100,000 A-Level Results Could Be Downgraded. Students Like These Are Most At Risk
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Pupils awaiting their A-level results in England say they are “angry” and “demoralised” amid fears their expected grades will be lowered by a computer on Thursday.
Those who attended school in deprived areas with historically lower-achieving exam performances say they are particularly worried they will be unfairly penalised by the algorithm used by regulator Ofqual.
The government is facing pressure to ensure exam results in England “will not exacerbate existing inequalities” by “biased” statistical modelling after students from poorer backgrounds in Scotland were hit hardest by downgrading last week.
Results for Higher awards north of the border were branded a “disaster” when the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) downgraded 124,000 results. On Tuesday the SNP-led Holyrood government announced all grades that had initially been lowered by the algorithm would be binned and replaced by the original assessments carried out by teachers.
Later that day ministers announced some pupils in England would be allowed to use results in mock A-level exams as the basis for an appeal against the grades they were given, so long as the mocks were held under exam conditions and could be “validated” by the schools.
Students will still be able to sit exams in the autumn if they are unhappy with the grades they secured in mock exams, or if they are dissatisfied with results awarded by exam boards on Thursday.
But the appeals process – where individual students in England are dependent on schools and colleges to appeal against results on their behalf – is expected to remain the same.
Labour has warned that Boris Johnson risks “robbing a generation of young people of their future” over the relentless policy changes, U-turns and backpedalling over the last few weeks.
Rhianna, 17, is waiting to hear if she will meet her predicted AAAs in order to...
