Lots of noise now about ensuring fair grading for GCSE/A levels in 2023

[ladida2]

I've spotted lots of newspaper articles, there is even a petition circulating (with about 8,000 signatures) asking the Government to work with Ofqual to ensure that students are graded as generously in 2023 as they were in 2022.

I largely agree, if not AS generously, at least it should perhaps be closer to the 2022 grade boundaries than 2019 (as not only were the grade boundaries generous in 2022, they received plenty of advance info - I do know some said they found this more of a hinderance than a help). Especially as they were affected by Covid not to mention the strikes.

What do you think?

I totally disagree. The last 2 years have been broadly free of Covid issues.

2020 and 2021 were anomalies due to Covid.
2022 was a half way back to 'standard'.
2023 will be at or near 2019.

If there has been undue impact and standards are lower then so will be the grade boundaries.

And I say that as someone whose DD is 'resitting' maths.

It would be interesting to see data on how students who 'just scraped into' their post-y11 courses have got on. So has the grade inflation of 20-22 meant that more students have struggled, or has it shown that required entry grades are too high?

Ultimately apart from Maths & English passes, GCSE grades mainly count for getting onto the next course and for some uni applications. But for uni you are being compared against the same year group anyway so inflating them makes no odds.

I haven't seen any such articles OP. Perhaps you could provide links.
It has been known for a long time that this year 2023 would be the year of more normal exams at GCSE and A level.
It wouldn't be fair on students who took their exams in 2018 or 2019 if the adjustments went on forever.
GCSEs and A levels are 2 year courses and there have been no lockdowns during that period.

Various links. This cohort has had far from a normal experience/schooling. Subjects such as maths, e.g. builds on previous years' to build the knowledge of more complex maths. Not to mention the impact on mental health (higher absence rates amongst this cohort), syllabuses finished later for many. And less experience of exams due to lockdowns.

Not arguing for 2021/2022 levels but to get them right back to 2019 (even if results are bound to be affected, and grade boundaries therefore adjusted) seems a bit harsh. Just because many do GCSEs over two years, doesn't mean they had to use those years to catch up on what was missed before.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/27/exam-grades-covid-19-cost-of-living-children

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/gcse-exams-2023-grading-fears-pupil-absence-school-attendance

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mark-a-levels-and-gcses-more-generously-argue-heads-bsc976g2t

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/teacher-strikes-ahead-gcses-shocking-26776544

NI have taken a different approach:

Here's the petition btw, asking for 'fair grading' nothing more
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/631743

The Guardian article
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/27/exam-grades-covid-19-cost-of-living-children

The TES article is talking about absence rates of y11s.

Are you honestly saying that y11s with a higher rate of absence than 'normal' (2019 and earlier) should be given higher grades than in 2019? That strikes me as back to front.

No, not saying higher of course, that's not at all what I've said if you read upthread. But clearly absence rate is a barometer for mental/social health which has been impacted by Covid, no question.

I think OP is saying that the higher absence rates are a reflection of something significant in this cohort ie effects of lockdowns and readjusting, cost of living, school feeling more optional than it used to, teacher recruitment and retention crisis increasing that she believes should be reflected in how their GCSEs are marked, not that children who aren't in school should be given automatic passes.

I agree, would be interesting to see data on drop outs and results in those from the 'inflated' years.

I think the issue is that not everyone applies in the same year they get their A level results. Due to so many people achieving such high grades in the last few years, there are lots who did not get into the courses they normally would and many have taken gap years. These will then compete with this year's cohort and of course there is the imbalance there but hope there is some sort of algorithm to balance it out.

When you say 'grade boundaries' what do you mean?

Do you mean (a) needing eg 154/240 for a grade 5 or (b) the % of pupils being given any particular grade?
The grade boundaries may well be lower this year compared with 2019 in order to achieve the % getting grades to be the same (ie as good).

X-post. Yes, I know what you mean OP. It's not just schooling having been interrupted, it's the social and psychological effects of the lockdowns and the uncertainty that this cohort are dealing with.

If often strikes me that so many adults haven't gone back to work as usual ie hybrid and remote working are now much more common, yet we have expected children and young people to just carry on as though they didn't go through the pandemic as well.

The strikes have had minimal impact on exam classes. Teacher shortages have had more of an impact long term.
We can't keep inflating grades every year because there will always be something - pandemic, strikes, teacher shortages, who knows what's next.

My DD's MH fell off a cliff in covid, and is still recovering, so I have every sympathy for teens that are struggling.
But the 2020 and 2021 grades were 'accidentally' high, and the 2022 grades were a step back to the normal grades.
I don't really see a good argument for keeping them high.

FWIW, I do think this cohort have been significantly impacted- especially Y13. They came up to A-levels/level 3 with really disrupted GCSEs, and loads of gaps, so they've had an awful lot to catch up alongside the course content. I disagree last year was a standard year- many schools were still having adhoc closures due to lack of staffing, or sending year groups home in the autumn and spring terms especially.

