Has DS’s school disadvantaged the students by the way they tested GCSES?

[Bigblueone]

They didn’t do mini assessments. They did exams in the style of normal GCSEs. They had no idea what was on the papers and these were the only opportunity they had to show what they knew. DS was told they’ll give out the grades based on what a normal year (pre 2020) would receive. After today’s news I’m concerned.

Lots of schools didn't allow students to see any of the evidence. Ours didn't. They sat exams and had no clue about the marking till today.

We were told by SLT the students had to know what evidence we had used. I suppose that counts if they know what assessments were included even if they didn't know the marks.

@Hercisback they just had one lot of assessments in the format of GCSEs. They might of well have not bothered cancelling them in our case.

DS school had two weeks of 'exams'. Two exams most days of 2-2.5 hours each. No mocks.
My nephew has been having 'test and teach' mini classroom tests for weeks.
A friend's academy school warned parents that some DC would be called back into school in early June for more tests depending on individual exam results at the end of May. Another bite of the cherry so to speak.
The disparity has been ridiculous.

@Bigblueone

It’s very odd. She definitely said they had only just seen the results and implied they’d had no input with the mark. Luckily my ds did well by some dcs marks were a couple of grades lower than they’d ever previously had.

Absolutely false. TAGs are all that could be awarded this year and the school would be investigated for malpractice if there was no teacher input. They may have chosen to pay for some external moderation of assessments but ultimately the teachers had to assign the grades. That teacher is lying.

@BumbleMug something very odd is going on. Another teacher also made him show her his grade as she didn’t know what he’d got either…

@Justbetweenus

I think the higher grade inflation in private schools this year (and last year) demonstrates it’s patently unfair. We shouldn’t have some schools giving pupils “the benefit of the doubt” while others stick diligently to previous years’ results. But Gavin Williamson was in charge… 😏

Why would you assume this is private schools giving more grade inflation? Isn’t it more likely that private schools provided much better remote learning and private pupils are more likely to have parents that have the time and/or inclination to push them harder?

It’s remote learning that has widened the gap, not the assessments and grading.

[quote Bigblueone]@BumbleMug something very odd is going on. Another teacher also made him show her his grade as she didn’t know what he’d got either…[/quote]
Very odd indeed and I can’t begin to imagine what the school has done. TAGs are the only method available for GCSE’s this year and literally stands for Teacher Assessed Grade. There is even guidance on how teachers can use holistic approaches to come to the grades. If your schools teachers genuinely haven’t ‘assigned’ the grades then they’ve broken many rules. If I was you I’d ask to see the schools TAG centre policy. Every exam centre has to upload one to the board supervising them and in it it had to clearly state their methods of assessing grades. If it’s not on the schools website you can request it and they have to provide it.

OP the advice from ofqual was for teachers to assess pupils, provide evidence and submit a grade that would be 'the best a pupil could achieve' based on evidence.

The teachers will have seen the grades when they went through reviews with SLT ahead of being submitted to exam boards.

I'm an exams officer so am pretty familiar with the guidance.

Even if the other schools marked an assessment, the rest of the evidence for the pupil will have been taken into account for the final TAG

OP, do bear in mind that teachers at an average sized secondary school may well have had to award in excess of 200 marks. They can't be expected to recall every single one, hence a teacher asking your dc to show his result.

Agree with @BumbleMug that each school had a centre policy which was checked with the regulator.

Private schools gave better remote learning

Nope.

@dancealittleclosertome the teacher said they’d not seen the results until yesterday.

[quote Bigblueone]@dancealittleclosertome the teacher said they’d not seen the results until yesterday.[/quote]
Technically the “results” wouldn’t have been seen. TAGs we’re sent off to the boards. Then the boards sent them back as “results”. There was a possibility that some could have been changed after moderation but the exams officer would have been told and SLT informed. So I suppose in theory teachers might not have been informed of any changes. But changes should be rare, previously discussed and unlikely if the sampling was approved.