A-level standards 'down by a grade every decade'

Today's sixth-formers achieve grades that are two above students of the same ability in 1988, according to the research commissioned by business leaders.

It means a pupil who gained a C two decades ago would now be in line for an A.

Research has found A-level standards are falling

The findings were released by the Institute of Directors two days before this year's A-level results.

They will infuriate ministers who have tried to make political capital out of rising results.

And they are certain to be challenged by teachers who claim that better classroom practice is behind year-on-year increases in A-level performance.

But in a damning conclusion on growing education spending, the report said: 'The efforts to improve have been massive but the benefits have been modest at best.'

For the study, experts at Durham University studied tens of thousands of A-level students who have taken similar general reasoning tests every year since 1988.

The report said: 'At A-level, the average grade awarded to candidates of the same ability has risen steadily each year. The overall rate of change is about a grade every decade since 1988.

'These changes might be explained by, for example, better teaching each year.

'However, it is clear that the likely outcomes for students of the same ability are better now than in past years and that if a particular grade is taken to indicate-a particular level of ability, its value has declined. Exceptionally, from 1988 the rise appears to be over 3.5 grades for mathematics.'

The study concluded that if exam results can be taken as an indicator of general academic ability, grades are worth less now than they were.

The figures were reinforced by a survey of university admissions tutors for the report, titled the Education Briefing Book. They reported seeing no rise in the calibre of new undergraduates despite steadily improving A-level results.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: 'There is absolutely no doubt that English and maths standards have risen over the last decade  -  results have risen and quality has been rigorously scrutinised by our independent exam regulators.'

One in three teenagers will start GCSE studies next month without the mastery of the three Rs needed to cope with the courses, SATs results out today are expected to show. Almost 200,000 have yet to achieve a basic grasp of reading, writing and maths three years into their secondary school careers, according to results in national tests for 14-year-olds.

• Rising tuition fees have failed to dent demand for university places, bringing fears that a cap on the charges could be raised or even removed.

Applications have leapt 24 per cent in four years despite a tripling of fees in 2006, according to a study for the body representing university chiefs.

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, warned that the findings should not be used by vice-chancellors to lobby for unlimited increases in the fees, which typically stand at £3,145 a year.