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?

@AllAroundTheWorldYeah you think
Teachers can remember every single exam and mock paper out there inside out, are you for real despite you actually having ot wrong on how it worked anyway with exam papers

Copied from the other thread, post by @jcyclops

*It's interesting to compare 1980 to 2021 and to look at the number of students:

377,700 received A or higher and 588,000 received B or higher in 2021.

59,000 received A or higher and 147,000 received B or higher in 1980.

If there was no grade inflation, a student in 2021 near the bottom of the A grade would have received a B in 1980, and one near the bottom of 2021's A grade would have received a D in 1980.

The meaning of an A grade has certainly changed this year, given around half of students have attained one.

@SparklesandGold

The system worked like this.
At the last minute the government told the teachers that they would be setting the grades. (anything without at least a years notice is far to short and you will be delighted to know that it looks like the government will do the same this year)

The exam did not put out any new materials but materials from exams that had already taken place.

The exam boards then preceded to release these materials in to the public domain, so anybody could (and did read them).

So you could say that the system is rigged but at least point your finger in the correct direction and not at teachers and schools would did the best that they could with very shit instructions and information.

As for teachers being sensitive, you are pissing over the last 2 years worth of work not only theirs but the pupils as well.

@Cherryana sorry don't agree and if your that child that was marked a point less by one examined and another would mark higher and that was difference between a 3 and a 4 thats huge, many people appeal in normal years and often these are upheld so its not perfect
In jobs you have to work mon - fri at a consistent level not just rock up on a friday afternoon and do it all then , which is what exams are like and for many they don't actually reflect their ability at all , a fairer system is coursework and exams and more coursework that exams in some subjects, why do you think btechs are so popular

@nolongersurprised that doesn't say how many took the exam tbough
It only 10000 took it in 1980 then so many couldn't pass

@nolongersurprised why the need to put students down I was an 80's / 90's school child my work was a lot easier than my kids work
You can't say of the exam itself was actually harder or easier either your comparing apples and oranges for what , just to put the kids down and tell them they don't deserve what they got

nolongersurprised

Is that from A levels or from O levels against GCSEs?

Because if its the latter the exam set up and requirements are completely different.

I also feel the need to point out that the support systems in place now are much better than the pretty much non existent support in the 80s

@FrippEnos it will be o levels as i was onky anout 2nd year to do gcse and i sat them in 91, but that is what people do compare data to suit narrative despite it being very different
And there was no big deal in exams then you were left to your own devices , it was easier to leave school and go straight into work, different times

@FrippEnos even a levels would of been slightly different and apparently have been going up for 25 years so this year isn't much different really

www.mumsnet.com/uploads/talk/202108/large-999341-955351fc-32ff-4c53-b894-2483dfe1f86b.jpeg

Here’s a graph from the other thread, posted by @sofiamichelle showing the percentages and the huge inflation of A grades over the last 20 years.

I’m not “putting people down”, but if half the cohort has achieved exceptional grades, then the meaning of “exceptional” has been downgraded.

I know that every parent believes their own child IS exceptional and deserves the grade, but if every second student has an A grade then an A grade is no longer difficult to get.

worriedatthemoment

I was the first year in 88, it was a mess from the start with teachers teaching entirely the wrong syllabus, and I agree that we were left to our own devices with a very much sink or swim attitude from the teachers.

In schools today not only are there before and after school catch ups, but pupils are pulled out in tutor time for extra teaching and there is a whole raft of support staff for mental health etc.

And that's not going in to the provision for SEND which was pretty much non existent in main stream schools in the 80s

Look at that graph, worried - Just under 20% of students getting A grades in 2002, increasing gradually to 25% by 2019 - then a sharp jump to 44%.

That is very different

nolongersurprised

But a move of around 2% per year is not really a lot.

The jump in the last two year has been because of the lack of external exams.

As most teachers on here have pointed out, if you have 6 pupils that are capable of getting an A you will be fairly sure that 2 or 3 will not get an A due to the stress of exams.

The question that this poses is which 2 or 3 pupils don't get an A from the teacher?

I’m not commenting on the move of 2% a year though. I’m saying that the further move of 20% this year is devalues the meaning of an A grade. It’s not an exceptional grade if half of students are getting it

But what do you do when your internal assessments show that the pupil would get an A or a 9?

I whole heartedly agree that the system over the last two years has been seriously flawed, but this is not the fault of the teachers, it is the fault of the government, the DfE and the exam boards.

And it is entirely probable that we could have a similar issue this year if the powers that be don't get their fingers out and start doing their jobs properly.

@FrippEnos

But what do you do when your internal assessments show that the pupil would get an A or a 9?

