It's exam results season so there's a lot of nonsense in the air. Here're a couple of quotes to get the pulse rating before Thursday's A level results come out:
Roger Taylor, chairman of Ofqual, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that
"Calculations of grades by Ofqual was the fairest possible way to award marks. Basing grades only on teacher assessments “would create a perpetual unfairness between this year’s grades compared to past and future generations. It would mean such an increase in the numbers of top grades that they would no longer be credible, something that has happened in other countries dealing with the same circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Melanie Sanderson, managing editor of the Good Schools Guide, is quoted in The Times:
“Put your child’s mental health first; don’t catastrophise lower than expected results and remind your child this year’s grades are not reflective of their work ethic or intellect in the same way as before; they are the output of a data lab and reflect as much what students in your child’s school achieved in previous years as what they are capable of themselves. Don’t be tempted to blame teachers for submitting low grades either — teacher-assessed predicted grades were just one piece of the jigsaw leading to the final grade. Now is the time to dust yourselves down and work out what opportunities are available to you next.”
Sanderson, using her in-depth insights into the UK's communities, advised parents to "clear their diaries to make phone calls to schools and university admissions offices".
All very difficult, I know, but I'd have been incandescent and unforgiving to read this stuff had I been a current student and found that fairness was being sacrificed on the alter of statistical purity.
It was dire in North Britain before today's volte face as the administration discovered that teacher grades were not as problematic as they first thought. But much better to eat words quickly than have a long battle they could not win, especially as it sets a challenge for the English / Welsh systems. Politics is never far away from any decision the Nat's make – even an embarrassing one.
Had I been in charge this year (Heaven forfend, ...), I'd have awarded everybody an A and left the universities to sort it all out.
And, by the way, "catastrophise" really is unforgivable.
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