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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

A level grades

678 replies

DolphinFC · 10/08/2021 10:25

If feel that value of an A grade ar A level has been reduced dramatically. I feel truly sorry for those very bright, hard-working students who would've got an A grade no matter what. Their deserved A grade is now lost in a pile of undeserved A grades.

OP posts:
worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 11:23

Although I will say gcse results only went up by tiny percentages so maybe they were done very differently

Limewine · 14/08/2021 11:25

[quote worriedatthemoment]@Limewine yes you should report school as not the experience I am hearing from others and not how my ds gcse were at all .
Lots done under exam conditions whole school, candidate numbeRs so blind marked, I assumed A levels were done very similar [/quote]
Why would I report the school? 😂 I couldn't give a stuff what the school does now - we're out of there. Nothing was fair about the whole process during Covid, from the lack of distance teaching in many schools to the botch job with exams at the end...none of it was ever going to be fair and I don't anyone in real life who thought it was. Our kids got enough to get them into Uni - the A level results don't matter after that.

TheReluctantPhoenix · 14/08/2021 11:25

@worriedatthemoment,

Leavers’ destinations?

nolongersurprised · 14/08/2021 11:27

which makes your second point totally mute

Sorry, but lol

worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 11:57

@Limewine because you complained about cheating yet don't want to call it out

worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 11:58

@nolongersurprised why lol when its true

worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 11:59

@TheReluctantPhoenix leavers destination ? Where have I put that

worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 12:01

@Limewine you are also implying that people don't deserve grades when many schools did not behave like yours and if people actually spoke up at the time maybe something could of been done, so many on here know there children didn't cheat and do deserve the grade they got

nolongersurprised · 14/08/2021 12:02

worried this is going to sound really pretentious, and I’m sorry, but you don’t mean that a point has been rendered “mute”, as in silenced, you meant “moot” as in redundant.

worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 13:13

@nolongersurprised yes fair point I have been unwell all week so sleep deprived and not thinking straight, but point stands as in schools are not getting market up due to grades this year and teachers don't benefit.
At least im no putting every student down who has worked so hard , if you childs school cheated , please don't think others did so and turning a blind eye to the cheating is not right either in my opinion as it downplays for those students who really did work hard

worriedatthemoment · 14/08/2021 13:14

@nolongersurprised i know it wasn't you who said their child's school cheated

thing47 · 14/08/2021 15:30

Sorry, not been around today until now, but phoenix thanks very much for your answers re 'growth mindset'. So does this translate to telling pupils that anyone can do anything if they just believe they can and they put their minds to it?

If so, how preternaturally stupid. Surely every parent and every teacher knows that that is a load of bollocks? None of us is equally good at every aspect of life Smile

I mean, there's a lot to be said for approaching things positively and encouraging pupils to try their hardest, but getting a B instead of an A at A level isn't indicative of some inherent character flaw is it!

Phineyj · 14/08/2021 15:33

I hope not. I got a C for A-level Music back in 1991. Music has given me so much joy and pleasure over the years, but it did give me a long-lasting respect for how difficult it is as an academic subject!

Phineyj · 14/08/2021 15:35

I mean, I guess I had a growth mindset as I knew I could (and did) improve with practice, but at no point did I consider entering Young Musician of the Year as I was around a lot of other better musicians, so I was realistic.

Getawaywithit · 14/08/2021 17:00

So does this translate to telling pupils that anyone can do anything if they just believe they can and they put their minds to it?

No. It’s about supporting young people to recognise that hard work, tenacity and resilience go a long way when it comes to grade improvement or any kind of improvement - sports, music etc. . Lots of young people give up at the first hurdle or even when the hurdle is just on the horizon. We all know that yes, there are people with natural ability but if you look at, say, sports people, you can see that those who are top of their game have worked both very, very hard but have also not given up when the going got tough. Their talent was a starting point. We’re not all talented but we can considerably improve if we give it a try, practise, keep going,…

I worked at a school where growth mindset was de rigeur one year and we were supposed to say to the students shouting ‘I don’t get it/I can’t do it’, ‘you don’t get it/can’t do it….yet’. Of course, it’s simplistic because we all have stuff going on in the background, you need a supportive home life, sometimes money, to be free of other responsibilities like caring, to have the space to work etc etc etc but it is fundamentally a lot more than just telling anyone they can do anything if they put their mind to it.

thing47 · 14/08/2021 18:52

I get that, but Phoenix seemed to be saying that telling pupils they can't do something YET can actually be quite damaging in some instances, or am I reading her posts wrong? The 'yet' implies that they can do it if they work hard enough and don't give up, but doesn't that depend on whether your aims are realistic or not?