I whole heartedly agree that the system over the last two years has been seriously flawed, but this is not the fault of the teachers, it is the fault of the government, the DfE and the exam boards.

And it is entirely probable that we could have a similar issue this year if the powers that be don't get their fingers out and start doing their jobs properly.

No one is blaming teachers. If the assessments show that a pupil should get an A, then the pupil should get an A. But if the assessments across the entire country should that half of all students should get an A, then there are two possibilities. Either:

a) the 2021 cohort is the most genius cohort ever and half of them are truly exceptional, statistically anomalous to the usual spread of ability, or
b) it’s way too easy to get an A.

We are now saying that any student who gets a B or below is in the bottom half of A level candidates. People can say A level results don’t matter in the long run, but prior to the results being published the Guardian reported that there was extra demand for medical and dental school places as a result:

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/aug/05/grade-inflation-forces-ministers-pay-extra-medical-school-places-england

(Funnily enough, after the results were published the Guardian talked about how amazing it all was.

There will also be kids deferring till next year, putting pressure on next year’s A level candidates. Will there be over correction? Will next year’s kids see kids with real ability shafted out of an A grade? This will affect a family member of mine.

What does an A mean? If you are applying to university and you say you got an A, they’ll just say “so what? So did everyone else.”

I asked this on the other thread. Can people honestly say, hand on heart, that they don’t think a single candidate anywhere across the country has been given an inflated grade? Can people honestly say hand on heart that they don’t feel for a brilliant candidate who is truly exceptional who does not stand out from a huge cohort of candidates who are all one big giant group of homogeneous As including kids deep down we know don’t really deserve such an accolade?

It will become more evident of the next few weeks, months and years. Exceptional kids will lose out to poorer candidates. They’ll start coming home and saying “I can’t believe so-and-so also got an A, he/she is hopeless.” Some kids won’t believe their luck. Some kids will think they’re good enough for medicine, like the Guardian are reporting, and get a real shock when they start, this year or deferred next year.

It’s all very “these kids deserve it” because of how tough things have been, but lying to them by saying that half of them are exceptional isn’t going to help. And next year’s kids will cop it I suspect, with good candidates getting Bs, and will look comparatively “worse” as a result.

I kind of agree that if you need a B to get to uni course if everyone gets an A a B will be the value of a D previously. But I think the system was always crap. Some kids will never measure up based on essays and tests and that's obvious , we don't do this crap as adults yet if kids do bad on a test they are marked as failures. I think teachers can judge better than any exam could without a doubt! And gcse/ Alevel kids have had a crap time of it and should come out a success

I think teachers can judge better than any exam could without a doubt!

Teachers have awarded half of the students the highest possible grades.

I doubt they really believe that half of their students are academically exceptional, so why has an A grade been devalued so much?

I'm sure there has been some research already into this but how has the attainment gap between the sexes been altered (if it has)?

But I kind of just thought, well, Sarah is a good person so I will give her a higher grade and I also want our schools grades to be high so I’ll give the class As and Bs

This just shows you don't have the first clue how it works

So, do you think the system they initially tried to get away with last year to prevent grade inflation was better? Where high achieving kids were marked down becsuse of the area they live in? What do you suggest as an alternative?

DD1 got one 7 and the rest were all 8s and 9s. If she had sat full GCSE exams based on having only half the teaching she would normally have received during the course of two academic years, she'd probably not have done quite so well. But how would this be fair? It's not her fault that we have been in a global pandemic and schools had to close. But lower grades would have affected her prospects for years - people would soon forget that these were the year groups affected by Covid.

The grades she received were not plucked out of the air but a true reflection of her achievement as a consistent high achiever throughout her education.

@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?

Most students I know endured continuous assessment for the last year of their GCSEs which ramped up considerably in the last five or six months. My DN had subsidiary and anchor assessments, all of which were marked against an exam rubric designed by the exam board by their teachers and in some cases, second marked by other teachers in the department. The amount of work they've undertaken this year is a considerable leap beyond what they would have done if they'd sat an exam.

YABU.

Great post @NotBadConsidering. This is exactly the issue with grade inflation. These kids might feel good this week but it won't help them in the long run

HarebrightCedarmoon everyone is so focused on their own children, and you’re talking about GCSEs, but project forward two years to A levels. Do you really think that half of the candidates are just as capable and high achieving as your DD? Your DD’s grades are diminished in stature, because nothing discerns her from half of her peers. Instead of lower grades harming her prospects, high grades for everyone else will harm her prospects because everyone will appear to be of the same high ability. She will need to do more to stand out.

Everyone is so convinced their own children have the correct grades, I get that, but surely people can see that there must be a reasonable number of those who haven’t?

@Phineyj No it wasn't aimed at you! You're clearly well informed and understand the process.