Spin and be damned PDF Print E-mail
Recent press coverage of a QCA report seems to suggest that Media Studies is an easy option. Elaine Scarratt, Chair of the Media Education Association, sets the record straight. Recent press articles comparing A Level, and some GCSE, subjects arose from the publication of QCA’s Inter-subject Comparability Studies Report (Feb 08) available at  http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_15796.aspx; some extracts are attached. The press reporting overall was highly selective, misleading and at times inaccurate. There isn’t space here to cover all of the articles, so what follows are illustrative references to The Guardian - Polly Curtis (Education Editor) 22/2/08, and Jessica Shepherd 23/2/08 - and online BBC News 22/2/08. There were also articles in The Times and The Independent.

The QCA report comprises four studies covering 10 subjects. Media Studies A level, (clustered with English Literature and Sociology) featured prominently, and misleadingly, in the coverage. Shepherd for instance, included comments by Sociologist Frank Furedi on common sense being rewarded in Media Studies; in fact it was a criticism in the report about Sociology.

Flawed Reporting

Minor differences were identified in the report between a few GCSE science and humanities subjects but its conclusion was: “in terms of findings, overall, the key one was that subjects were generally in line, In particular there was little evidence that the A level subjects sometimes described as ‘soft’ were any less demanding than their more established counterparts.” Curtis headlined with “Report on exams reveals dumbed down subjects”; the relatively more measured BBC News with ‘some exams are ‘harder than others’. Shepherd accurately gave the answer ‘No’ to her question ‘Are Media Studies A-levels too easy?’ Placing the question as her headline though meant the implied damage was done.

Further, she and Curtis claimed: “A-level scripts of media students were “less impressive” than in English Literature.” This was a comment only about grade E in the report; at grade A (and presumably those in between) there was no difference. Student achievement in Media Studies is in part due to greater accessibility of media material, a point made in the report developed elsewhere by OCR examiners Julian McDougall and Vivienne Clark. In addition they cite a greater range of assessment modes to suit different learning styles, and when students can apply their own cultural capital they are likely to increase in self-confidence and motivation, especially in the lower ability range.

Limited Research

The QCA report stresses the complexities of such research and readily acknowledges this report’s limitations. It only covers examination assessment and one examination board for each subject; for Media Studies it was OCR. Two further deficits make the report flawed for Media Studies in particular. Firstly, the writers did not have access to 40% of the Media Studies assessment, i.e. production coursework and this, as they stated, affected the accuracy of their comments.

Secondly, the criticism that candidates took notes into the Critical Research Study exam, which led to Curtis a highlighting a ‘concern that media students are allowed to take prepared work into exams’, showed no awareness by either the journalist or the report’s authors of the contextual history behind this allowance. All AL specifications were required by QCA (2000) to include an extended essay at A2, which for AQA and WJEC became their coursework assessment allocation. OCR preferred production coursework, so the extended ‘essay’ became examination assessment by default. The notes (restricted to only quantitative data, key phrases, references, diagrams and short quotations) provide a little parity with other candidates’ coursework essay preparation.  

The MEA response

QCA are working very hard to deal thoroughly and rigorously with the damaging ‘soft’ v ‘hard subject comparison issue. This report is the beginning of a series of investigations by QCA (to be succeeded by OFQUAL in Spring 08), which aim to provide concrete comparative evidence to counteract prevailing ill-informed opinions and prejudices. It was released in conjunction with a book evaluating 50 years of comparative education methodology Techniques for Monitoring the Comparability of Examination Standards, Newton et al http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_15662.aspx. OFQUAL will be setting up a public debate and a broader curricular comparative study of subject comparability in the autumn.

Rather than being caught up in a minor skirmish and the press’s negative agenda at this stage, it will be more productive to participate in the forthcoming public debate and research on our own terms in educational territory, and deal with challenges from those contexts. At least the positive outcome of these press articles is that they’ve provided some great classroom case studies on news spin and evaluating sources for research essays.

Elaine Scarratt
Chair, MEA
 

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