Any teacher could see that algorithmic A-levels would let pupils down
sir – The substitution of an algorithm for the professional judgment of teachers has had predictably unfortunate consequences for some A-level students because it is a mathematical construct that does not consider individual circumstances.
Whatever the inadequacies of the public examination process in a normal year, it is a system in which one group of human beings is judged by another.
The algorithm itself remains shrouded in secrecy. We can be confident, however, that it resembles the one applied so disastrously in Scotland earlier this month.
If Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, believed in his algorithm he would not have offered to accept mock grades in place of the ones it generated. And if he had spoken to anybody who has ever worked in a school about his proposal, before sharing it with the BBC, he would have been swiftly dissuaded from advancing it.
Richard Russell
Headmaster, Colfe’s School London SE12 sir – Universities, schools and parents are now trying to pick up the pieces of shattered dreams because our children, it appears, are just numbers to be processed through an algorithm.
Life can be unfair, but why deliberately make it so? Students didn’t choose not to study, and they have been robbed of the chance to work hard to exceed expectations. We should at least let their futures be shaped by those who saw their work.
Rosemary Drinkwater
Coventry, Warwickshire
sir – As a former examiner, moderator and teacher, I believe Gavin Williamson is as correct as he can be in his approach to this year’s grading.
It is not acceptable to use teachers’ predictions alone. Teachers are by nature a caring group of people, who will always want to assist pupils who have been disadvantaged.
In “normal” times we have had to make hard decisions when grades have been overgenerous, often finding that the individual in question has experienced a hiatus during the exam years. If this well-meant generosity is not moderated, the rest of the results are compromised.
Peter Shirley
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
sir – If the comparison between teachers’ average forecast results and the school’s previous bestperformance results were made public, people could see whether the teachers were over-optimistic.
That would take the sting out of many complaints about the system used this year, and help teachers to be more accurate in future.
Brian Tordoff
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
sir – It feels inevitable that the “class of 2020” will forever have to tolerate a raised eyebrow when they present their qualifications. Let’s hope that any employer worth their salt takes these grades with a large pinch of the same.
Kate Pycock
Ipswich, Suffolk