Local schools getting easier GCSE exams / inflated grades

You know what though... the system is totally unfair on lots of kids anyway. The kids in the crap schools with the endless stream of supply teachers are the ones who constantly miss out, year on year.

The kids with SEND in a class of 32 kids with no extra help, compared to those in private school in a class of 15.

Those who have parents who can pay for tuition, grammar school entry tuition, extra-curricular; and those who don’t.

There is no ‘fair’ in education.

Guidelines are to run a series of low stake assessments and not just run exams, so it might be your school that is not applying the guidelines.

Schools can use a wide range of evidence to determine their grades, not just exams, they can use open book or different style of questions. All schools, even private ones, have to be consistent to previous years (not counting 2020) and they are all being checked. Random sample of students and subjects to be sent in..

If you are angry blame them Department of Education, not schools trying to navigate a very tricky situation.

And my nephews brother (same school) got six nines, and the rest sevens and eights last year. They in no way reflected his Mocks.

It’s extremely unlikely that your daughter will only be assessed on the examinations in a one-month block. The teachers will be collecting evidence week by week in the form of written work, short tasks and tests in class. If it helped you could consult the school and find out what sort of assessment is taking place.

I agree OP. My friend is SLT and says at a meeting it was notable the historically 'weaker' school students were doing classroom test and teach every couple of weeks. My nephew for example.
Others were having DC sit end of term tests in exam conditions. DS2 has two and a half hours Biolgy 'exam' on everything they've learnt tomorrow, and then a further two hours RE.
I'm afraid the genuinely brighter students won't stand out this year.

I totally get it and I’d be just as angry but I’d be complaining to your school to be honest as they do seem more strict than most

Most kids near me got inflated grades last year - my dn got a 7 in one that she got a 4 for in a mock. No way would she have got a 7! But it’s very common and sadly whilst it’s wrong I’d be in the ‘if you can’t fight then join them’ camp!

All the local secondary comps near me are doing this

Why do you think it’s unfair? Your school can do that too they’ve just chosen not to.

Our year 11 are being tested every two weeks and have been since January

All scores go towards the overall grade. Sounds more like your school is being tougher but that’s their choice

The other schools aren’t doing anything wrong as evidence can come from any form

@jgw1 exactly

I’m afraid to say that this was always going to happen.

Teachers in state schools have been told “do not inflate grades. Do not be tempted to inflate grades even though your motivations for doing so are well meaning” and crucially “you will not be performance managed against the grades this year so if the grades are worse than they would usually be because of Covid, it is your duty to report them as such without fear of recrimination”.

The same is theoretically true for private schools. ^^However teachers at private schools are slaves to another master than the state - the fee paying and highly emotionally invested parent. There is huge pressure for teachers and schools (they are businesses that sell grades, among other things) to perform no matter the circumstances.

Over the years the press has covered cheating in private schools and I had my own experience of it when I was a pupil at one.

It’s not fair and shouldn’t be tolerated but unfortunately there’s nothing you can do. This time, the fault lies with the government, who have made the assessment protocols and criteria so woolly that it is up to the interpretation and scruples of individual schools.

This year, schools can set their own assessments. There are a million ways to write an assessment so that it benefits your pupils. Given that there’s no clear framework it’s going to be very hard for the government to pull schools up on this.

But seriously schools’ grade profiles have to roughly match previous years results so they cant be handing out top grades like smarties. There will be some grade inflation overall though.

There is no need to report it. The schools have to submit their policy to the exam board and their method has to be approved by them. If they do not think what they are doing it will have been rejected and they will be advised how to assess the children (have evidence available). The schools' protocols all had to be submitted last week.

If an exam board is unhappy with the school's proposal they will deal with it.

Gavin Williamson, good luck.

Schools ARE sitting exam after exam. Weekly class assessments or exams.

Why? Because children will have all covered different parts of the gcse course due to lockdowns so can’t do one standardised exam. And so teachers can gather evidence to support their grades because lots will be contested by students, parents, etc. and some may be checked.

Actually the private schools where there are weeks and weeks of assessments is causing so much stress for students your daughter should think herself lucky if she is only having 2 formal assessments. The school will be using other evidence too so if she has worked well she should be fine.

I would advise her to worry about her own grades, concentrate on her work and not worry about what other people are getting.