Highest GCSES on record after algorithm is given the elbow
GCSE results day produced the highest grades since records began, as education experts insisted that the “Covid generation” deserved their marks and should not be “written off ”.
More than a quarter of exams – 26 per cent – were awarded top grades after the Government’s about-turn, which meant pupils would be given grades according to their teachers’ predictions rather than the marks calculated by a now discredited algorithm.
More students passed their GCSES this year than ever before, with 76 per cent of exams awarded at least a grade 4, which is equivalent to a C grade – up from 67 per cent last year.
In some subjects – including chemistry, physics, and biology – more than half of exams were awarded grade 7 or above, the equivalent of an A or A*. This year 53 per cent of exams in each subject were given the top grades, up from 44, 44 and 43 per cent respectively last year.
In classical subjects, a category that includes Latin, Greek and ancient history, 75 per cent of exams were graded A or A*, up from 64 per cent last year.
But last night education experts warned that the “Covid generation” were not to blame for their higher than average grades and should not be punished for them.
“You have to judge children in the year that they do the exams,” said Lee Eliot Major, a professor of social mobility at Exeter University.
“It would be really grossly unfair if they are penalised through no fault of their own. They have done very well given the circumstances they have been in, and we have to judge them in those terms.”
Neil Roskilly, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association, said that “no one will ever know” if the “Covid generation truly deserved the grades they have been awarded”.
He said these students’ grades should not be merely “written off” as the product of grade inflation, adding that many of them would have got those grades anyway and the rest would make the most of the opportunity this had given them.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, he said: “Those of us who have worked in education for any great length hold an unswerving faith in the ability of young people to shine, as long as they are given the opportunity, and this Covid cohort may well turn out to be one of our finest generations.”
Yesterday’s GCSE results marked the end of an exam season that has been dogged by chaos and confusion.
On Wednesday night, with less than 24 hours to go until results were handed to pupils, the exam board Pearson told schools not to publish Btec results, saying they needed more time to recalculate the grades. The eleventh-hour change was the latest in a string of exam fiascos and led to accusations that the Education Secretary had “forgotten” about the 450,000 students who take vocational qualifications.
Last week, A-level results day revealed that 40 per cent of exams had been downgraded by a statistical model drawn up by Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation,
‘They have done very well given the circumstances, and we have to judge them in those terms’
after exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.
It prompted an outcry from pupils who said that their grades had been unfairly brought down by the algorithm, which reportedly took into account various factors, including a school’s past performance.
Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, insisted on Saturday that there would be “no U-turn, no change” to the grading approach – but on Monday he announced that the algorithm would be scrapped in favour of teachers’ predicted grades.
Universities were left scrambling to work out how they could admit thousands more students who had now met their conditional offers. Universities that make the offers are contractually obliged to award a place if students meet the terms of the offer.
However, universities were last night thrown a lifeline by ministers who said they would lift the cap on places for medicine and give out extra funding for high-cost subjects.
Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the education select committee, said that this year’s GCSE students should be wished every success and that no one should try to “demean” their results. He said: “Employers are sensible. They know this is an exceptional year and they will have enough common sense to employ people on the basis of aptitude, intelligence, experience and all those kinds of things. Students should not worry one bit about their grades.”
Mr Williamson said that students’ “hard work, dedication and perseverance” would be recognised.
“The grades issued will help them take their next steps into A-levels, further education, university, or work – and that’s just as important this year as any other,” he said.