Another Path - part IV

[321zyx]

Apologies if I've done this wrong! I seemed to have filled up the last thread, hopefully the abbreviated title is ok!

@LoonvanBoon

That sounds fun, *@bend* - are you going to be able to look inside anywhere, or is it more a case of getting a sense of locations, distances and so on?

Well I'm not sure. Have no idea if we'll be able to see inside or not but even if not, dd can still get an idea.

@goodbyestranger I love the idea I know my students handwriting that well. We have 350 students and I have no clue whose paper is whose. Especially as we mark them between us so no idea if they are even mine.

@LoonvanBoon it's holistic as the head of year will go over every grade and make adjustments for students who need them. Not in subject teachers hands.

@bendmeoverbackwards there is a massive sports thing this weekend between medics and vets. Will be up at Stoke Bishop.

@BigWoollyJumpers, humanities numbers aren't small in the school where DH teaches: there are over 2000 students in years 7-13 and 6th form numbers are similar to those at @mumsneedwine's school. There are 2 large groups in DH's subject, and 4 teachers involved in A level, divvying up 6 assessments between them. So they're not marking most of their own students' work and will never have taught most of these students. Not denying unconscious bias might play a role where teachers are marking work from students they know well, but that's not a factor in a lot of schools, depending on the system put in place.

I'm more worried about the total lack of consistency between and even within schools. I thought DH's school sounded pretty on the ball, but he had students asking him a few weeks ago if they could redo essays. Turns out another department has been letting students 'bank' or redo essays (different questions, obviously, but potentially multiple times) so they can improve on poor marks. This wasn't part of official school guidelines.

@mumsneedwine, sounds like an interesting system but don't think that would work in the schools I know. Year heads have overwhelmingly pastoral roles and while they certainly know which students are more or less academically able, they're not remotely qualified to override a student's grades as assessed by subject departments. What data would your head of Year 13 be using to decide that a student should actually get an A rather than a B in chemistry? Thinking about it, wouldn't this system be more open to unconscious bias, because what year heads do know (and subject teachers tend not to, in large 6th forms) is exactly what grades they all need for university places.

[quote mumsneedwine]@bendmeoverbackwards there is a massive sports thing this weekend between medics and vets. Will be up at Stoke Bishop.
[/quote]
Is it starting tomorrow?

@bendmeoverbackwards it's on Saturday. They are playing each other at loads of sports. Weekend before exams start !

That's good, we're going to be there in the daytime tomorrow so will hopefully avoid it. Sounds fun though!

@LoonvanBoon so grades will be awarded from performance in the various assessments. Nothing to do with who is predicted what (just as normal). HOY will them make adjustments for extenuating circumstances as per usual exam board criteria. We are making it as close to normal as we can. Just because you have a particular offer does not mean you will get that grade. You have to earn it.

The amount of justifications we have to give to award a grade takes out ant bias.
As to consistency I agree it's useless. But we are doing what we think it right.

Any school awarding grades because that's what they need for Uni is breaking the rules and will be open to appeal

@mumsneedwine, thanks for clarification. I thought you meant HoY were adjusting for more than just extenuating circumstances - ie making a holistic judgement of a student's level of attainment that could lead to assessment grades being adjusted. I couldn't see how that could work with HoY doing it, though I was sure I remembered earlier guidance envisaging something like that operating at subject level, with a student's final TAGs not simply being taken from summative assessments/ exam replacements.

That seems to be another area of inconsistency at DTs' school: some subjects have said that these assessments plus NEAs will the only evidence used, others have listed tests going back to the start of Year 12 as being taken into account - presumably weighted differently, but who knows.

Hope you're not finding the workload too onerous. DH doesn't have any Year 11s this year so it's not too bad for him. Though I think he took longer than ever marking A level coursework, and his department are doing a LOT of moderation.

And who is going to appeal @mumsneedwine - if everyone gets the grades they need?

@chopc

And who is going to appeal *@mumsneedwine* - if everyone gets the grades they need?

Possibly the ones who, although they are AAA students, 'only' need, say, AAB and get that, whikst people who got AAA or higher offers on the back of an agreeably optimistic UCAS prediction, get what they need, as well, even though their actual achievement is no better? With the lower grades helping not make the inflated ones look suspicious.

@question
There are Durham tours available for offer holders. Dd was sent an email to book it (June). It is only for the offer holder themselves. We are going up and staying overnight.

@MarchingFrogs

There's stuff going on at ds' school which has just started to worry me that this sort of thing might become a reality for some students.

On reflection- all the AL students I know - though DS and friends - have all worked so hard. I think they are all deserving of the grades they need to go onto their chosen course.

And if an undeserving few also benefit- it's ok. If they are truly not deserving they won't be able to keep up at Uni and if they mature later and are able to pick up - then it's good they got a leg up

I'd be pretty relaxed about that too, @chopc, if it was happening universally and consistently, but there's no way of ensuring that. Just reading the 'exam stress' thread gives some idea of the huge variations in what schools are doing, and I know of significant variation even within a couple of schools. So the reality is that some students might get a leg up, but not all. Exam boards are supposedly already worried they could be inundated with appeals, though I thought those had been offloaded to schools like everything else.

@chopc OFQUAL. They'll be investigating any school who seem to have weirdly amazing results.

@MarchingFrogs exactly. If I gave a student an A* because they needed it over a student who had done better in assessments and given an A then I'd expect an appeal. Students still need to earn their grades.

@LoonvanBoon I'm exhausted. Marked thousands of papers and still more to go. Will be moderating over half term and have also written all the back up paper work for my bit. It's bonkers.

@mumsneedwine
It must be so exhausting!I feel for you,I hope you get a well deserved break when this is all over.
Take care

@Engley 😊 thank you. I intend to sleep this summer.

That does sound insane, @mumsneedwine. Hope you have a bit of a break at least this half-term - I know this year's been pretty brutal in schools even without the assessment shitshow.

@LoonvanBoon working every day of half term. Last assessment on Friday next week so need to mark that. Then 4 of us moderating everything together - over 3,000 scripts to do in dept. We'll get there but it's going to involve coffee and biscuits. Lots of biscuits.

@mumsneedwine 3000+ scripts! 😲