A’Level disasters 😔😣

[OverTheRainbow88]

Any other schools been majorly hit?

To the posters rolling eyes and implying that any parent who is upset on behalf of their child is hysterical, and any student who upset are is a snowflake who needs to get with the real world...

Fuck off!

This is different this year and kids and parents have every right to be angry and upset. Yes, yes only 16% usually get predicted grades, but at least that's solely down to the student and their exam performance/revision. These are given grades that, in many cases, make no sense.

My son was an absolute shoe in for an A* in English. He got a C. No-one can tell me that this is anything but a clunky downgrade to keep the grades lower across the board - it is not based on his ability or the school's submitted grade.

Re 'go with their mock results'. Most mocks are worse than predictions. Plus mocks were done under different conditions in every school - some are given papers beforehand, some allowed to do it in a normal class with no strict exam conditions. How is that fair?

I think kids should be allowed to feel fucking angry and disappointed without people (who clearly either have younger or older kids) making them feel like they should suck it up and stop moaning.

And don't get me started on the 'appeal' process. It is non-existent, undemocratic and, like everything else to do with these exams, a shit show.

Not read all the thread so not sure if it's all ready been said. Teachers weren't asked for "predicted" grades (which by their nature are often over inflated) but the "estimated grade"
Dreading the GCSE grades now. Our school should be celebrating its best results ever, great cohort of students but because of the standardise system we are bound to be downgraded.

I think kids should be allowed to feel fucking angry and disappointed without people (who clearly either have younger or older kids) making them feel like they should suck it up and stop moaning

I agree. I hope your son has something sorted for next year?

For his GCSEs my son's grades went up substantially from his mocks to his actual exams.

He hasn't had that option for his A levels - obviously his own fault, but a hard lesson to learn.

He submitted every extra piece of work given by the school only to be told it won't count in any way towards the teacher's assessment of his work.

His school predicted fairly but have had the worst results they have ever had. As I said before, their average physics grade for 70 pupils is an E.

He has missed out on his university place - although we are still awaiting their final decision which is stopping us from being able to put a plan b into action.

He missed out on a once in a lifetime Geography trip that we paid for over 2 years, missed out on end of school celebrations and even on being able to say goodbye to his friends and teachers.

His parents are both at risk of redundancy and he knows that the economy is now in recession and the chances of getting a job or apprenticeship are few.

He has had a summer job all the way through the lockdown (Covid compliant) and worked hard at this.

I think he knows that life is hard now. We will go forward and form a plan b.

His brother is awaiting his GCSE results next week.

I also think it’s shit but yet sadly predictable that teachers are being blamed as well. They were thrown into this unprecedented nightmare as much as anyone else. How dare the government seek to try and blame them for their own fuck ups.

He hasn't had that option for his A levels - obviously his own fault, but a hard lesson to learn.

Not his fault if he didn't expect his mocks to be part of his assessment, which nobody did back in January/February.

Teachers are definitely not to blame. It's pretty much established fact now that although overall numbers were better, the granular distribution has been very unfair with some schools marked considerably down from previous year's performance and other schools marked considerably up, and within that, some random results for students too. Not due to teachers, or pupils, or history, but due solely to an algorithm that was not fit for purpose. It is indefensible.

He has missed out on his university place - although we are still awaiting their final decision

I hope he gets the place he deserves - if not the one he applied for, then something through clearing.

@sixthtimelucky- absolutely agree
Posters need to stop telling young people to suck it up.

worried about GCSE results now. My DD isn't especially academic, but was predicted to pass all of them with a C equivalent, and possibly a couple of B equivalent grades. Her place on her course at college is based on her getting 5 GCSEs including maths and english. If she is downgraded she may well fail some or all of them meaning that she will be faced with a year of resits, which she has already said that she does not want to do - this will affect her mental health so much if she has to.

