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?

My DD is doing GCSEs this year (starting Monday Yikes) and she and I are just glad that they'll be back to normal. I think it's better preparation for A levels. Whilst the 2021/2022 cohorts may have benefitted from more generous grades, I'm not convinced that it prepared them for their much harder A-levels and presumably some are doing A levels that they wouldn't have had the grades for in previous years.

Last year showed that in some cases advanced information could be more confusing than helpful. In one case it was positively wrong, but in some other cases people misinterpreted it and didn't revise things they needed to.

I think we can only hope that the universities can take this into account when considering near misses.

That was us too. It was utter chaos for months.

Mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, we have to go back to the norm at some point.

However, some are saying that the current year 11 cohort haven’t missed gcse content. I think that’s missing the point. Each year’s content builds on previous learning so the current year 11 will have missed key concepts usually taught in year 8 and 9, which will affect their understanding. I teach in primary and you can still see gaps. It will be the same in secondary.

That’s without even discussing the huge impact on mental health. There are a couple of children in my son’s cohort who have not made it back into school after Covid. They are the extreme cases but the impact on those in school will still be there.

Whichever year your child missed due to lockdown, it will have affected their learning. It’s impossible to compare, even if you have two children in two different year groups, as their experience will not be representative of other students.

Purple I agree, BUT that is why grade boundaries may turn out to be lower this year.

It doesn't make any sense to say 'this year's cohort are doing worse, therefore we will give more of them higher grades'. The only reason last year's were higher is because the assessed by a different method cohorts of 20 & 21 ended up with too high grades, and the drop back was thought to be too big to do all in one go.

So this year they give the same proportion of 7s, 6s, 4s, whatever as 2019 but to achieve that the boundaries may be lower than in 2019.

@TeenDivided yes, agree with pretty much everything you say. I also suspect the grade boundaries will be slightly lower. The only issue I have is when people (and I’m not saying you were) say that this cohort should be fine as they haven’t missed gcse content. Every cohort has been affected, which was why Sir Kevan Collins quoted 15 billion as the figure required to support children getting back on track.

I think this cohort was hit pretty badly tbh as y8 and y9 were fairly low priority years for the high schools during lockdown. My dd had virtually no teaching for all of y8 lockdown and nothing was properly marked. Y9 was a bit better but focus was very much on yrs 7 and the exam syllabus years. In maths it’s often the easy questions she gets wrong and some of her spelling is poorer than I’d like. Her teachers say this is common in this cohort.

However, some are saying that the current year 11 cohort haven’t missed gcse content. I think that’s missing the point. Each year’s content builds on previous learning so the current year 11 will have missed key concepts usually taught in year 8 and 9, which will affect their understanding.

Which suggests that they actually deserve lower grades than the 2019 cohort, and will therefore be benefitting from having their achievement pegged to that year group.

I think the grade boundaries are going to be very low. Aside from all the disruption due to covid and the lack of teachers, Y11 attendance rate this year is shocking.

The strikes have had minimal impact on exam classes
You must be joking! Ds1 (yr13) was told to attend school on strike days but he didn't get any lessons as his teachers were on strike. Well, for 2 of his subjects. For the 3rd subject, he doesn't have a teacher at all. Got sick at the beginning of year 12 and school have been unable to hire a replacement.

He's competing for uni places with the kids who didn't get a place last year. The silver lining is that if he doesn't get a place, then next year, he'll be competing for a place with kids whose A levels are "back to normal" - expect for the ever-worsening teacher shortage of course.

One long saga of competitive crappiness.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4846843-grant-2023-a-level-grading-allowances-in-england-similar-to-walesscotlandni

Have a look at this .

The amount of kids getting pass grades is already decided. What will be decided later on is the grade boundaries, which I predict this year will be very very low. Looking at DD who is in Y10, next year will probably be even worse. This Y11 and Y10 seem so apathetic. I think their grade boundaries will be low regardless of government intervention. They seem to have given up enmasse.

@JellyBabiesSaveLives
"One long saga of competitive crappiness."

This. Since the start of COVID, it's the Olympics of who has had it worse. The competition is stiff and about to get more so when we find out how many strikes await the next school year or how many Y11s have no teacher.

It wont happen. Unis are complaining about the level of achievement of the students not matching their grades and they want it back to separating out top performers so that offers are made according to ability commensurate to course requirements