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Elizabeth Rata: Auckland University Sociologist of Education on more A-grades being handed out · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Is an A grade today worth the same as an
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: A grade twenty years ago? A new report out this
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: morning from the New Zealand Initiative shows the proportion of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: A grades given out at universities has increased seven percent
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to thirty five percent. This is since two thousand and six,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and during COVID get this, nearly half of all marks
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: were a's. So are we just giving out a's? Willing
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Nellie Elizabeth A Data is Sociology of Education professor at
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the University of Auckland with me now, good morning, Oh
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: good morning, Ryan, good to have you on the program.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Tell me what are we just handing these A grades out?
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  Speaker 1: Or are the standards dropping or the students getting smarter?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the really good thing about the Tursted
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  Speaker 2: report is that from the New Zealand Initiative is that
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: it actually gives us some empirical data which we've needed
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: for a long time. So we know now we've got
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the evidence that there is a problem, and I think
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  Speaker 2: it's time to have a really close look at all
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: the factors that have produced this problem, because you know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I've been the University of Auckland for four decades now,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: and yeah, it's my experience that this has happened, but
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I haven't had the evidence until now, so it's really
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: good to see the report.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Why is it happening, Oh gosh.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Well, lots of factors, but what I think it boils
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  Speaker 2: down to is that there's been a real cultural shift
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  Speaker 2: over the last twenty thirty years from merit to equity,
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  Speaker 2: the idea that everyone should succeed, you know, the equal
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: outcomes approach, and that's and that has been anticipated by NCA,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: so that we've now got the we've got students expecting
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: to receive a's and not realizing that you actually have
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: to work extremely hard and you have to have real
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: ability and a subject to get an A and not
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: everyone does. But as I say, over the last few decades,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: there's been an assumption that everyone should be able to
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: achieve the same standard.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Some academics apparently have said that they've been told instructed
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: by their faculty to give a's to people who basically
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: just for showing up. Have you heard of anything like
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: that happening.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: I've heard about it. My own experience is that there's
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: just a societal pressure and the students they feel the
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: pressure to they expect to get high marks. It's what
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: they've encountered at secondary school an NCEA. You know, they
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: will take subjects. Not all students, of course, but a
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: number do take subjects where they can be sure that
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: the subject isn't too demanding that they will get a
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: high mark. So there's this sort of culture of expectation
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: that is not really found it in the actual ability
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and the hard work of all students.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth, what's a really quick way to work out who
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: is actually an A level student?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, well, it's to get them to write essays
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and to do external exams.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Appreciate your time this morning, Elizabeth, a Arts sociology of
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Education professor at the University of Auckland. For more from
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news Talks
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: it'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.