‘Strangest exam period in living memory’

TODAY (Thursday), Sixth Form pupils will receive their A-level results (with their Year 11 colleagues following one week later) after what has undoubtedly been the strangest exam period in living memory. Not for these Year 13s the long hours, the cramming or the exam panic that most of us associate with public exams. Instead their summer terms were spent at home with their families, isolated from friends and teachers.

The exams for which so many pupils will have prepared so hard, never happened; a truly disorientating experience. Young people no longer have control over their performance on the day.

Their fates now lie in the hands of their teachers who have been asked to determine grades on the basis of their overall knowledge of the student’s ability and performance.

Despite the inherent difficulties in this system, it is crucial that pupils, parents and schools alike can feel confident that the grading system will be as fair and accurate as possible.

And it is for this reason that the Education Secretary announced earlier this week that children would have more than one route to challenge their grades under what has been termed the ‘triple lock’ for pupils.

The system will operate as follows; first, all pupils will receive a ‘Calculated Grade’ on the basis of the moderated grades which were submitted by their schools.

Since it is considered that their subject teachers will have the best overall sense of their ability, these are not eligible for general appeal (unless it is said there is clear evidence of bias or some other such procedural unfairness), but a student who is unhappy with this grade can resit the exam in the autumn if they wish to do so.

In the alternative, a pupil can also submit an appeal on the basis of their mock result.

So if their mock results were markedly better than the overall grade they have been assigned they can submit an appeal on this basis.

Data held by the Department of Education suggests that very few pupils would actually find themselves in this situation because the overwhelming majority of pupils perform less well in their mocks than they do in their official A-levels or GCSEs.

As such, the majority of calculated scores not only take this into account, but award grades that are likely to be the same or better than mock results.

However, for that small minority of pupils who feel they demonstrated their capabilities in mocks only to receive a lower calculated grade, there is a direct right of appeal on this basis.

The intention is to ensure that the achievements of young people are properly recognised and prevent similar issues to those that arose in Scotland. I am not suggesting this system is perfect.

Nothing short of real exams ever could be.

But this is a year when universities will wish to be as fair and flexible as possible and are particularly keen to support less advantaged students.

With the drop in overseas students there will be plenty of opportunities for West Berkshire’s school leavers, even if their grades are not exactly what they hoped for. I wish all students receiving their results today the very best of luck!