Education Minister On External Exam Results
[Updated with video] “We exceeded our target of 80% of students achieving an IGCSE but have work to do in order to raise the percentage of students achieving A – C,” Minister of Education Nalton Brangman said today [Oct 1].
The press conference was held to provide an update regarding the 2012/2013 graduation results and the performance of Bermuda’s students on external examinations.
The 2012/2013 school year marked the third year of administering Cambridge International Examinations across the primary, middle and senior levels of the Bermuda Public School System [BPSS] in English, Mathematics and Science.
Slideshow from the Ministry, click the bottom arrow to move to next slide:
Minister Brangman’s full statement follows below:
Good afternoon,
I am pleased to be here today with the Commissioner of Education Dr. Edmond Heatley to share graduation results and the performance of our students on external examinations. You will recall that we are the only public school system that requires all of our students to sit external examinations.
The 2012/2013 school year marked the third year of administering Cambridge International Examinations across the primary, middle and senior levels of the Bermuda Public School System (BPSS) in English, Mathematics and Science.
Before I share the highlights and the Commissioner provides some of the detail behind the results, I remind you of the following performance measures we published in the Government Budget Book as specific target outcomes for the BPSS. These were taken from the Blueprint for Reform in Education and we have committed to meet them by 2015.
We have targeted that:
- 90% of students will graduate with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0 which equates to 70% or better
- 80% of examinees will achieve the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE).
- 80% of examinees will achieve a score at or above three on a six point Cambridge scale in Primary Six Checkpoint.
- 80% of examinees will achieve a score at or above three on a six point Cambridge scale in Middle Three Checkpoint
Graduation
The BPSS exceeded the performance indicator of 90% of students graduating with a grade point average of 2.0 or the equivalent of 70% or better:
- 96% of the Senior Year 4 Cohort (227 students) graduated with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0 (70%) or better, a 2% increase over 2011/2012
- 88% of the original Senior Year 1 Cohort (247 students who started senior school in 2009) graduated with a GPA of 2.0 or better
217 students graduated with the Bermuda School Certificate (BSC).
- 94 Males
- 123 Females
20 students graduated with honours a 3.2 (82%) or above GPA representing 9% of the S4 Cohort
- 3 Males
- 17 Females
International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE)
The BPSS exceeded the performance indicator of 80% of examinees achieving the IGCSE:
- 91% or 1,090 of 1,204 scores reported attained passing grades of A–G; a 2% increase over 2011/2012 results
- 28% or 336 of 1,204 scores reported attained passing grades of A–C, the same percentage as in 2011/2012
- 78 scores were reported by middle school students representing 68% (53) attaining passing grades of A–G and 41% (32) attaining grades of A–C
It should also be noted that additional external examinations in a total of nine subjects were taken from other external boards:
Cambridge International has a 6 point scale for the reporting of checkpoint results. While Cambridge considers a score of 2 as students having “a basic understanding of curriculum content and would benefit from more focus on some areas of the curriculum”, the BPSS has set a target that 80% of students will achieve a target of 3 or above.
Cambridge Checkpoint: (Middle School)
The BPSS did not exceed the performance indicator of 80% of examinees achieving a score at or above 3 on a 6 point scale in Middle Three.
- 23% of examinees achieved a 3 or above in English – 61% achieved a 2 or above
- 27% of examinees achieved a 3 or above in Mathematics – 57% achieved a 2 or above
- 49% achieved a 3 or above in Science – 86% achieved a 2 or above
This represents an overall increase of 15% at level 3 and above from 2011–12
This gives us an overall status of 86% recorded at level 2 and above – according to Cambridge, 86% of our middle school students have “a basic understanding of curriculum content and would benefit from more focus on some areas of the curriculum” – Cambridge
Cambridge Primary Checkpoint: (Primary School)
The BPSS did not exceed the performance indicator of 80% of examinees achieving a score at or above 3 on a 6 point scale in Primary 6 (P3).
- 61% of examinees achieved a 3 or above in English – 85% achieved a 2 or above
- 45% of examinees achieved a 3 or above in Mathematics – 61% achieved a 2 or above
- 62% achieved a 3 or above in Science – 86% achieved a 2 or above
Here are the takeaways I want to leave with you:
Bermuda is the only public school system that requires all students to sit the IGCSE
Graduation Results – We exceeded the performance target of 90% of students achieving a GPA the equivalent of 70% or better.
IGCSE Results – We exceeded our target of 80% of students achieving an IGCSE but have work to do in order to raise the percentage of students achieving A – C
We have students at the middle school and senior year 1 level that can be accelerated having already passed their IGCSE with A-C grades
The Cambridge Checkpoint examination at the P6 and M3 level is used as an indicator of student performance as they progress through the system towards their ultimate goal of sitting the IGCSE at the S2 level.
Cambridge says that a 2 represents “a basic understanding of curriculum content and would benefit from more focus on some areas of the curriculum” – however, we have set a target of 3 as the benchmark for our students
Cambridge Checkpoint (M3) – We did not exceed our performance target
Cambridge Checkpoint (P6) – We did not exceed our performance target
The Commissioner will now provide some of the detail behind these highlights.
