TES; top grades fall dramatically at private schools

[Bougiebliss]

Yesterday’s TES

www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/levels-2022-top-grades-fall-private-schools?amp

Hmmmm… so what changed in their teaching over the last year?
This feels really distasteful not only for the hard working children in schools that didn’t inflate, but also for those children who got on to courses based on the inflated grades and are presumably struggling.
I can’t help feeling that if this was something local comps had done there would be more outrage.

Where state schools’ value-added has dropped, OFSTED will be asking why.

Independent schools aren’t accountable for results in this way, and the ISI doesn’t have any teeth.

It is hugely unfair. Ofqual should have queried inflated grades more robustly last summer. They did not do their job.

Exactly this. We don't need to pussyfoot around the topic - private schools were clearly inflating more.

There was a huge fuss last year and this spring after the Times collated and investigated the results. I don't think Ofqual have had time to investigate ways of adjusting A Level results this year but I think it is a matter of huge concern for Higher Éducation establishments and for the Education Department that such blatant cheating went on in top independent schools

Remember that independent schools are tiny customers in terms of numbers. The great majority of Exam Centres are State Schools and they were significantly let down in 2021 by the Exam Boards.

As someone who has worked in independent education for a decade...

While I don't think anyone would say their school deliberately inflated anything, no one on this thread seems to have acknowledged the obvious awkwardness behind being the body that provides the education and the assessment. If your driving instructor was also your driving examiner, you'd expect to pass, right? Private schools were left in a very difficult situation, and many took a slightly more optimistic approach than state schools, but that's always been the case. UCAS grades are always optimistic, because before this year there was a buyer's market and the univeristies often let in students with lower than predicted grades on reaults day and private schools know this. Jeez, most private schools do IGCSEs instead of GCSEs- exams which are no longer accredited in the state sector due to not being rigorous enough- because they produce better results.

Another thing no-one has mentioned- rich people sue schools when their kids don't get the grades they want, even in normal times. That legal action can be financially devastating for smaller schools. Rich people routinely bombard private school teachers with emails saying they've given their children mental health problems by awarding accurate coursework grades etc. If you want parity you need legal changes and protections.

@FrippEnos
You asked for statistical data and it is there in droves about grade inflation at Private Schools last year.
It is a few years since I had to produce analysis of my exam results for my school department. The exam boards provide so much data and analysis about individual schools and their performance compared to previous years. It means that university admissions tutors will not be able to rely on data about individual students from the independent schools that were seen to cheat

The proportion of private school pupils achieving an A* grade at A-level reached 39.5 percent in 2021, compared with just 16.1 percent in 2019.

Exam Boards and Universities cannot ignore this statistic. It will have repercussions for students sitting exams in independent schools for years to come

@MsTSwift where we live some of the folk you describe, who are first cousins, recently married each other. They had the same surname even….. it’s like something from the 18th century. Imagine how many chins their little ones will have 😂

The government announced that the percentage and A and A grades would fall between Covid and 2019 levels. It's inevitable that some of the kids who didn't get A and A would be from private schools. It's not like an exam saw your niece's paper, clocked that it was a private school and marked her down. Teacher predictions are based on the best case scenario. The scenario where your niece's strongest topics appear, that she reads each question properly etc

Based on her GCSE results, I'd be wondering if they were over inflated (because they are also best case scenario scores) and her exam results would have been lower (you said that the family was surprised) With TAGs you can't predict who messes up on the day and makes a mistake like turning over 2 pages of the paper accidentally so those kids end up with a higher grade.

I'm sorry that her grades weren't as they hoped. That's always a shame, especially when the student worked hard.

You're not the only one on here suggesting that private school children have been judged unfairly but a lower number of A and A was part of the design this year. Next summer's exams will be back to pre-pandemic so A and A will go down again which might be of interest if any of your family members are doing exams.

Does your niece have any younger siblings at her school? After this I'd be wary of the school saying stuff like this so I continued to pay fees. While it's good to be ambitious, there needs to be a touch of realism especially for super competitive courses like medicine.

It's going to be a bit of a mess next year then isn't it.

The top uni's all seem to require A star and A grades. Unless students have these as their predicted then they won't get offers. Schools will continue to predict these grades however and if this thread is correct then many private school pupils will fail to meet the mark and not get their preferred place. Anything lower than a AAB isn't bagging a place at a top uni.

Parents will then have to decide if the private school education they have chosen is worth the money (and it's a lot of money). We may then see a push into the leafy state schools, many with contextual offer status which could see the children that so many would still class as privileged maintain or even improve their privilege. Meanwhile the children who really are achieving against the odds will still not be supported enough or get the places they deserve.

We may then see a push into the leafy state schools, many with contextual offer status

Leafy state schools don't get contextual offers!

Yes they absolutely do, look at Bristol
Uni list!

I did, and the schools round my way which are on the list are not the leafiest ones. If the private school parents wanted to go state to get a contextual offer from Bristol round my way, they'd definitely have to go to one of the less desirable state schools.

Would people be that set on Bristol Uni to do that? I don't think it's the greatest tactic.

Private and “leafy” comps are just not comparable though - even in “leafy” state schools there are children from more deprived backgrounds most cities have wealthy and less wealthy areas right next to each other so they do end up mixed. Plus private school have the autonomy to remove disruptive kids which state schools don’t have

Birmingham's contextual schools list includes the ultimate leafy comps.One of the most expensive areas in Surrey has all its state secondaries listed.The norm in these schools is that DC live in a house valued at at least a million pounds but probably more. Parents generally have highly paid London jobs and, if the DC need a bit of extra help, tutoring is very much the norm. This is not targeting the right DC. WP is good but sometimes the application makes a mockery of the goal.

I used Bristol as an example as my local very leafy state school sends lots of children there and they are on the contextual list. This is definitely happening. Honestly it can't be that difficult to identify the schools that should qualify. Where a school is leafy it will be easy to crunch data on those children from the disadvantaged areas. They can't be bothered though because actually it's lip service.

Birmingham's contextual schools list includes the ultimate leafy comps.One of the most expensive areas in Surrey has all its state secondaries listed.The norm in these schools is that DC live in a house valued at at least a million pounds but probably more

The Birmingham Uni website says that to get a contextual offer you have to either be in care, or live in a low progression to uni postcode. So presumably if you go to one of the schools listed and your home is a million pound house, you're not getting a contextual offer.

Lots of Russel Group unis have arrangements with local comps in their area to encourage local students to apply. They have special taster days and activities for local sixth formers to take part in.
In my experience, universities are so keen to attract a range of students from more diverse backgrounds.

@noblegiraffe well I personally know a number who have.

I guess you should tell Birmingham that their website is wrong then.

@EnergelGirl what is the link to the Birmingham contextual list you were posting about?

@Bougiebliss

I really feel for your niece.

My cousin has the opposite - going to uni after a gap year this autumn. Got inflated CAG grades that he would not have achieved otherwise (for a variety of reasons). I think first year of uni may be a shock. Not sure it is doing any favours.

I know it is only anecdotal, but the majority of private school parents I know see Oxbridge as just another university. A friend of mine said if her DD wanted to write poetry for the rest of her life she wouldn't mind. "Top" grades are fine if that drives the DC, but it's not the first consideration within that circle. For some getting into music college, drama school, art school, agricultural college etc is equally valid and important. I noticed last week at one of my DC's school they championed the DC going off to do apprenticeships, music college, armed forms as well as those going to Oxbridge or Durham etc.