Y12 were also a popular choice to send home, as it was assumed they would study from home- or sometimes they were in school but off timetable/having lessons cancelled due to staff absence.

I wouldn't be against pinning their grade boundaries to 2022, as a mid step between the advanced information (which has caused problems with transition to level 3, too) and going back to pre-covid standards.

However, if less people get the top grades, unis and colleges will still want to fill courses. So they will just drop entry requirements on results day until they have let in the number of students they want. In the long term, it may not have such a detrimental impact.

That said, these students will be competing with students from last year who took gap years, for uni places and grad schemes and so on, so it does put them at a bit of a disadvantage.

I don't know what the answer is, but unfortunately, I doubt anything will change now! It's probably best to focus on supporting your DCs?

I’m on the fence about grade boundaries being pegged to 2022 but can see the rationale for it.I suspect a lot of that cohort are struggling with a levels.
I’ve had to recently explain to ds that it is not normal to get the exam topics given to you in advance! Out of his friendship group most are not doing anywhere near as well at a level as their gcse results would suggest they should. His college tutor agreed. They haven’t had the grounding in work ethic from gcse. I wouldn’t be shocked if grades are lower this year.

interestingly ds 19 who was 2020 gcse cohort is actually thriving in f.e. despite yr 11/12 disruption. I think it’s the work ethic and independent learning that was instilled into them for gcse prep that’s helping.

Another on the fence but my DC currently in Year 11 has had so much disruption, not as much as my current Year 12 though granted.

However it's been endless teacher changes and illnesses, behind on teaching the curriculum in some subjects because of this, not necessarily covid-related but it's been a shit show. My Year 12 is on the third form tutor this year so far!

My Y11 son is in the middle school system, so missed most of his final year (Y8) of middle school due to the first Covid lockdown. High school didn’t get proper information about his cohort as a result. During his Y9 and Y10, his school had to repeatedly close year groups due to staff absence so he missed several days due to that as well. He has been hugely affected. I don’t know how you redress that, but it is certainly not business as usual for this year group.

I find it really odd that i can look up the grades for 2019 and go 'about 4% will get a 9 in maths this year' but this years 4% could be much better or much worse than 2019 top 4%

Do A level teachers find that some years their top grade cohorts dont seem as good as the previous years cohort.

I have a child in year 11. The cohort have been massively impacted, behaviour and attendance data shows it. The number of students with mental health issues is shocking and there seem to be more families in crisis.

i have seen my child study, he has had to go back to the syllabus and text books to patch large areas that haven’t been covered properly. All subjects build on prior years study GCSE’s aren’t just a two year vacuum (plus there are a significant number of schools that do a three year ks4)

The pandemic and the school closures aren’t just over with no impact, it is going to be with the school system for years - coupled with a lack of investment to support the education system cope

Given the boundaries are adjusted for paper difficulty then returning to a similar percentage as 2019 is a good thing. Honestly, inflated grades does not help the students. Loads doing alevels they aren’t suitable for, which is upsetting for everyone.

I don't know how this is actually expected to help, other than make people think in the future that they didn't deserve the grades which is not fair.

It's not that the exam boards have a level of difficulty that means a level 6 or whatever. They do it by percentages. So the top whatever percent will get a 9, then the next an 8. So if the paper is harder, or the cohort less prepared then the grade boundary goes down.

Obviously those who have had less disruption will do better-but that will still be true if you increase the percentage. They won't say "oh that person missed 3 strike days so we'll pop them up a grade as opposed to that person who only missed one".

I have a dc doing GCSEs this year.

Hmm don't think that the 2022 cohort had it easy. My ds was in it and it was horrible.

Sept 2022: Don't know if GCSEs happening
Nov 2022: Start doing exams for teacher assessed grades (big stress)
Continued with these fucking exams, including January "mocks" which might have been mocks and might have been real and counting towards teacher assessed grades. Note that for those January mocks, info was learnt not knowing if was in the real GCSE or whether that real one would happen.
Feb 2022: Advance information released. Fuck fuck - in my ds case, a term of work he'd done in one subject was excluded and a term his school hadn't done was included. Chaos.
Try to match up advance info to all the fucking boards.
Plough forward anyway into hell fire.

Oh and let's not forget that in Y11 for 2022 cohort, people were still excluded for covid! Teachers off, people isolating. Disruption central. One of my ds teachers was hospitalised when he was in Y11.

There seems to be a misunderstanding here of what it means to return to 2019.

It’s the grade distribution that is returning to 2019 levels not the grade boundaries.

I expect grade boundaries in my subject to be significantly lower this year than 2019. The number of A* grades this year will be pretty much the same as 2019. I expect national performance in the exams (in terms of marks achieved) to be a fair bit lower. That means grade boundaries will be lower. Same at GCSE.

What has been proposed is already fair. It would be perverse to keep grades higher than 2019 for cohorts that are performing significantly worse doesn’t make sense.