This exam system is betraying our children
‘My heart goes out to all families living in the same hellish limbo’
Before I fell asleep on Wednesday night, I murmured a little prayer. “Please let things be all right for him.” Thousands of parents, braced for their darlings’ A-level results, would have been doing exactly the same. Come the morning, it became shockingly clear that things were not all right. Some glitch in the system, perhaps, some inexplicable spasm of marking had left our son with one grade so adrift from predicted excellence that his father and I were momentarily winded.
We struggled to find words to console him. How could this have happened? It made no sense. Sadly, our boy was far from alone. As a new exam regime beds down, anecdotal evidence suggests there are too many bewildered youngsters deprived of hard-earned university places while they await the result of a re-mark.
It’s all very well for veteran commentators to wax lyrical on the bracing benefits of failure. Jeremy Clarkson tweeted, “Don’t worry if your A-level grades aren’t any good. I got a C and two U’s. And I’m sitting here deciding which of my Range Rovers to use today.” That made me smile, but I admit that I also cried last Thursday. Tears of frustration and furious maternal protectiveness.
It’s horrible to see your child’s hopes shattered, their work traduced by an exam system that manages to be both secretive and weirdly immune from accountability. And, yes, I’m well aware we are among the lucky ones. We can afford a re-mark, our son has terrific teachers who are determined to challenge on our behalf. Less fortunate children are much less likely to appeal against a dodgy grade that can derail their chances of getting into a good university and damage social mobility. Amazingly, people still trust the system, though that may be about to change.
The youngsters who get their GCSE results tomorrow will be the first to receive their grades under a numerical system that uses one to nine (the top grade), rather than A to G. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for education reforms that make tests more searching so youngsters can figure out where their abilities truly lie.
The O-level did that basic task very well. When they made the GCSE an exam almost no one could fail, the brighter students didn’t get stretched, while the semi-literate got “qualifications” so meaningless they betrayed the kids and infuriated employers. Learning the marking scheme became more important than learning itself. Perfection was within reach, which has had a disastrous effect on teenage mental health.
As my god-daughter explained: “However well you do, however many A*s you get, you are never good enough.” The Michael Gove reforms have something to be said for them. But they needed to be phased in much more gradually so teachers, pupils (and examiners) had adequate time to prepare. Instead, the biggest exam shake-up in decades has been rushed through and we are potentially facing a muddle and a farce. One teacher reports not getting the new books until halfway through the course.
My friend’s daughter was told that the reformed GCSE maths paper is so difficult that if she “completed the paper to the staplefold” (halfway or thereabouts), she will get an A equivalent, level 7/8 in the new order. Hardly surprising given that they are predicting the pass mark could turn out to be just 18 per cent to cushion pupils from the harsh new reality. Writing Albert Einstein in the top right hand corner should suffice, children!
Meanwhile, there is no panacea here for Perfect Grades Anxiety Disorder. The A* has been split into two – 9 and 8 – and it looks like even more pupils will get either of those.
Another glaring problem is unreliable grade boundaries where a lost mark can mean instant demotion to a lesser grade. The new tougher exams contain even more such hazards, it is claimed, because the number of boundaries that affect the vast majority of candidates has increased from four (A to D) to six (9 to 3). Of the 5.1million GCSES taken in England this summer, how many hundreds of thousands of results could end up being challenged? I reckon chaos is pretty much guaranteed.
These may well be teething troubles but, as I know all too well, a huge number of young lives will be affected by them. It will take time for pupils to adjust to a system where standards are high and a good-enough mark really is good enough. Universities will have to adjust their expectations accordingly.
The tyranny of the A* should be banished from this land, hopefully taking with it an epidemic of selfharming. There should be no fees for a re-mark so state-school pupils, just like their privately educated counterparts, can challenge exam boards that are not always the infallible authorities we would like them to be. If I had my way, we would follow the example of other countries that let pupils apply to university once they have their results. Predicted grades cause so much unnecessary pressure and anguish.
It’s been a rough old week at Pearson Towers, I can tell you. As a mother you feel so powerless waiting on the machinations of distant boards, willing them to give your child his dream back. My faith in our examination system is badly dented.
My heart goes out to all families living in the same hellish limbo and to any teenager bruised by unfair exam results, here’s the thing. Disappointment is temporary: the love of your parents is permanent and contains no unreliable grade boundaries. Hard though it is to believe, kid, there really will come a day when you don’t remember what grades you got.