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26 minute video of the press conference:
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What the education minister has been very careful to avoid is the mention of how many students were able to pass an international exam measuring their competence in English & Math in the public school system.
Only 28% of the exams taken resulted in a passing grade. Some students obtained multiple passing grades, some students did not achieve a single pass. But 96% of students graduated with a BSSC.
I think the minister has highlighted how valuable the BSSC truly is.
What is 100% minus 28%.
Your point.
I presume you stand proudly in that majority.
Of the 227 Senior Year 4 students, 217 graduated with a BSSC. Presumably all 217 graduates, plus possibly an additional 10, plus an additional unspecified number of middle school students (not exceeding 78) wrote a total of 1204 exams at IGCSE level. Only 336 of those 1204 exams resulted in a pass. How many could not pass English & Math but still graduated?
Could be just me, but last time I checked, a 2.0 was NOT a 70%… more like a 60%.
Maybe I’ve been out of school too long.
And WTF is a “G”?
“G” = good try?
G is an international grade in the UK system.
But its lower than an “F” right?
Appalling results. Bermuda education system is failing your children. There are so many opportunities for these children in International Business if only they had a good education. They need good English and Maths results to compete in this world. Without a sound education you are raising a generation who will miss out on the good jobs available, more expats will need to be brought in and the vicious circle continues.
Before you lay all the blame on the education system, understand that the foundation for a child’s education, and their overall attitude for learning, listening, understanding, taking instructions,respect for self and others, begins at HOME. If PARENTS do not hold their children accountable from a young age, then teachers will be at a deficit when they begin the formal education process at the age of 5. Teachers put in countless hours educating our children (NO OVERTIME. They are so greatly unappreciated. I suggest that you walk a mile in their shoes and try to understand the pressures they endure. Teachers not only teach, they counsel, they feed, they nurture, they provide support, most times without even so much as a THANK-YOU.
Expats are hired in Bermuda regardless of their mastery of the English language. I bet my bottom dollar there are a higher percentage of permit holders here that can’t speak fluent english her than those that can. I don’t disagree that its beneficial to have honed math & language skills but I wouldn’t hold my breath thinking it will make employers pick a Bermudian over an expat. The problem doesn’t lie in minister Brangman’s ministry as much as it does in minister Fahy’s since the ones who do make it & go on to study abroad still find it hard to get job here when they are finished.
The funny thing is, I bet the expat that can’t fluently speak English will be able to pass the language and grammar test with flying colours. Same as I can’t speak Spanish, but I can correct the hell out of a badly written Spanish essay.
Pass rates are measured against students passing five or more gcse’s. Lots more work to be done.
Well at least they’re consistent as only 28% passed their GCSEs last year as well.
Come on BDA, we are selling our kids short.
70% pass rate for a cirriculum that is not recognised anywhere in the world. A student still needs 2 YEARS of education AFTER graduating if they have ANY aspirations. The cirriculum is obviously WAY above the heads of the teachers based on the results too! Privatise the schools, bring in people that can do the job or do something… please.
How do you know the teachers aren’t qualified? Have you ever noticed the amount of students that hang out in the streets after school? The teachers have to instil a huge amount of knowledge of many different subjects in a short period of time. What has been instilled during the day can’t be grasped fully unless the student gets their backside home for homework & study. We don’t need public schools privatised we just need parents acting like they send their child to a private school even if they don’t. Another thing needed is longer school days which was talked about by the new government but then the opposite was planned. Reduction in education cost & time is the last thing needed for a country in a recession & this is blatantly obvious when looking at the rot America is in. Ministers pay should be reduced far before education especially since all already have a day job so the amount of ministerial time they put in doesn’t equate to their extremely high government pay check.
There are some great teachers and there are some disasters. The great ones care about their pupils, prepare properly for classes, treat the kids as individuals, and are experts in actually teaching skills to kids. The terrible ones are unprepared, uninterested, no lesson plan, no idea how to keep control of a classroom, no idea how to actually teach skills.
They both exist in our schools.
The right thing to do would be to seed out the poor teachers, and replace them with the best teachers we could find. But we all know that you can’t fire a teacher, and you can’t replace a fired inept Bermudian. So the inept teachers get to keep their jobs in perpetuity, the kids suffer, and the excellent teachers do their best among their mediocre peers.
Well said Suzie!
We can decorate this thing in every which way we want, fact still remains we have a long way to go from middle school up.With regards to grades for me its A,B,C.
The last govt messed up the teaching system.
“an IGCSE” – meaning one?
It is a pity that the last govt. did not capitalize on the expertise of retiring teachers who left the system with much to offer still. Teacher college trained got good training in classroom management, teaching skills etc. and it all went home to roost. What a pity !
Why is it that public schools are TWO years behind private schools. At age 16 Private sch. students take and pass 9 IGCSE exams (All above C) and public sch. students are lucky if they pass 5–two years later ! !
Our children are just as capable. We must step it up in the classroom !