Just wanted to say. I’ve read a lot of messages saying Unis are desperate for students and are lowering offers. It’s definitely not the case in all Unis. I work for a Russell Group high ranked Uni and we’re not accepting any lower grades, unless an appeal is won & cant even open in Clearing due to exceeding our numbers.

This was in the news yesterday. A lot of the top unis are not budging, even though they were asked to be flexible.

Can I just mention it's not on last year's performance. It's the last three years. Which is OK, if those results were consistent.

@SlipperSwan

Usually if you’ve got 5 students capable of achieving an A, you might only have 4 achieve it on the day. Maybe they didn’t revise one area enough or stuffed it up.

But all of those students WERE capable of getting an A.

This is why teacher predictions can look generous. Because they reflect what the teacher knows the pupils are capable of, but they cannot predict who will underperform on the day.

This is exactly what I'm saying.

But yet teachers are being asked to make a judgement on which of those will get the A and which won't based on previous results etc. Without any realistic idea which of those pupils would have been affected.

Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes there are students who will always do better in class assessments and module tests and who generally don't do well in exams.

But when faced with 5 pupils who have consistently been achieving a level it's unfair to student and teacher to have to make that distinction - that isn't an evidence based decision like the grades were.

@DrManhattan

Does anyone know the rationale behind the down grading? I saw on sky news that approx 30% of kids had been downgraded but didn't say what the purpose of doing this was?

They have used the data for the subjects for the last three years to model what schools should get this year. So if the last three years your subject had 60% A-C grades and this year the teacher said they should be 100% A-C grades they will have been changed as the government has assumed that teachers are chancing their arm.

The fact that pupils differ year on year and are actually humans hasn't been taken into account. My cohort were lucky that we had less then five in the group so weren't changed. They were an out standing group (best we've had in years) so got their high grades. If we'd been a bigger cohort we would have been down graded to stay in line with previous years results.

@Peaseblossom22

The thing that makes this year so much worse is that the whole thing, not just exams, but life in general is completely outside these teenagers control.

Their exams were cancelled at the drop of a hat and within 24 hours they had lost school and the companionship of friends (online is not the same ) and their end of school celebrations, the certainly of their futures, would there even be college or university? They are surrounded by 24 hour news telling them they will have no jobs and neither would their parents, they can’t travel even going out with friends has a sort of covert feeling about it. And now this , something else they have no control over, it’s like they are little boats on the sea being buffeted around by the wind and waves. It’s a lot to deal with, of course everyone wants them to be resilient but this is unprecedented.

All of this

Dd is probably one if the most resilient children on the planet and she is handling this fine (im not...im furious For her and sad for all the children with horrific results and worried for the GCSE children)

But...c’mon suck it up posters, how much more do you expect these children to take. Be reasonable (like my childs predicted grades)

Ds1 would be in bits now, absolute bits

I work for a Russell Group high ranked Uni and we’re not accepting any lower grades, unless an appeal is won & cant even open in Clearing due to exceeding our numbers.

Difficult to know what universities can do if they can't increase numbers.

I don't want to offend posters who have said that their universities are desperate for students, but I would also imagine that many potential students aren't enthusiastic about taking out a loan to do a course online at a university that they haven't visited.

The Clearing proposition is very different this year.

If schools had kept to average performances and made the tough decisions themselves this would never have happened. The root cause is without doubt the sheer scale of the over performance predicted by schools

This is weasel words to blame schools. My local school has ten years' evidence of accurate grade predictions and their cohort has been downgraded below the grades the school has achieved in previous years. It also takes kids from deprived postcodes.

Meanwhile, several local private schools are celebrated best ever results with their very small cohorts of kids doing niche subjects.

Appeals are expensive (again favouring wealthier schools) and Ofqual are suggesting one successful appeal requires another to be downgraded - so still incorrect results for the school.

This is simple incompetence at government level. Gavin Williams is responsible for the current shambles and Michael Gove bears responsibility for removing all forms of assessment/modules which could have been used as moderated inputs.

