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A Level Results 2020 - A Fiasco or a Fair Assessment?

Secondary Schools
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There is of course no good time for a pandemic, but for the many thousands of students who would have sat their A-Levels and GCSE`s in June, the events of this year have been particularly unfortunate. With schools closing on the 20th of march, pupils have have faced major disruption to their learning. Remote lessons, emailed homework, and screen time with their teachers have certainly helped to some degree, but for most pupils the effects of the lockdown have been a huge interruption and disruption to their learning.

Having studied for a year and a half, most A-Level pupils were expecting to sit their exams this June, with the results determining which university they would be attending. With the exams cancelled, how would the universities manage their admissions process?

As of the 14 of August, Ofqual have awarded all A-Level students a grade which has been calculated according to a `statistical standardisation process.` This is a complex algorithm, the output of which is determined by many factors, one of which being the grade each pupil`s school judged that they would have attained under normal circumstances. The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation asked all schools and colleges to submit a `Centre Assessment grade` - this being the grade they believed the student would have achieved if they had sat their A-Level exam. To calculate this teachers will have analysed each pupil`s entire academic performance over the course of their A-Level studies. This puts teachers in the invidious position of having to become examiners and assessors, having to scour through a year and a half`s work for each pupil on their course, and then decide what grade they deserve.

Along with this Centre Assessment grade, another dataset used by the algorithm is how well the college or school has performed in recent years. If on average 10% of their students achieve an A*, then this percentage will feed into the algorithm, making it less likely for students there to achieve the highest grade compared to those attending a school where on average 20% of their students achieve an A*.

While most teachers have said they will be grading pupils according to how they think they will have achieved on a good day, the result of the algorithm has meant that almost 40% of their assessments have been downgraded by a whole grade. Ofqual figures have shown that, of the 700,000 assessments submitted by teachers, 39.1% were lowered by a grade or more by the exam regulator`s algorithm. This figure includes 3.5% of pupils who had their grades lowered by two grades or more.

There has been much consternation over the way the algorithm has automatically lowered the grades of pupils attending schools with a poorer grading history, with many saying that private schools have disproportionally benefited, while schools in disadvantaged areas have faced more stringent grade reductions. If a child of mine was unfortunate enough to be graded this year, I would certainly be furious with this system, which automatically castigates pupils for simply attending a school with a lower A-Level record. Britain`s equalities watchdog, the EHRC, has said it will be intervening over what it calls the `controversy` of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds being penalised.

The prime minister Boris Johnson has defended the marking system, which he said has produced a `very robust set of grades.` Speaking this Thursday, he went on to say that `you`ve got the situation in which more pupils than ever before are getting their first choice course at university and more kids from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university.`

There are some reasons for optimism, as this year saw the greatest increase in pupils attaining an A or A* in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, up from 25.9% in 2019 to 27.9%.

Ofqual has just released a set of criteria pupils will have to meet if they hope to appeal their grades. Students` mock grades must be higher than their awarded grades, while those students who were unable to take a written mock exam before lockdown imposed a closure of schools will be able to appeal through non exam assessment marks. Another option for those disappointed by their grades is the opportunity of sitting their exam in October - but as the university term will have already begun by this point, this will necessitate deferring their admission by at least a year.

However, accommodating these dispensations are, it`s difficult to avoid the conclusion that this year`s students are perhaps the demographic most severely afflicted by the pandemic. Certainly all industries have been negatively affected, with jobs lost and businesses closed; but the economy will recover, and people will find employment again: the lives of thousands of students however may be permanently set onto different paths by this year`s A-Level results.

3 years ago
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