

GCSE Media Results

2007-08-23T11:20:00.000+01:00

(This is a mirror of the post on the in the picture blog.)

Today attention switches to GCSE Media Studies. Over the last few years, entries to GCSE Media have risen dramatically. Since media studies as a subject is not part of National Curriculum, examined courses at KS4 (14-16) in England and Wales have always suffered in comparison to the more market-led situation post 16. At A Level, some 4% of candidates take AS/A2 Film or Media Studies, but only around 1% take GCSE Media. This means that the numbers are significant, but don't as yet cause the same murmurs amongst traditionalists in education as the presence of A Level Media in the Top 10 subjects.

This year's results posted by the Joint Council for Qualifications show that in 2007 there were 66,425 candidates for GCSE Media, representing a significant increase on the 57,521 in 2006. In fact, according to the 'trends' report on the JCQ website, media studies shows a 15.4% increase in take-up. This makes it No 3 in the 'Top 10 subject increases', but since this table is topped by the relatively small numbers representing Additional Maths, media is still growing as fast as in 2006 when it was No 2. The champion is Statistics with an increase of 21% for a total of 82,000. It does look as if all the attempts to boost Maths are having some effect at both GCSE and A Level and this may deflect some of the predicted attacks on media. However, a little lower down the Top 10 increases are the three separate science subjects. There has been a clamour for a return to single science GCSEs because combined science does not seem to be 'stretching' students. Biology, Physic and Chemistry are, as a result of official promotion, growing by 4-5% a year, but this clearly doesn't match media studies which, without official sanction, is ahead of any of the single science subjects. I suspect that this will be picked up by commentators. It's worth remembering though, that media is still relatively small beer at this level. The main National Curriculum subjects each attract over 200,000 candidates. Religious Studies has been one of the recent success stories and it now attracts over 170,000.

In the next couple of years, Film Studies GCSE will make its appearance and will no doubt add a few more thousand. For the moment, more attention might be paid to the vocational alternatives. The new 'Applied Media' course has only been piloted in a few centres so far, but it has produced some results (300) so far. I was also intrigued to discover that a Journalism GCSE is offered by the Awarding Body in Northern Ireland, CCEA and this produced 170 candidates in 2007. BTEC results are not included in the JCQ press release, so I will report on these when I find them.

A Level Media Results Day

2007-08-16T11:01:00.000+01:00

(This is a mirror of the post on the in the picture magazine blog.)

The 2007 A Level Media and Film results are available from the Joint Council for Qualifications on its website. The 2007 trends statement is also important to download.

My first impression is that the great expansion in numbers has now slowed down. Total entries for A Level Media/Film were 31,942 (an increase of 3.16%). This drops Media down the league table for 'increase in entries' from 2nd to 8th and should kill the comments about diverting students from Maths etc. In fact, Maths, Science and Spanish are the subjects with noticeable increases this year. AS Film/Media had 44,392 entries (an increase of 3.19% which didn't even get a mention in the Top 10 of subject increases).

At both AS and A2, Media/Film now accounts for 4% of all candidates. Females still outnumber males and they perform significantly better in terms of grades. At A Level the overall pass rate at Grade A for Media/Film is 14.1%, but for females alone it is 16.3%. Media continues to be a relatively 'hard subject' in terms of getting a Grade A.

Overall, Media/Film has moved up one place to Number 9 most popular A Level subject (changing places with Geography). Of all the 'new' subjects, Psychology is by far the most successful -- at Number 5 in the chart with 52,000 candidates.

What the current figures don't show is the split between Media Studies and Film Studies. It may well be that the increases relate more to Film than to Media.

The Applied A Level in Media has now reached A2 and there were 567 candidates (slightly more males) of whom 11.3% gained a Grade A. This is a far higher proportion than in other Applied A Levels, but overall Media attracted only 1.7% of entries. At AS numbers rose from 735 in 2006 to 912 and females were back in front and gaining more Grade 'A's. But at AS, only 1.8% of candidates took Media, down from 1.9% in 2006.

Communication Studies at AS/A2 is running at around o.3% of all A Level candidates, showing a slightdecline to 3,261 at AS and a very slight increase to 2,144 at A Level.