Teachers’ focus on ‘fair’ grades as students fret over future

TEACHERS have said “fairness to students” is a priority for handing out final GCSE and A-level grades as pupils are worried that exam cancellations could cost them their place at college or university.

Year 11 and Year 13 students would normally be sitting their exams at this time of year but the closure of schools has meant final grades are based on “the likely grade that students would have obtained had exams gone ahead”.

The Department for Education (DfE) has issued guidance stating grades must be in line with “the expected national outcomes for this year’s students, the prior attainment of students at each school and college, and the results of the school or college in recent years”.

Perhaps surprisingly, research by University College Union shows that pupils from a wealthy background are more likely to have their grades under-predicted than disadvantaged students.

Michael Gosling, chief executive of the Trinity Multi-Academy Trust, said that at Trinity Academy Halifax grades go through multiple stages before being fixed, including being signed off by two teachers and the head to ensure they are as accurate as possible.

“We have also communicated both our process and the DfE guidance to parents at each update so we hope that students and parents will be able to see that we have endeavoured to be as fair as possible in this unusual process,” he said.

A similar approach is taken by many other schools, he said, adding that this system should not put additional pressure on teachers as it is similar to the existing process for predicting grades.

However, one teacher at an independent school in West Yorkshire said she was concerned that predicting students’ grades will bring teachers into conflict with parents.

“When students have coursework and exams their grades are fairly clear cut.

“A lot of parents are quite involved in their children’s education, which generally is a very good thing, but I’m predicting that, where parents think their children’s grades are wrong, this could make things very difficult for teachers.”

Students will be able to appeal their grades if they do not believe the right process has been followed and they are free to take the exams in the autumn.

Whitby schoolgirl Molly Shewan, who has just finished her GCSEs, is one of those students who is worried that her grades will not be as good as she is anticipating.

“I feel I could do so much more than my predicted grades,” she said.

Molly wants to pursue a career in forensic science, a very competitive field, and is hoping to get mostly grades of six and seven – the equivalent of As and Bs – but anticipates she may fall short.

“In our mocks we were told not to worry as they don’t mean anything but now it’s what our final grade is going off, which is scary. If I don’t get the grades I’m hoping for, I’ll be very disappointed as 10 years of work has built up to these,” she said.