Fed up

[MrsCK]

After a year of solid, hard work my class's results has gone down compared to last year. I'm gutted. I couldn't have worked harder. couldn't have done more yet now I'm panicking I could lose my job or face capability.

Why is this fair? In what other profession are you judged on a group of other people's performance on one particular day?

[Middleagedmotheroftwo]

Isn't it more about ensuring each pupil reaches their individual potential, rather than them all getting As? Surely you were asked to forecast what grades everyone would get, and that's what you should be measured against.

[BackforGood]

Were you not assessing them from the start of the year? Did you not raise with senior management if they had been given higher levels than you felt they were working at, at that stage ?
Why is it on one day? Do you not assess continually throughout the year?

[MrsCK]

Nope. If that were the case I'd forecast low so they all outshine my predictions. Their 'potential' is based on end of y6 data. and is of no relevance in my subject as they did not take a SATs test in my subject. What the current system fails to consider is whol school issues such as behaviour or ethos which impacts on on a students attitude.

[MrsCK]

GCSE results. Therefore one day of assessment I.e when they sit their exam.

[olivo]

I thought the results all came out tomorrow?

[olivo]

I know how you feel however, it is awful when you work really hard and then the results aren't why you expect/ hoped for. I make sure that I log anything and everything that will count positively/ negatively for each student- absence, lack of homework, correspondence with home, attendance at extra sessions, so that I can confidently explain why They have/ not met targets. I am pretty sure I will not have positive VA this year, but I have reams of notes on why not!

[MrsCK]

They do. Some staff have access to them today

[olivo]

Ah ok, I thought I'd missed something! I know the exams officer gets them today to start looking at figures etc. but other staff can't.

Is your Head of Dept aware of how hard you have worked? Mine always sticks up for me luckily!

[turdfairynomore]

"Classes are made up from individual children, not tins of beans" is a quote often used by a principal I used to teach with!

[noblegiraffe]

You might not be alone news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2014/08/20/gcse-results-fears-grow-over-39-surprise-39-grades-and-high-grade-boundaries.aspx

in which case you can blame it on Gove.

[ChillySundays]

As a parent and after both children going through school (DS results tomorrow) I am still shocked that target grades are worked out from Y6 data. Because my daughter was good at english it meant she would be good at art and music. What it doesn't allow for is that a child might actually not enjoy a subject.
Would certainly agree with one of the previous posters says and make sure there a copious notes of why. If you haven't at least you will know for future.
Do you know for sure the results aren't as good.
And I wish I could stop reading all the links about grade boundaries. I even asked on another post how to find them! My DS is borderline for English so now panicking that he won't get the required c grade

[ravenAK]

I agree; I know our results are respectable - I could log in from midnight & have a proper look at them, but I'm resisting...lots of other work to do tomorrow without hours poring over results!

There is one particular primary feeder that we are confident fiddled its SATs for a group of key kids (this is according to the students themselves & their parents). This, & the fact that these children have performed consistently at a lower level than their SATs would suggest for five years of secondary, won't be taken into account when calculating their progress at GCSE against their dubious Year 6 SATs.

This data will be used to calculate teachers' performance management. It's school policy. Doesn't matter how many notes you've made, what predictions you made as a classroom teacher, how many assessments you carried out, absence, missing homework - a level 5 is expected to translate into a B, & if it doesn't, you're in the shit.

[olivo]

It is so frustrating that they go on this data. It does not take into account certain factors which are imperative for certain subjects (think native speakers for MFL for example, or creative flair)

I hope everyone gets the results they hope for. I have gently mentioned to mine to use them as a stepping stone to the next thing, but it's is so hard to play them down when they worked so hard over the last two years.

[olivo]

Wow, Raven, that is scary. I'm so glad my school doesn't have that policy!

[MrsCK]

raven my school has that policy too. It doesn't matter that I'm an outstanding teacher with brilliant observations, great class progress across my other classes...If my levels of progress doesn't match up and the a-c % isn't as per target then it's MY fault. Despite running revision since year 10. Despite working at school til 7pm every night since Feb for extra revision it'll be my fault. I hate that. Surely there should also be standardised policies with regards to results and performance management? We are all doing the same job! It's simply not fair that I could face losing my job just because it's my school policy when another school could have a lazy teacher whose results are just as poor with no repercussions!

sorry....I'm so so so upset



I'm losing faith in the current education system. something needs to change.

[MrsCK]

I felt physically sick and like I wanted to harm myself when I got the results. Is this really how teaching is?

[FuzzyWizard]

MrsCK- that is 100% not right and a sign of poor management. Good school leaders make judgements about performance based on all available evidence not one narrow and arbitrary criteria. In my school we discuss our data in context looking at lots of different measures of success (internal residuals, VA, A-A*, A-C). Reading this really does make me appreciate the school I work in. If a student underachieves across the board it should mean the SLT take a close look at where they went wrong not point the finger at individual teachers. If a whole cohort underachieves significantly across the board then then what went wrong is unlikely to be fixed by leaving good teachers terrified of losing their job.

I feel really angry on your behalf. I can't imagine coping in an environment like that.

[Happy36]

MrsCK I know how you feel. I sympathise.

Try to focus on how your students feel about their results, which, I hope, is broadly positive.

[CatherineofMumbles]

MrsCK Does your school use 4 matrix? I was recently in a school which used it, you can compare a student's and class's results against other subjects and classes, and very clearly shows areas of unexpected under or over achievement, including from SAT to GCSE - is a very useful tool as ammunition in theses situations. Can also show how where some superficially comparable classes have vastly differing SEN/Ever 6/EAL etc

[MrsCK]

It was lovely going in today...students had smiles and I've been able to do a proper analysis. ..Feeling more calm now!

[TheFallenMadonna]

Have you used national transition matrices? They are excellent for looking at performance relative to starting points in a realistic way. They show what proportion of year 11s make progress to different GCSE grades from different starting points. They tend to show, for example, that students are less likely to make 3 and 4 LP from lower starting points, so are a fairer way to compare the results from different sets. I use them in appraisals routinely, at department and teacher level.

[Happy36]

That´s great news, MrsCK, students are a real tonic! I´m pleased to hear about the smiles.

[GoblinLittleOwl]

I didn't realise that GCSEs were predicted on KS2 SATs results; we in Y6 grumbled because they are calculated on KS1 Y2 results. What a crazy. unreliable, insulting system.
Glad you feel better, though it is terrible to feel so frightened. I remember it well.

[MrsCK]

goblin I am shocked that ks2 are based off of ks1! what a crazy system indeed!

[bigTillyMint]

It's not just the teachers who suffer under this system - pupils who are given predicted/target grades and who don't attain them in the one-off GCSE exam, despite other assessments being on-track, feel complete failures too

Glad the student's smiles cheered you up