A Level Screw Up

[SueEllen]

As someone who went to a low achieving school in a deprived area I'm kind of biased on this one. I was one of only 6 who went on to get a degree in my year, out of 330 kids. Sad thing is, kids in my class could have pushed harder at school but they were always given the message that degrees are for posh kids and that the jobs for us were in the factories, council YTS (remember those?) or similar.

You would have likely been screwed if it happened in your time.

I may have been ok as I used the London effect like some of my contemporaries to cross council boundaries and do my A levels in a wealthier area. A third of my classes had been in private including minor public schools until 16 then choose a high performing state A level college as they were more likely to get into the university of their choice as "state-educated".

This was an opportunity to get kids into Uni who maybe wouldn't normally have a chance. Give them a helping hand for once. But no, instead the Tories have given a hand to those already in a privileged position (public schools, small classes, private tuition) and pulled the ladder up again on those who really need assistance.

Yep.

[minestrone]

You don't like teachers do you? Why not show us on a little dolly where you was touched by the bad teacher?

I think a substantial proportion of state teachers are absolutely fookin useless, as is clearly proven by their over estimation of their abilities.

Thankfully I don't have to deal with them.

[SueEllen]

Grading boundaries shift every year based on the test results.

Schools supplied expecting results A, B, C and also ranked students in order.

The algorithm used the schools previous years results to calculate the expected grades.

Now.. look at your own kids school results, and you see a familiar pattern over the years.

So if your child got 9 9s at GCSE and now got three Ds would you be happy?

Lots of schools with poor performance ratings, massively inflated results. There was no alternative.

Also, the kids have, mocks and resits as a fall back which is a massive advantage.

To allow predicted grades after teachers took the piss would be a massive slap in the face to students who actually deserved them.

Not all schools and A level colleges took the piss. Not all schools do mocks. The problem is unless the government found out which schools and A level colleges in England did a form of continuous assessment with summer first year exams, mock exams etc they have no chance of having a fair algorithm.

Agree with the government on this one.

I don't.

[TheGreenBastard]

Given that it is kids in the poorer areas that are being impacted the worst I wonder if they will remember this at the next GE. Not exactly the way the Tories should be thanking those who got them into No.10

As someone who went to a low achieving school in a deprived area I'm kind of biased on this one. I was one of only 6 who went on to get a degree in my year, out of 330 kids. Sad thing is, kids in my class could have pushed harder at school but they were always given the message that degrees are for posh kids and that the jobs for us were in the factories, council YTS (remember those?) or similar.

This was an opportunity to get kids into Uni who maybe wouldn't normally have a chance. Give them a helping hand for once. But no, instead the Tories have given a hand to those already in a privileged position (public schools, small classes, private tuition) and pulled the ladder up again on those who really need assistance.

But hey, isn't this always the case? And yet the poorer classes will still vote Tory as they somehow believe that they are on their side.

Oh well.

I would say I'm from a similar background, my secondary school closed due to under performance a couple of years after I left. Who were instilling the message degrees were for posh kids? I never saw that coming from the school or its staff. Culturally however, it was rife.

Are you implying they wouldn't have been given a chance due to their academic record prior to covid, and now is a good time to give under achievers a opportunity?

[SueEllen]

I would say I'm from a similar background, my secondary school closed due to under performance a couple of years after I left. Who were instilling the message degrees were for posh kids? I never saw that coming from the school or its staff. Culturally however, it was rife.

Are you implying they wouldn't have been given a chance due to their academic record prior to covid, and now is a good time to give under achievers a opportunity?

If there were more than 15 students in the class they didn't use teacher predicted grades.

A-level results: Government accused of 'baking in' inequality with 'boost' for private schools | UK News | Sky News

[SueEllen]

I think a substantial proportion of state teachers are absolutely fookin useless, as is clearly proven by their over estimation of their abilities.

Thankfully I don't have to deal with them.

So it is fair that independent schools get higher grades due to having classes smaller than 16?

[BlueSharp]

Slightly controversial but this cock up lays firmly at the feet of the teachers and unions. They were out the door at the first chance and are still creating cock and bull stories to not return and have treated furlough (even though they were not furloughed!) as a big holiday. If the teachers were compitant there would be no over estimation of grades and no need for a computer algorithm to smooth out there incompetence.

Disadvantaged kids not being in school where the distance learning has been none existent vs the excellent distance learning provided by the private schools was always going to create a gulf especially when they push to retake the exams.

[vetran]

Half the BBC's titles are in this form now. Get a word from an opinion and form an editorial headline.

The only difference between the BBC news site and the guardian is a few quotation mizzspeillings and Slave prices.

FTFY

[SueEllen]

Slightly controversial but this cock up lays firmly at the feet of the teachers and unions. They were out the door at the first chance and are still creating cock and bull stories to not return and have treated furlough as a big holiday.

Disadvantaged kids not being in school where the distance learning has been none resistant vs the excellent distance learning provided by the private schools was always going to create a gulf especially when they push to retake the exams.

State schools vary a lot.

So some state schools were doing distance learning while others in the some council area weren't.

Some state schools with disadvantaged pupils were checking up on pupils but others weren't.

[BlueSharp]

State schools vary a lot.

So some state schools were doing distance learning while others in the some council area weren't.

Some state schools with disadvantaged pupils were checking up on pupils but others weren't.

Our experience with state schools over covid has been very much the incompetence/gone on holiday for 6 months variaty. So my views may be more negative than most. No contact with a teacher at all in that time, just an email on a Monday with a list of worksheets to do.