Prizes for all in Class of Covid
After A-levels chaos, record GCSE grades dished out in schools crisis
THE delight painted on the faces of the teenagers could not have contrasted more with the disillusion and despair of A-level pupils last week.
GCSE results surged to record highs for the ‘Class of Covid’ yesterday, after the beleaguered exam regulator abandoned its attempts to assign lower grades via computerised calculations.
The grades were mainly reliant on teacher predictions, leading to top marks of 7 or above jumping to 25.9 per cent, up by 5.2 points on 2019. England’s exam regulator Ofqual abandoned its efforts to downgrade a swathe of GCSEs after last week’s A-level catastrophe, allowing teachers’ original predicted grades to stand in most cases.
To try to make amends for the confusion, Ofqual also said that in cases where their algorithm had marked up a candidate, they could keep that higher grade.
But experts warned that some results were moved up in an ‘unfathomable’ way, while ‘horrified’ teachers were said to be considering appeals against unrealistically high marks.
Not a single pupil in England failed in economics, chemistry, physics or PE, compared to more than 2,000 last year. There was also a record 76 per cent of entries that received a grade 4 or above, up 8.9 points on 2019.
Youngsters getting the top grades in mathematics rose from 15.9 per cent to 19 per cent, while in English it jumped from 13.9 per cent to 18.7 per cent.
The overall pass rate was 99.6 per cent, up from 98.3 per cent in 2019, another record.
Many schools reported ‘bizarre’ increases – from what would have been a G to an A, under the old system of marking. Other teachers said they had failed students who never turned up to class, only to see Ofqual’s algorithm had awarded them a pass.
Students who sat foundation tier GCSEs were also given grades over 5, despite this being the highest available grade for those papers.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that some grades were ‘being moved up in a way that is unfathomable’.
‘This does have serious implications because these students may then understandably feel that they want to go on to higher-tariff A-level courses, but won’t have the base of knowledge that they need,’ he said.
‘It is yet more evidence that the standardisation model was not fit for purpose.’
Sam Freedman, a former adviser to Michael Gove when he was education secretary, added that he was hearing about ‘ some barmy grades awarded by algorithm’.
He wrote online: ‘ While this is certainly less problematic than young people missing out on places it’s not great that some students will have grades higher than they could possibly have achieved and are thus eligible for courses they won’t be suited for.’
From 2017, traditional A*- G GCSE grades began to be scrapped and replaced in England with a 9-1 system, with 9 the highest result. A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 broadly equivalent to an A.
Ofqual had already been facing
calls for it to be abolished following the A-level results fiasco that saw disadvantaged pupils hardest hit by widespread downgrading.
After days of chaos – and a humiliating climbdown for Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who had pledged ‘no U-turn, no change’ – it was announced that pupils would be able to receive grades based on their teachers’ estimates. Last night, the regulator again admitted that its computer algorithm was behind the impossible marks.
‘Where possible, in all decisions we have taken this summer, we have chosen the approach that works in students’ favour,’ a spokesman said. ‘In the unprecedented circumstances this summer, it is right that we do not seek to disadvantage students who were not able to sit an exam.’