That's a subtly different message, I think. Positive encouragement, getting people to believe they can improve their own performance, is a good thing generally, but not if the corollary is that those who don't do better haven't tried hard enough.

TheReluctantPhoenix · 14/08/2021 18:59

@thing47,

You are reading my posts correctly.

I do think different people interpret growth mindset differently, but that is certainly what Carol Dwek originally proposed as an ‘intervention’.

And I have come across pupils who found it incredibly stressful, as their self belief was based on their ability to work hard and efficiently. And it just wasn’t working, so the message they took was ‘however hard I try, it is not enough’.

I think this message should be heavily tempered with the fact that not everyone is born to be good at everything and your GCSE Maths grade (for instance) will not determine your life or how the school values you. Obvious, maybe, but this does often get lost, especially at this time of year.

Phineyj · 14/08/2021 19:34

It has to be within reason. I can tell myself I'm not a prima ballerina yet, but I'm not quite sure who I'd be kidding.

I prefer 'work smarter not harder', myself. The vast majority of my students work hard. They're often not working on the right things, though.

TheReluctantPhoenix · 15/08/2021 07:53

Confessions of a private-school teacher: the kids are all right but the parents have been a total nightmare
Not a surprise to most of us..

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/confessions-of-a-private-school-teacher-the-kids-are-all-right-but-the-parents-have-been-a-total-nightmare-78znwbv7q

shallIswim · 15/08/2021 10:40

[quote TheReluctantPhoenix]Confessions of a private-school teacher: the kids are all right but the parents have been a total nightmare
Not a surprise to most of us..

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/confessions-of-a-private-school-teacher-the-kids-are-all-right-but-the-parents-have-been-a-total-nightmare-78znwbv7q[/quote]
I can believe this, having gone to a few private open days before eventually opting for state alternative. The words 'do you know who I am' were uttered.
Don't get me wrong there are nightmare parents in both sectors. At DC's state school a dad was banned because he came into receiption literally spoiling for a fight with the headteacher, pumped up with steroids and fists flying. I don't expect that was about grades tho! His equally violent son had probably been told off and dad took umbrage!

herecomesthsun · 15/08/2021 11:32

oh God absolutely that. You can just see it how it would happen.

My hunch is that there would have been very little energy, appetite or resource to do rigorous checks - and if every school does things slightly differently, how do you compare across schools.

It will be very interesting to see the sudden drop in performance at independents when proper assessments come back.

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 15/08/2021 13:43

@worriedatthemoment

You could all look at this another way , maybe it shows that exams are not the best way to mark kids Are uni courses one exam at the end of the three years ? No My ds predicted grades and work he worked at for gcse was 6 in most subjects on exams he got , 3,4's as it all went wrong for him on the days due to various external factors He went onto college and smashed it as he completed a btech so work was continuous assessments etc so suited his learning , he can go to uni and Im sure will do ok as hes capable and one exam won't define him.
My son was the same - mh problems in year 10, improved year 11 and passed everything. Did a BTEC which he enjoyed and got great marks and will be off to uni. It was a great lesson for me in what kind of a learner he is (and I say that as an experienced teacher)
shallIswim · 15/08/2021 14:01

@Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals
Exams at the end of university? It depends on the university and course I expect. Both my DC were at exam heavy universities - Cambridge and Durham. Sure they had dissertations too, but as I recall DD had 6 finals exams and DS... errr actually I don't know. Boys don't tell you anything! But at least three.

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 15/08/2021 14:57

[quote shallIswim]@Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals
Exams at the end of university? It depends on the university and course I expect. Both my DC were at exam heavy universities - Cambridge and Durham. Sure they had dissertations too, but as I recall DD had 6 finals exams and DS... errr actually I don't know. Boys don't tell you anything! But at least three.
[/quote]
I think he’s researched carefully and the course he’s doing is portfolio heavy and I’m hoping that he’ll have gained enough confidence and resilience by the time they inevitably rock around to know that he can handle it. At the time of gcse he surprised himself by getting through and hopefully will learn from that.

Pottedpalm · 15/08/2021 18:56

[quote worriedatthemoment]@nolongersurprised why lol when its true [/quote]
Maybe because the word is ‘moot’, not ‘mute’. 🙂