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?

"I didn’t create a thread to criticise teachers."

Who were you intending to criticise, then? How about the Government, who handed over the whole shit-show to schools and offered zero guidance as to how to handle it?

It’s been outlined several times the logical reasons why inflation happens with teacher assessed grades. Teachers absolutely do not award grades based on how much they like or dislike a student, it’s based off evidence of historic student work.

Stating teachers award grades to students they like or to make themselves look good and thereby going against their professional code of conduct is as bullshit as a judge or policemen deciding someone is guilty based on how likeable they are as a person instead of looking at the evidence to decide if they are guilty or not.

Teachers can within a small margin of error predict the ability level of each student based on evidence comprised of historic work, assignments and unit tests taken by each student in their school life. They had to back up every grade awarded with hard evidence. What teachers cannot do is predict which students in each ability level will be the statistical unlucky ones who underperform on the day. The students who lose their nerve on the day or perform below their average competency is the reason grades level nicely each year and stay reasonably consistent. Students haven’t been able to take exams this year so that natural occurrence hasn’t happened. It’s not rocket science.

@SparklesandGold

What gets me is that some students complain that they’ve had it so tough.. their exams were cancelled, what more could they want?

My daughter has had more exam condition assessments, not less. She has been under continuous pressure since before mocks that every single piece of work she does must be top standard, just in case it needs to be used for assessment. The pressure has been horrific, so please do fuck off, you obviously know nothing about it.

analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/Alevel/Outcomes/

Maths A Level has 40% A or above in normal years so 45% is hardly a huge inflation.

@JulesCobb

Why complain about being called a goady fucker and then make post after post being a goady fucker?

It’s not appropriate to call someone that.

Not a goady fucker, I was expressing my opinion on the fact i thought it was strange that all of a sudden grades have increased.

And I’m not alone.

I understood the pass rate to be 95% and 45% gaining Grade A or A*

That is 'nearly every candidate' in my book but happy to be corrected @Hercisback.

Let me correct myself....the pass rate is 97%.

You're talking about A levels only. 95% is normal for A levels as any grade that isn't a U is a pass.

45% A-A* is higher than previously, but not by a huge amount.
ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2021/08/a-level-results-2021-the-main-trends-in-grades-and-entries/

In my DD's friend's school, the assessments the students sat (A-Levels) were tests they had previously seen. Unsurprisingly the students all did rather well. It's impossible to know how widespread this kind of thing may have been this year.

I work for an exams board and I am involved in setting grades. For clear and understandable reasons, grades assessed in the way this year's grades were will be higher, as they make an assessment of a kid's work over a period of time. Exams are one-off snapshots, and take no account of 'off days' or exam nerves.

Exam grades are also nationally moderated and the grades awarded are set agaisnt national standards not just for that year, but against previous years. This year, though the grades were moderated, it couldn't be done as rigorously as is done in a national exam.

Schools worked incredibly hard to implement a system that the government shilly-shallied about so much that a lot of it was a real last minute rush. Very few schools played the system, and most didn't try - schools want fair assessment for their pupils as well.

The U grades will be less this year because you won't have even entered kids who weren't going to pass. You also didn't have the kids who didn't turn up on the day and therefore get a U.

I think if there were threads criticising bin men daily, there'd be a little defensiveness there too (are there any bin women BTW? My mate has an HGV licence and occasionally takes a day off her council management job to drive the bin lorry if there's a strike, so I guess there's at least one...)

Anyway, this year's exam results are what you get when you have a last minute bodge by the powers that be. Doesn't mean students didn't work hard or know nothing. Does mean the grading system is now broken.

Speaking as a teacher, we did all we could to be fair in a ridiculous situation.

If you actually want to know the process used, the Ofqual document detailing it is freely available online.

@Technonan

I work for an exams board and I am involved in setting grades. For clear and understandable reasons, grades assessed in the way this year's grades were will be higher, as they make an assessment of a kid's work over a period of time. Exams are one-off snapshots, and take no account of 'off days' or exam nerves.

Exam grades are also nationally moderated and the grades awarded are set agaisnt national standards not just for that year, but against previous years. This year, though the grades were moderated, it couldn't be done as rigorously as is done in a national exam.

Schools worked incredibly hard to implement a system that the government shilly-shallied about so much that a lot of it was a real last minute rush. Very few schools played the system, and most didn't try - schools want fair assessment for their pupils as well.

Question - what did they do with all the exam papers that were unused because of the exam cancellations?

Comma before 'or'. I should hope my students know a lot this year due to their massive cramming for the 6 formally invigilated assessments they took! We finished the course too, thanks to Teams.

I think quite a few of us set them as assessments? But if you mean the physical papers, they wouldn't have been printed at the point the exams were cancelled.

@SparklesandGold Some will be used for November resits. You could email exam boards and they'd send copies for mocks too after the government announced no exams. The resit papers still had June 2020 on the front. That was odd.

No odder than an entire Olympics with the wrong year on ?

True that phiney!

I'm not a teacher. And reading this thread makes me think "thank God for that" if this is the shit teachers have got to put up with as part of their job.

@SparklesandGold regarding the printed 2021 exam papers, the exam boards contacted schools and asked if anyone wanted to order them to use for their internal assessments... For a fee!!! Think they wanted around 60p a script if you were ordering over 100 (I can't remember the exact figures, I deleted the email while swearing my head off!)

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

@BabyYoda9, would that be the same exam boards who were being paid full fees this year for school staff to do all the work (for no extra pay)?

Instead of bashing teachers or the pupils, why not place blame at the feet of where it belongs?--the actual assessment system. High stakes exams serve no other purpose then award those who work best under pressure. They are by no means a fair assessment of a pupil's knowledge or progress of learning.

This year's assessments were probably a more accurate representation of a pupil's full body of knowledge, rather than a exam--a snapshot of learning taken on a particular (good or bad) day of a child's life.

Ok I mean yeah, I can see the other side too

@SparklesandGold

What gets me is that some students complain that they’ve had it so tough.. their exams were cancelled, what more could they want?

I take it you didn’t have a kid in this years cohort?

My daughter missed copious amounts of year 10 and year 11 face to face teaching. They hothoused all of that learning into the short amount of time between sept and Dec and then again from end of March to end of April before sitting RIDICULOUS amounts of assesments. She was required to stay after school 3 times a week for revision sessions.

You have no fucking clue how hard it has been.

Inflated grades?? She got a 4, 7 5’s and a 6….hardly fucking inflated!