To think that the whole gcse / A level grading system is rigged

[SparklesandGold]

Just my opinion.

But isn’t it funny how GCSE and A level grades have significantly for higher ever since exams were cancelled?

I can’t help but think the whole thing is flawed. I am not teacher bashing, but come on, It’s hardly surprising to wonder if some, not all, teachers bumped their students grades up intentionally.

AIBU?

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia clearly not read all the thread either thinking teachers marked there homework ffs , give the kids a break and stop trying to knock them down
Is like older adults are jealous that kids now do well , if you have kids who have done exams in last few years you will know thats because they are taught how to pass exams , absolute crap to me but thats why they do better year on year
This year prob most got a more reflective mark, as to their ability some will feel hard done by as they maybe are better at exams than assessments
All this shows is we need to revert back in my option some coursework and some exams
No one queries degree results often marked by the students lecturers certain aspects that count

Really to me it seems like some adults are a little jealous of these kids , like they clearly didn't work as hard as you to get an A or you only got a B so its not fair.
Give these kids a break instead of knocking there achievements, understand how we are producing kids who perform in exams now ( not great) and thats why year on year exam grades have gone up.
A levela have gone up for 25 years so why is this year different?
Maybe give credit to teachers who worked bloody hard , its insulting saying did you look at a book and just grade a 8 , either that or your just deliberately being obtuse
Many employers give zero shit about gcse by the times these kids are 20 anyway and working and Uni can have there own criteria, sometimes that a * student isn't always the best worker anyway , so anyone who employs solely on grades may be missing out on some great workers.
But please give these kids a break and just say well done . How hard is that

My partners head teacher has inflated the grades of at least 5 of their students in one class, odds are they've done it to other classes as well. I think it will have been rife, particularity in private schools.

Just so posters are aware these are the grades descriptors for the JCQ

www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Summer-2021-Grade-Descriptors-GCSE.pdf

Exam boards did not give out any grade boundaries, new exams/questions and very little guidance beyond a paragraph or two as to what changes were being made to the exams/coursework.

@SparklesandGold

Could they not have used the unused papers for next years exams?

These will be used where they were not used for this year's assessment. Some papers, those with pre-release material for example, had to use the new papers.

The exam boards would have preferred to run the assessments, but Ofqual devised and selected the incredibly complex system that was finally used. The boards had a lot of input in checking and supporting proposed assessment systems, and in providing a system of quality control. All the staff doing this work had to be paid. Any remaining money was returned to schools and colleges.

Don't blame the exam boards. The system was not devised by them, they simply had to go along with what was imposed, along with schools.

I am really pleased with our school. I know everyone worked harder than usual to get the children through. They and others should feel good.

In general would people say state and private had similar outcomes? Ie grades close to what they should be - and do they have the random check up that I think state had

I use both sectors so not down on either at all just interested

@SparklesandGold

Could they not have used the unused papers for next years exams?

There are no written papers for next year.

Also the exam boards released all of the questions/resources that they told teachers that they could use including the ones from behind the secure websites.

@MarshaBradyo
Here's an article about the state vs private ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2021/08/gcse-results-2021-has-this-years-grading-system-impacted-some-more-than-others/

At A level, independent schools had higher grade inflation.

Independents had higher grade inflation 2019 to 2020 (compared to state) but lower 2020 to 2021 (because the same percentage increase of a larger number has a smaller effect than on a smaller number).

Although of course these are all averages so the individual schools will vary a lot.

There's a footnote on those FFT reports to day they don't think the govt stats include all the grammar schools. I think they'll probably have the highest grade inflation of all.

The picture is also complicated by different types of school offering different qualifications - I'm not sure IGSEs are in these stats and IB and Pre-U certainly aren't.

But this debate doesn't seem to have much capacity for statistics or nuance.

As Dr Ben Goldacre likes to say, "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that..."

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