A level grades

[DolphinFC]

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.

grade inflation by subject www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/10/in-charts-a-level-results-day-2021/

Maybe schools should continue with online learning and continuous assessment as the students are obviously doing better, learning more and achieving higher grades with this style of learning. Watch out... Boris might be reading this!

The students who have not done so well can always do the Autumn exams and be tested on the whole syllabus under normal exam conditions in 6 weeks time after not opening a book for 4 months. This is one shitshow!

Exams should never have been cancelled. They should have been re-scheduled for Jun/July in 2020 and 2021.

Thank you @hedgehogger1

My DD has worked her socks off in year 12 and 13 and she deserves her grades. She has had two sets of formal mocks under exams conditions and her final exams in May. My DD and her friends have been under pressure all year to perform at a high standard as school stated that any timed work/essays could be used as evidence.

Can we not congratulate the year 13's for achieving academic success despite the difficulties the pandemic has thrown at them? To be honest this year group have not had a social life for 18 months so many have focused on academic studies as they were determined to secure their preferred university place.

As regards the old public schools, Westminster is notoriously good at sliding its kids into Oxbridge.

This article suggests it gets 70-80 places a year. It has a special relationship with Trinity in Cambridge. Certainly, at one point there was a senior person from Trinity on the Westminster Governing Body. There also certainly used to be "closed" places or scholarships from that school to Trinity, and this sort of thing goes back centuries and there is a historical connection in the development of the 2 institutions.

There has been some modernising in the past 40 -50 years, but there is still a strong connection. The Telegraph elsewhere has suggested that about 20 students went from Westminster in the past years just to Trinity. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/17/revealed-best-private-schools-getting-place-oxbridge/.

1 in 12 places at Trinity in recent years apparently went to either Westminster or Eton www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/12/one-12-offers-made-single-oxford-college-have-gone-pupils-two/

[quote herecomesthsun]grade inflation by subject www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/10/in-charts-a-level-results-day-2021/[/quote]
Do you have a share token, I'd be quite interested to see this

@herecomesthsun
Me too

I'm not sure how to do share tokens.

And from one of the Telegraph articles-

". A total of 70.1 per cent of grades awarded to independent school pupils were A* or A this year, compared to 39.3 per cent of those awarded to pupils in comprehensive schools."

That is frankly terrible.

Mum of an A Level student here. He did well worked very consistently throughout lockdown did everything asked of him . He g9 what we thought he would no A in sight but 3 B's his 6th from friends all got deserved but not inflated grades Normal stat 6th forms. If there's an issue it probably not in the state sector where they were tested and markes moderated to death.

@herecomesthsun

And from one of the Telegraph articles-

". A total of 70.1 per cent of grades awarded to independent school pupils were A* or A this year, compared to 39.3 per cent of those awarded to pupils in comprehensive schools."

That is frankly terrible.

That is ridiculous. Results should be checked and rechecked with blind testing regardless of whether it’s state or private.

In 2010 apparently over 50% of independent school pupils got A/A* www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11112169

so YABU to be surprised at it being 70% this year, given the grade inflation across the board and, I believe, incremental increases every year.

I think if over 70% grades at independent schools are A/A* it makes the exams a bit meaningless.

I am wondering also how my DC's school managed to keep the grade inflation down if independent schools couldn't?

Also I remember that last year there was a heck of a lot of pressure from independent school parents demanding reviews from those schools (and re-assignments of grades upwards).

So, no, not at all unreasonable to consider that this looks unfair.

And the TES - www.tes.com/news/levels-2021-rise-3x-more-private-schools

A levels 2021: A*s rise by 3x more at private schools
Independent schools boost proportion of top grades by 12.1 percentage points, compared with 3.9 at state comprehensives.

The gap in the proportion of A*s awarded to private and state schools has widened year-on-year, today's figures reveal.

This year, 39.5 per cent of independent school A Level grades were A*s, up from 27.4 per cent in 2020 and 16.1 per cent in 2019, when national exams were last held.

This means that, year-on-year, private schools have seen a 12.1 percentage point increase.

State comprehensives and middle schools, meanwhile, have seen a much smaller increase in the proportion of entries awarded an A*.

This figure is 15.3 in 2021, up from last year's 11.4 – a 3.9 percentage point increase.

The gap between independent and state comprehensives amounts to 24.2 percentage points in 2021 – up from 16 in 2020.

ducational charity The Sutton Trust said the coronavirus crisis has “compounded existing inequalities and today’s results are a reflection of that”.