Neither will go of course. We have a government completely devoid of any shame when caught (sometimes literally) with their pants down.

May I direct you to this petition? There are several petitions regarding the grades fiasco, this one is particularly concerned about the way 'less good' schools have seen their students downgraded.

For those who are so desperate to make this the fault of over optimistic teachers or to regard it as a character building exercise, I can only imagine they either have no dcs involved in exams this year or, they just don't care. Students and teachers were devastated when exams were cancelled. The vast majority of teachers tried to be honest about their students potential grades and, many teachers have the evidence to back up their predictions. Yet it has come down to a computer algorithm that makes no allowance at all for an improving school, or children who are 'outliers' when compared to the rest of their cohort. Instead, the school's previous performance has determined this year's grades. It is not right that these students should have to 'get over' it. Apart from the fact that many have lost university places because of this, every job they apply for will ask for a level grades. How many times do we read on here that certain careers - law etc - look at which university a student attended, what degree was awarded AND what a level grades were achieved? I know at least one deputy headteacher whose application for headship rejected purely because their a level results, from around 15 years earlier, were not deemed good enough! That was despite having an excellent degree from a good university. Those screening the applications did not care that there were very good mitigating circumstances that had affected a levels (death of a parent) or that the university had taken this into account when offering a place to that person. Those a level results were definitely affecting that person many years later. I see no reason why this years a level students won't suffer the same prejudice in years to come. Through absolutely no fault of their own. It's a disgrace.

Resilience is about growth in the midst of adversity, it’s not about pretending the adversity doesn’t matter

Oh NICE

I like this

But when faced with 5 pupils who have consistently been achieving a level it's unfair to student and teacher to have to make that distinction - that isn't an evidence based decision like the grades were.

"Sorry, I put you down for a U - there is strong evidence that Jack had been two timing you with Maisie since April, and I think this would have blown up in mid May, just in time for Paper 1".

I am furious I can’t even tell my son he is a lazy sod and should have worked harder for his exams. Who would have thought mocks would become so important. My son didn’t sit a mock in DT didn’t get to finish his assessment and has gone from a predicted A to a C. Who decided that. But suck it up snowflakes. You left school in March. No celebrations. No trip with mates. No celebrating 18ths. But hey ho let’s call you snowflakes for being upset.

@dancinfeet

worried about GCSE results now. My DD isn't especially academic, but was predicted to pass all of them with a C equivalent, and possibly a couple of B equivalent grades. Her place on her course at college is based on her getting 5 GCSEs including maths and english. If she is downgraded she may well fail some or all of them meaning that she will be faced with a year of resits, which she has already said that she does not want to do - this will affect her mental health so much if she has to.

Our local FE college wrote to all students who had applied and offered them a place in September. They will still use results to form a basic judgement on if they do a level 2 or 3 (even even a level 1) but they have said they would also be flexible on their entry requirements on an individual basis dependent on the course.

I liked this and it's an outstanding rated college and have a great reputation for putting students first.

This made sense to me.

So if a course was 5 gcse inc maths and English at 4 and you got 4x7 and a 3 in English they would consider this on an individual level.

It's still unsure if ds will pass English and for 3 in mock but was predicted a 4. But college have said as he's taking a stem subject and predicted 8/9 in those based on the 8/9 he got in mocks they will make a personal decision.

He may still have to resist English. But they are considering allow a groups of students to do this alongside level 3 courses and will put on extra teaching above what they are usually offered.

what is making me furious this morning:

local Independent celebrating record results - best year ever for top grades,

local 6th form college , widely recognised as 1 of the best in the country - a drop from 63% last year to 60% this year of pupils getting A* to C.

How is that fair.

DS was meeting up with friends yesterday, most have thankfully got 1st choice unis. Everyone he knows was downgraded, in his cohort he knows no-one who got an A* even though many were predicted!