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Original poster

Will GCSE grades be consistent between schools this year?

63 replies

Tonylepony · 05/05/2021 15:57

The more I read on here and hear from DS’s friends who are at different schools, GCSEs are being approached completely differently depending on the school. This seems ridiculous and has made me wonder if the grades will be completely inconsistent and a dc who does well at one school could do less well at another and vice versa. Some schools seem to be spoon feeding their year 11s information so they know exactly what they will be tested on. How is this fair when other schools are giving absolutely nothing away. As my ds is at a school that seems to be taking a no nonsense approach and not taking a soft approach at all I’m feeling increasingly annoyed. Is it a massive cock up or will dc get fair results?

OP posts:
Frlrlrubert · 05/05/2021 17:35

Basically instead of all taking the same exams and being graded on a national curve each school is using the evidence they feel is appropriate to grade on an internal curve, which will be matched to their results from previous years.

It's not equivalent, but that's the point, some pupils have had more time isolating/poorer online provision/not got as far through the course.

I imagine they'll come out with what they would have got or very close to it in most cases.

Cattitudes · 05/05/2021 17:28

@noblegiraffe

The kids are being measured on so much more than just this set of assessments.

Which is an example of inconsistency because in my school they’re not.

Similar to noblegiraffe except some subjects are 100% on these assessments now, and others include some previous work, but students don't yet know which previous work. Total shambles- not the fault of teachers at all but chaos nevertheless.
Lionsdinner · 05/05/2021 17:24

DP is a teacher and he tutors a lot. None of his tuttees are at his school, they go to different ones in the County. They all got a list of what to revise, from the list, DP has figured out every single one of their papers. He has then walked them through it. That’s what parents pay for, I guess. It’s highly unfair for the disadvantaged.

noblegiraffe · 05/05/2021 17:21

The kids are being measured on so much more than just this set of assessments.

Which is an example of inconsistency because in my school they’re not.

ChnandlerBong · 05/05/2021 17:18

total shambles.

some schools doing 100% coursework. some doing 100% exams. some doing the whole syllabus and some only parts of it.

while there will be some random sampling in an effort to ensure acccuracy, we really aren't comparing apples to apples if we start comparing kids at different schools.

For the A levels, this is a massive massive issue....

actiongirl1978 · 05/05/2021 17:14

The kids are being measured on so much more than just this set of assessments.

Also the JCQ rigour around grading, consistency and fairness is apparent.

The teaching staff have to ensure that the grades are largely the same distribution as previous years for that school. Outliers might be looked into by JCQ.

Indie schools do often have a distribution of higher grades so they aren't fiddling, they will have evidence to support.

I am an exams officer so slightly involved.

Original poster
Tonylepony · 05/05/2021 17:09

Teachers have been put in a dreadful situation and it seems given no guidance at all on dealing with this. I know dss school is doing what they think best long term for the dc and have be admirable throughout. It’s definitely a scandal.

OP posts:
Candleabra · 05/05/2021 16:56

I feel so sorry for the teachers. Every teacher I know (secondary and primary) is stressed to the point of breakdown and seriously rethinking their career. They all feel so let down and unsupported. What a total cockup by the government. Last year at least was unprecedented. This year was definitely predictable.

Original poster
Tonylepony · 05/05/2021 16:46

Thanks @noblegiraffe. I do keep telling him not to compare what he’s doing with others and also that he’ll hopefully be in a better position when starting his A’levels, but he’s not finding it much consolation at the moment whilst revising the entire syllabus contents whereas his friends knows exactly what they tests are on! At the end of the day nobody will know which schools went easy on their students and which schools didn’t and so which results were hard earned and which weren’t.

OP posts:
Aboutnow · 05/05/2021 16:45

I suspect it will be like last year when lots of the fee paying schools around us announced on social media with great pride that it was their best ever set of results!!!!!

noblegiraffe · 05/05/2021 16:05

It’s a massive scandal. The govt couldn’t figure out a solution to the problem so they’ve just dumped it on schools and teachers, who will get the blame when the shit hits the fan.

However, we also have to manage the stress for the pupils, so remind your child that they are not competing against the other schools for grades. If the school down the road is giving their kids the answers, they’ll have to figure out how to award a range of grades when everyone scores highly. The school that sets a harder exam will be giving top grades to the kids who did best on those exams, even if their raw scores are much lower than the school down the road.

TeenMinusTests · 05/05/2021 16:02

Schools who normally have a range from grade 3-9 aren't suddenly going to get away with submitting everyone with a 6+ presumably.

TeenMinusTests · 05/05/2021 16:01

No idea.
Provided they get enough to get them onto their chosen course that's what matters.
Definitely isn't an issue for me if all the borderline 3/4s are given 4s this year.