Founder and chairman Sir Peter Lampl said: “Since March 2020, our research has consistently shown how much harder state schools – particularly those in less affluent areas – have been hit by the pandemic.

“The pandemic has compounded existing inequalities and today’s results are a reflection of that.

“We’re seeing growing gaps between independent and state schools at the top grades. This poses an immediate challenge for university admissions.

“While it’s encouraging to see more students from less affluent areas going to university this year, it’s of real concern that the gap between those from less affluent areas and those from well-off areas has grown.

“Given that disrupted learning has affected lower income youngsters more, we urge universities to give additional consideration to disadvantaged students.”

Admittedly, the figures get confusing and it's important to be specific.

Really? It's a different system! Grades have been assessed through moderation of work and tests. Maybe this is the way pupils should always be assessed instead of being judged by 100% exams which are just a snapshot of a child's ability to complete a test under pressure. Young people have worked so hard under shitty circumstances, well done to them and all teachers who have had to go through papers and moderate like they've never had to moderate before!

My son's not finished college yet but it's because of opinions like yours op that I'm so glad he did two very challenging GCSEs in yr 10 and got a grade 9 and 7 in them before his other GCSEs were messed up last year.
Atleast he can prove to any naysayers that in two of his 3 college subjects he sat the exam and has a 'real' grade!

Its just another thing the government have fucked up

@herecomesthsun

And from one of the Telegraph articles-

". A total of 70.1 per cent of grades awarded to independent school pupils were A* or A this year, compared to 39.3 per cent of those awarded to pupils in comprehensive schools."

That is frankly terrible.

Well what a surprise!

@Sh05

My son's not finished college yet but it's because of opinions like yours op that I'm so glad he did two very challenging GCSEs in yr 10 and got a grade 9 and 7 in them before his other GCSEs were messed up last year. Atleast he can prove to any naysayers that in two of his 3 college subjects he sat the exam and has a 'real' grade!

The trouble is that all gcses will be tarred with the same brush regardless. Gcses and Alevels days are numbered, there's no way back from grade inflation of this magnitude

DD did almost nothing but study from March 2019 to May 2020 - Other than the Summer holiday 2019 she had very little social life and college kept her going and gave her a purpose.
There is no doubt that her high grades reflect this. When I was her age I was out constantly.
A full life but she has been rewarded for her lockdown hard work.

‘dull’ life not full.

I think that the views of anyone who is not directly involved, as a student, teacher or parent, are not worth listening to

Interesting that "employers" weren't included in that
In all honesty what do folk expect recruiters to think, faced with a farce like this?

The biggest problem with this is that there is very little differentiation between results at the top now. As an employer, this situation makes it very difficult when interviewing students. I've also found that understanding of a subject varies widely among students with the same (high) grade.

@alwayslearning789

If 44% got A's and above 56% didn't

Just saying there's a whole world of perspective right there

How can 44% be so much better?? No/limited class studying, no exams, covid absences....

I teach at 2 independent schools. Not A Level but I can't imagine any of my 6th form colleagues cheating.

Agree that kind of gap is not ok though.

My children had a full, live timetable via MS Teams right from 23rd March and the maximum allowed face to face teaching. They also had no isolations. I think this is more common in independent schools.

1. I know a lot of state schools were initially told not to teach live due to safeguarding. And, when they did teach live in the 2nd lockdown, a lot didn't use cameras (again for safeguarding reasons). My children had the opposite - they were required to have cameras on unless communication from parents said they wouldn't. That meant we as teachers knew the children were there and being able to see each other made it, in my opinion, a more effective teaching experience.

2. Nearly all the children in private schools had a quiet, suitable space to work, a good internet connection and their own device to work on. That was not the case for large numbers of less privileged students.

3. During lockdown, staff in independent schools could mostly just focus on teaching. We didn't have nearly as many safeguarding and pastoral concerns to deal with. In some areas, some teachers were delivering food parcels!

4. Purely anecdotally, independent schools were less likely to have burst bubbles and repeated isolations. For reasons including smaller classes, more physical space, more outdoor space, more parents working from home, more hours in school meaning less mixing with children in other bubbles, more boarding schools, more likely to be able to isolate from sick family members.

I think those things are more likely to have led to the difference than cheating to please fee paying parents. Doesn't make it ok either way but not sure what could be done about it? There are probably affluent state schools in the same position.