Summer A level grades - Ofqual's plans need to be challenged

[mbell666]

It's not been widely reported in the media but Ofqual have made decisions about how they are going to determine A level marks which could affect your child's chances of getting their university place.

They're going to implement a "statistical standardisation model/process" which will have your child's grades adjusted based on the historical performance at their school - so if your child had good predicted grades and expected to do well, but comes from a school that's hasn't performed very well in the last 3 years at A level, you and your child could be in for a shock come results date 13 August. Ofqual will take the marks their school/college has submitted and potentially adjust them downwards, just because no students have done very well in past years.

Does that sound fair to you?

To add insult to injury, your child won't be able to appeal their awarded grades either. So let's hope their university are understanding when they don't meet their required grades. I've already heard of situations where the uni has stated that if the required grades aren't met then the place won't be available, even though the student was a straight A* student but just unfortunately goes to a mediocre school and is therefore likely to have their grades adjusted downwards through no fault of their own.

There is a legal challenge to this running on Crowdjustice - see
www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenge-ofqual/ . Share it if you can and support it if it's relevant to you. This is totally unjust and needs to be challenged!

Also having looked at the Crowdjustice petition. The school mentioned is a small cohort and these are going to be looked at differently.

how about leaving a right of appeal in for the student in the same way there is every other year? Don't you think it's rather unfair to remove that?

Could you actually explain how this would work? So if you appeal you are calling the teachers liars for predicting the wrong grade, not sure how that would work.

Or you are appealing the moderation of the grade. Which means you would have to know the grade was moderated down and everyone would have to be given 2 grades, the teachers grade and the moderated one. What kind of impact would that have on teachers?

But if it was proven that the moderation 'formula' was wrong in a case then it could be wrong in every case and no grades would be allowed to be moderated down. Which advantages all schools who have over predicated, disadvantages all schools who under predicted and makes a mockery of all the grades.

The only solution is to only allow whole school appeals for data error. And give the very small number of children who genuinely think they would have done better the chance to prove it by actually sitting the exam later. Its the fairest solution for the greatest number of children given the situation.

If you're concerned about this year's process for determining GCSE, AS and A level grades, take a look at

www.crowdjustice.com/case/challenge-ofqual/

and also

www.hepi.ac.uk/2020/05/18/two-and-a-half-cheers-for-ofquals-standardisation-model-just-so-long-as-schools-comply/

The key issue discussed here is the plight of the bright student in a school with a weak track record, and the likelihood that the student's grade will be pulled down by the school's history.

I just wanted to come back and say to those of you who were so negative when I posted on here at the beginning of June about my concerns about the A level and GSCE grading system - thanks for being so open minded and listening to what I had to say. Not. Especially titchy, you made me feel so welcome.

Perhaps next time someone posts on mumsnet and says something you don't agree with you could give them the benefit of the doubt and not shout them down. Perhaps they know something you don't. Perhaps you could learn something.

I won't be back here because no doubt there'll just be more abuse, so I'll finish by saying I TOLD YOU SO.