This Government

I suspect Eric was buying the Government line. Apologies up front Eric if that is not the case.

It's not wrong to want the set of results that are consistent, instead they created something that was the opposite. Why is it a case of over inflation vs failure and a postcode lottery? The fact that this seems to be the only 2 options you've suggested sums up how sh*te this government even is in the first place.

There is absolutely no reason why they can't look at the mock results + teachers predicted grades and take an average.

Do you have any proof that teachers have been over inflating the predictions? And let's say in this mad world that students who've received C's & D's all year suddenly get straight A's - do you think that will go unnoticed? That teachers themselves are not professionals enough to judge the work and that they're just in it for the handouts, knowing that giving one student a made up grade, would only screw over another student who made the grades fairly? Do you really think that low of teachers?

Of course, I am twisting your words deliberately here. But the point remains that teachers are professionals and the government set up a sh*t way to determine results. That falls on them.

Apologies for answering my own post but just read it’s 8 U-turns in eight months .
That really is world beating. Bravo Boris 👏

Meanwhile, many a truth told in a tall tale

flip.it/D3qfFX

So she was marked down.
Classic.

In this year Eric it was wrong because:

1. No one in their right sense would ever compare A Levels in 2020 with any year in the past or in the future because everyone knows that there has been little formal or organised direct education or teaching since mid-March. It is so different.

2. If they wanted to avoid over-inflation of scores and results then they needed to devise a much fairer system that didn’t handicap pupils who’d been educated in schools that hadn’t been as good as others. It’s the government’s responsibility to make sure schools are fit for purpose not pupils doing their exams. Yet they have been the ones that have suffered. They have had plenty of time to devise a system to avoid grade-inflation, if they wanted it badly enough, one that was fair to all pupils and didn’t handicap those who attended certain schools. 

3. How do you know the teachers over inflated with their predictions? Teachers are going to be as accurate as they can, professional pride, moderating controls and my experience would lead me to think teachers and Headteachers would know they  would lose credibility if, as you say they over inflate. Schools will have controls in place to avoid this.

4. It was clearly going to be a very difficult year for exams GCSEs and A Levels but the government were very sharp to abandon the exam system when lockdown occurred. What they didn’t do is ensure that a fair system of marking, assessment, moderation was put in place to enable each pupil to be assessed accurately. 

5. To aim for a consistent system over time and avoid grade-inflation is of course sensible but not at the expense of childrens’ futures and not by using a system which handicaps children from schools that may not have the historically high achievements of other schools. That is just plain unfair.

So you think it’s better to have a system that handicaps children based on what children years before did in that school or area for the sake of ensuring the avoidance of grade-inflation?  I can’t believe anyone would want that. Yet because of the time line of this crisis and despite the U-turn thousands pupils have had their futures put on hold or irrevocably changed because of faulty algorithm.

Eric I very often agree with your posts but on this occasion I’m afraid not. 

A lot of A-levels were modular until Gove scrapped that. Most students would already have had 3/4 of their grades/course completed

Clive
Good morning.
I agree with you, but I think we have to accept that within the context of our current constraints teacher assessment is the best we can deliver.
So the question is does that risk "grade inflation"? The answer is probably, but do we then punish a whole cohort with crack handed way of dealing with that, or say ok, yes probably, but everybody who wanted a place at Uni got one, let's move on and plan better for next year.

I know where my money lies.

Morning Les,I agree,the practicalities in Universities are now surfacing around not enough course places,accommodation etc so this is not a free hit.
It's like a snake eating a deer!!.
If there are a signicant number of deferalls it will impact the 2021 cohort,finally I don't see planning as one of Williamsons strong points😆.
The impact of this virus will touch every corner of Society.

Yes oldie you are right about coursework v exams and the pros of coursework that you identified. But, and I can understand this to an extent, if it were coursework completely then there may well be grade-inflation. They would need to alter and look closely at the criteria required to achieve the top grades so that the normal distribution curve ranging from pass to fail was still maintained. And of course there are certain tendencies that get exaggerated in the current system. There are gender imbalances insofar as it appears females do better with coursework, whilst males appear to do better with an exam system. That’s a very blunt statement but exams are preferred by some so it may not be as popular as we sometimes think.
I would suggest though that the biggest obstacle to any change is the government itself. Conservative governments love exam based systems, it’s what they are used to in their own experience I would imagine. I don’t think they have ever totally trusted teachers despite saying they do and their actions show that they work independently of the educational experts and because of that there is always a friction between government and education.