A’Level disasters 😔😣

[OverTheRainbow88]

Any other schools been majorly hit?

Teachers - you reap what you sow! You have consistently over estimated pupils grades and now this years cohort are paying for your over estimates year in year out. Also pupils moaning that they have never failed an exam etc get over it. Enter the real world. If you're unhappy with your grade take the exam in the aurumn. I failed one of my A levels, didn't get to uni and accepted it and got on with my life.

🥱

I'm not going to comment on the fairness or otherwise of today's grades. But please, if anyone has a child affected, do not make them feel that this is the culmination of their education and it was all for nothing. That's not true and it's not helpful.

Couldn't agree more. While exams are what we focus on, actually, in the grand scheme of things, coming out as a well-rounded individual with their own views is the actual goal. I feel for the students who have had their confidence knocked, but 'failure' can be a great motivator. Give your teens a chance to dust themselves off, pick themselves up and get on with their lives. It's a brave new work out there and that isn't changing any time soon.

@Plunger

Teachers - you reap what you sow! You have consistently over estimated pupils grades and now this years cohort are paying for your over estimates year in year out. Also pupils moaning that they have never failed an exam etc get over it. Enter the real world. If you're unhappy with your grade take the exam in the aurumn. I failed one of my A levels, didn't get to uni and accepted it and got on with my life.

How utterly ignorant.

I'm not a teacher btw in case I'm accused of bias.

The teachers grades (CAGS) have been utterly disregarded for any pupil in a class of more than 15.

As a such a lot of the discrepancies are NOT the result of teachers uplifting grades.

The grade allocation has been based on class rankings and previous performance.

Your post is embarrassing in its ignorance of the issue at hand and the hard work that many, many teachers did to award fair grades and support their pupils studying remotely in this crisis.

You're clearly just posting to be goady and in doing so make yourself look utterly foolish.

My daughter hasn’t failed

She might have failed if she’d taken the exam

But you can’t fail at something you haven’t done

She wouldn’t have failed if she’d taken the exam...just thought I’d get that in there before someone misunderstands my post

Plunger

What a horrible post, it's not the teachers fault.
Have you any idea how the CAG's were reached? It certainly wasn't just the opinion of one subject teacher.
I'm not a teacher either, though qualified.

Your post is embarrassing in its ignorance of the issue at hand

I agree derigueur

No a levels in this house but waiting with dread for GCSEs next week. I know of quite a few kids, most were downgraded and some had lost 1st choice places. This is from a high achieving (top 15%) rural school. What worries me, actually terrifies me is the mental health of these kids, I think we are storing up so many issues. These 16 and 18 years old should be doing so much this year, getting their freedom, I know my 16 year old who was never the most confident has really regressed. I know of some of her friends that have had real issues at home, seeing as they have been stuck at home with nothing to do since March. Come on uk government, can we just not give these kids a break. Does it not matter if we give them good grades that allows them to follow their chosen routes, the only ones they are going to be in competition with are all the 2020 year anyway. Have these kids not been through enough, so much of their stuff that signals the end of their education has been cancelled.

plunger, unfortunately you don’t seem to have studied the subject, so I am going to award your comment a ‘U’.

What can I realistically do? I have a bright child at a poor performing school who was marked down 2 grades in her strongest subject. She was in a very strong cohort but grades were affected by previous poor performance. As a result she has lost her place at her preferred university - who aren’t even picking up the phone! I will do anything - marches, petitions, letters. What might put enough pressure on the government to do something?

But you can’t fail at something you haven’t done

Agree rufus.

@Plunger

Teachers - you reap what you sow! You have consistently over estimated pupils grades and now this years cohort are paying for your over estimates year in year out. Also pupils moaning that they have never failed an exam etc get over it. Enter the real world. If you're unhappy with your grade take the exam in the aurumn. I failed one of my A levels, didn't get to uni and accepted it and got on with my life.

And now you're an ignoramus with no empathy. Fight for your grades, kids, you don't want to end up like this.

@Plunger-
Stupid goady post.

@Plunger

Teachers - you reap what you sow! You have consistently over estimated pupils grades and now this years cohort are paying for your over estimates year in year out. Also pupils moaning that they have never failed an exam etc get over it. Enter the real world. If you're unhappy with your grade take the exam in the aurumn. I failed one of my A levels, didn't get to uni and accepted it and got on with my life.

People who boast about failing exams and attending the 'University of the Real World' are often excellent examples of the value of a real university education.

I'd suggest that Plunger train as a teacher and show us all how it's done but they'd have to pass their A levels and get a degree first.

My DD hasn’t even got her results yet. Her college submitted their grades late, for some unknown reason, which means they won’t get them until the 20th.
The college have not communicated this to anyone - one student got a reply to their email asking where their results were, all other emails were basically ignored.
It’s just not good enough when our children are waiting on results to reply to uni offers, which may actually expire before they get their results.

I note "in some subjects" - just a suspicion that these subjects may have had in excess of 15 students and thus fell under the algorithm rather than CAGS?
Yes maths and physics, large numbers, lots of downgrades.

@RedStreetMonument

The teachers haven’t betrayed the children in the slightest!

I second this.

The government have shafted the students and the teachers.

Thirded

If that's a word

@Plunger

Teachers - you reap what you sow! You have consistently over estimated pupils grades and now this years cohort are paying for your over estimates year in year out. Also pupils moaning that they have never failed an exam etc get over it. Enter the real world. If you're unhappy with your grade take the exam in the aurumn. I failed one of my A levels, didn't get to uni and accepted it and got on with my life.

This shows such a major lack of understanding.

Not least of how they graded the exams which wasn't a true reflection.

Given many EU students won't be coming this year they wouldn't have been that oversubscibed.

Do you actually work in a university? Where I work, in my subject area, we would be 20% over caps if we took all UK students holding offers, regardless of grades. We can't by the way just assume that the EU students aren't coming - many of those who have accepted offers have paid accommodation offers and are showing every sign of arriving.

International students are of course in a different category (not relevant for number caps) but even for these we have a surprising number who seem on course to arrive in the Autumn, despite everything.

Trust me - all is not well in the private sector either.

Actually I think the best thing about plungers comment is the fact that actual grades achieved by students in previous 3 years that have been out into a computer are somehow the teachers fault.

When most sensible teachers are sat in sunshine with a well deserved wine and feet up by the time these exams are extremely marked.

Of course - they then go in for free when students get their results and act as councillor and careers advisor for those who actually don't make the grade when it was in their hands too.

I note "in some subjects" - just a suspicion that these subjects may have had in excess of 15 students and thus fell under the algorithm rather than CAGS?
Yes maths and physics, large numbers, lots of downgrades

So more evidence that it's the algorithm that's the problem.
Interesting article in The Guardian about the parent who saw this coming and tried to warn Ofqal.
The father who foresaw algorithm flaws

Can the power of Mumsnet not get behind those already campaigning against the inequity of the situation? My DD sat her French A level a year early having achieved 9 at GCSE and A at A/S, also taken a year early, and was predicted an A* by her school. She got an A which in the scheme of things isn't the end of the world given what's happened to other students. However, she is a fluent French speaker, having spent the school years up to GCSE in the French system.