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This has been a uniquely difficult year, and there is no simple way to approach a fair and balanced assessment process due to the many complex issues around it.  However, Ministers, Ofqual and the Department for Education have failed to develop a process underpinned by teacher expertise or evidence. The process implemented has huge discrepancies and seems inherently distrustful of the teaching profession, as well as being widely perceived as not reflecting the grades our students deserved.

There have been widespread complaints from unions and educational organisations including ASCL, the NEU, the Social Mobility Commission and MPs. The Social Mobility Commission is calling for whole school appeals, as the appeals process itself is vague and heavily focused on revising individual student grades in accordance with mock exam results.

The implications for students are potentially very serious, and while the Government has insisted that universities show discretion in awarding places where students have not achieved predicted grades, and that moderated results and mock exams can be used in appeals, stories  are emerging of downgraded students losing university places.

A Level Results 2020 – negative impact on the most disadvantaged students

Although results have improved across the country with A*-C and top grades seeing an increase, this headline appears to be masking the issues of widespread downgrading, with many schools in the NE, and beyond, reporting results that are worse than their historical performance and long term trends.

In the North East specifically, we have seen smaller grade increases than other regions. For top grades, the North East is ranked 7th out of the 9 English regions, the same as last year, while for A*-C grades, the North East has seen the smallest increase (1.7%), and has fallen from second highest in 2019 to fifth this year. Positively, these results still continue a trend of improvement for the North East which has seen increases in top grades since 2015.

Despite this, there is still a clear North/South divide in results, as has been seen in the past, and there is not yet a clear indication of how badly disadvantaged students and schools in deprived areas have been affected. Ofqual has admitted that students with ‘low socio-economic status’ have been downgraded more than their counterparts, but suggests that this will not impact the disadvantage gap.

This morning’s Ofqual report highlights that at grade C and above students from the lowest socio-economic groups saw their teacher’s grades downgraded by 10.4 percentage points (pp), whereas students of medium and high socio-economic groups saw downgrades of 9.5pp and 8.3pp respectively.

The report also shows that while all groups saw a rise in grades, those with high socio-economic status saw a rise in the top grades (A*-A). It also appears that students in low-socioeconomic groups have been downgraded more despite the increase in top grades.

Early indications appear to show a big rise in top grades for independent schools, highlighting that this could have a significant detrimental impact on disadvantaged students in regard to destinations post-A levels. Feedback from the North East indicates that some of the top North East state schools have seen a flattening of their grades, as well as schools experiencing downgrading to U grades on a scale which has not been seen before, putting them behind their historical achievement levels.

There is also a very real risk of huge disparities nationally, as Scotland’s u-turn on moderation saw teacher assessed grades awarded, while Wales has guaranteed that no-one will receive lower grades than they did at AS, meaning that there is no consistency in approach across the UK.

Moderation vs Teacher Assessment

Research from FFT Datalab earlier this year suggested that teacher grades submitted for GCSEs were more optimistic when aligned with last year’s results by schools. Given that teachers were asked to use a range of evidence, from mock exams to written work, this is unsurprising, as it takes into account a broader range of student performance than a single final exam does. This highlights the incredibly difficult job which has been required of our teachers to, not only estimate grades which might have been achieved, but also to rank pupils in each subject, with no training and very little timely official guidance.

The moderation process has been conducted by an algorithm which supposedly took into account past student performance and historical school performance. It has been widely reported that 40% of students have been downgraded under this system, with no clear indications of how historical performance has been taken into account.

Maura Regan, CEO of Bishop Hogarth Trust and Trustee of Schools North East said ‘It is extremely disappointing that centre assessments have not been accepted but rather a moderation process has taken place based on a statistical model and which therefore does not fulfil the commitment that children will get the grade they deserve.’

Ultimately, this was an opportunity to place trust in the professional judgement of our teaching practitioners. The Department for Education and Ofqual have failed to work in collaboration with those at the chalkface who know their students, and instead have implemented a top-down, statistically led system which shows a serious lack of trust in the teaching profession, and has equally shaken confidence in the ability of the government to offer a fair exams system.

Use of mock exam grades

In Scotland the moderation process resulted in a quarter of all grades being downgraded, disproportionately affecting disadvantaged areas. It was confirmed earlier this week that the teacher proposed grades would be honoured in response to criticisms of the system.

In a last minute response to this, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that students could appeal their results and have schools submit mock examination grades, which would be accepted in equal weight to either teacher moderated grades or ‘resits’ in Autumn. This has been widely criticised by Head Teachers as a last minute arrangement, announced without consultation. There is huge disparity and inconsistency in how mock exams are held, and it cannot be guaranteed that all schools held mocks under exam conditions, or even at all prior to ‘lockdown’. For those that did hold mocks earlier – with some happening at the end of the first year, this does not take into account extra periods of time learning and that students will possibly not approach these exams with the same effort as their final assessments and so grades are likely to be lower anyway. Schools that did hold mocks are also likely to have taken these into consideration when submitting their teacher assessed grades.

This eleventh hour change to the process was not based in consultation or evidence and has further complicated an already fraught and complex process. While it may help some students who have been significantly downgraded, it is not a fair or accurate assessment of what grades students truly deserved and risks adding insult to injury in regards to the hard work of school staff in producing accurate, internally moderated centre assessed grades.

Response from North East schools

In a year which has seen huge challenges for our school leaders and staff, as well as our students and their families, the approach to A Level results from the government has been resoundingly disappointing and does not reflect the incredibly hard work of our teachers, or our students during this difficult time. Schools North East is committed to helping our schools and students get the recognition they deserve, lobbying for a fair and balanced system which does not leave the North East unfairly penalised.

We know that schools who have seen what they see as unfair and significant downgrading are seeking to raise this issue with the Department for Education and exam boards. Any schools who wish to do so will have our full support. As your network, we will work to coordinate this effort and amplify your voice as much as we can. If you would like to share your story confidentially with Schools North East let us know by emailing policy@schoolsnortheast.com.

The issues that have arisen this year come from a system which already had huge discrepancies and inaccuracies, which disproportionately impacted upon disadvantaged students. Schools North East is  committed to calling for fair examination and assessment systems though our Manifesto for North East Education, and this year’s exam season has highlighted just how important this is.

We want to know your thoughts on how we can respond to this situation. Please fill in our short survey to help determine the action that we will take on behalf of North East Schools.