APPEALS CHAOS AS EXAMS FURY GROWS
280,000 A-LEVELS DOWNGRADED CONFUSION OVER HOW SYSTEM WILL WORK
HEADTEACHERS from across the country scrambled today to launch thousands of appeals against “unfair” A-level results as the storm over the exam system grew.
With many students left distraught after about 280,000 entries were downgraded from teacher assessments, schools vowed to unleash a flood of appeals.
Controversy over the exam system, using computerised “standardisation” this year in the wake of the pandemic, spiralled when at the 11th hour ministers bolted on an appeal route using mock results.
But as students picked up their results this morning it was not clear how this would work.
The Government and exam regulator Ofqual are now trying to cobble together a system in days after many students were given false hope under a “triple lock” that they would simply be able to pick the best mark from their awarded grade, mock or an exam taken in the autumn.
The sense of shambles was reinforced by Ofqual pulling out of a press conference early this morning before announcing an hour later that it would be rejoining it.
Despite anger among students, parents and teachers, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson insisted he would not follow the Scottish administration in doing a U-turn and allowing far more students to get results based on assessments from their school.
“You’ve got to have a system that has checks and balances, that looks at the whole performance and making sure you maintain standards within the exam system, to ensure those results carry credibility,” he told Sky News.
In the first sign of a possible Tory revolt, Robert Halfon,
chairman of the Commons education committee, called on the Government to extend the appeals system.
He told the Evening Standard: “I want an appeal system where everybody who feels their grade is unfair and it’s signed off by the headteacher should be able to appeal.”
Mr Halfon believes the system used is the “least worst option” but the appeals system has to be “second to none” with a “fast turnaround”.
Mr Williamson advised schools to get appeals in “early” so they could be decided by September 7 and ensure students could still go to university.
In a day of joy for many of the 300,000 students getting results and dashed hopes for others, exam boards announced:
● The number of top grades in England, Wales and Northern Ireland increased by 2.4 percentage points, with 27.9 per cent of exams graded A* or A.
● The overall pass rate rose to 98.3 per cent, an increase of 0.7 percentage points on last year
● In England, 59.1 per cent of grades remained the same as the teacher assessment, 35.1 per cent dropped a
Whatever system they have used has not fairly represented the students or school
James Handscombe, principal of Harris Westminster Sixth Form
grade lower, 3.3 per cent by two grades and 0.2 per cent by three, with 2.2 per cent boosted by one grade.
● A record number of students were accepted into university, especially among disadvantaged students which is up 7.3 per cent.
● Boys scored more top A* grades than girls, with 9.3 per cent of their entries given the top mark compared with 8.8 per cent.
● In London, 29.8 per cent of grades were awarded A*/A — the second highest behind the South East.
● The number of students taking maths and English both increased, but science fell by 4.9 per cent.
● The number of boys taking French, German or Spanish dropped by 6.2 per cent, while the number of girls taking these subjects rose by 1.5 per cent.
● Psychology has overtaken biology as the most popular science with 65,255 entries compared with 65,057 in biology.
James Handscombe, principal of Harris Westminster sixth form, said he will appeal against the grades given in half of subjects, including maths and further maths.
“Whatever system they have used has not fairly represented the students or school,” he said. He said that using data f ro m 2 0 1 7, when the school had its first full cohort, was “ancient history” given that it opened in 2014.
Oliver Blond, headmaster of Roedean School in East Sussex said some of his students have had results changed by up to three grades from the initial teacher assessment, and predicted a “very high” number of appeals as a result of the “confusion, inconsistency and lack of fairness.” He said: “There are very clear examples of individual students being graded incorrectly.”
Vicky Bingham head of South Hampstead High School, north London, said the school is likely to appeal some results where the awarded grades were lower than mock results. She said: “One particularly frustrating aspect of the results is the ‘outlier effect’ — students being awarded lower than predicted grades... because a tiny number of students (e.g. 1 or 2) achieved these grades in the past so the algorithm says that someone needs to get them.”
Kathy Crewe-Read, head of Wolverhampton Grammar School, said its current A-level cohort was one of the best ever but just over half of the students had their teacher-assessed grades
downgraded. “A Levels are not about the nation. They are about individual students’ performance,” she said. Michelle Meadows, an Ofqual director, said the regulator was “urgently” working with exam boards for an appeal system using mock results to be ready early next week. She added: “If a centre is seeing outcomes that they find surprising then talk to their exam board, try and find what’s gone on and we’ll get to the bottom of it and that’s part of the process this year.”
Ministers had warned of top grade inflation of about 12 per cent if results had not been “standardised”.
A “late clearing process” is set to be available for pupils who sit A-level exams in the autumn, Mr Williamson added, and said universities were “looking at being as flexible as possible”.
SOMEHOW the Government has managed to replace a blunt instrument with one that is barely workable. Its new A-level grading plan, formulated at the 11th hour, is already in chaos. A key feature of the plan was supposed to be its appeals system, which would allow students unhappy with their grades to ask to use mock results instead. Yet the appeals system is not ready, even though students get their results today.
It won’t be up and running until next week, when Ofqual will release its “standards of evidence” for appeals. That’s a problem when students have a few short weeks to sort out university places. Head teachers are meanwhile up in arms about the results, claiming the Government’s standardisation algorithm has downgraded some pupils by up to three grades below their predicted results.
Ministers must work fast to sort out the mess but they face even bigger tests. They must find a remedy to the problem that their new plan still risks putting poorer students at a disadvantage. These pupils now face three potential hurdles. The first is that the Government’s standardisation formula takes schools’ past performance into account, which could mean richer pupils get a boost. The second is having to navigate the appeals process, which favours those with sharp-elbowed middle-class parents. The third is that many state schools have offered far less in the way of teaching than private ones, meaning that if state A-level pupils choose to sit exams in the autumn — as the new plan allows — they risk being less prepared.
The latter problem at least has a clear answer. Schools must open as soon as possible. After all, its not just poorer sixth form pupils who are falling behind — inequality is growing at every level. Teaching unions dragging their feet are setting students up for lives of underachievement. The Government must ensure every pupil is back in the classroom come September.
Inequality is growing... Every pupil should be back in the classroom come September