Current Affairs

[towny44]

After "downgrading" 30 or 40% of results there is still a 3% increase in top grades. When is somebody going to ask why the teachers got their estimates so badly wrong?

Apparently they always do overestimate exam results, which was why the exam boards needed to adjust the results to make them more realistic.
But dont expect Labour to back down from their demands, they are desparate for a win after failing to get the govt to do any U turns so far.

[screwy]

What I question more is, why did teachers get a bigger pay rise than Police,Prison Offrs, Miltary etc.

[Clophill4]

I don't expect Labour to back down but I would expect such questions from an unbiased national reporting institution like the BBC

[david63]

Am I missing something here?

Every year when students take their exams some do better than expected, some do as expected and some don't do as well as expected.

Is this year any different?

[towny44]

Am I missing something here?

Every year when students take their exams some do better than expected, some do as expected and some don't do as well as expected.

Is this year any different?

Most certainly it is, according to Keir Starmer.

[screwy]

Maybe because of the circumstances they thought they might be on a free ride to top grades.?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Another factor. Most teachers will have given an honest assessment . But a few will deliberately or subconsciously recognised that their pupils doing well reflects well on their teaching ability and marked accordingly.

[Stephen]

Another factor. Most teachers will have given an honest assessment . But a few will deliberately or subconsciously recognised that their pupils doing well reflects well on their teaching ability and marked accordingly.

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

[Mervyn and Trish]

Another factor. Most teachers will have given an honest assessment . But a few will deliberately or subconsciously recognised that their pupils doing well reflects well on their teaching ability and marked accordingly.

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

I think you're spot on. But I have no better idea how it could have been done.

[Kendhni]

Another factor. Most teachers will have given an honest assessment . But a few will deliberately or subconsciously recognised that their pupils doing well reflects well on their teaching ability and marked accordingly.

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

I wonder how many brown envelopes were presented to teachers, head teachers or schools?

[Jan Rosser]

Another factor. Most teachers will have given an honest assessment . But a few will deliberately or subconsciously recognised that their pupils doing well reflects well on their teaching ability and marked accordingly.

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

I wonder how many brown envelopes were presented to teachers, head teachers or schools?

I would never normally contribute to this topic but in this instance with my son and daughter in law being secondary school teachers I have to hope that your remark was “tongue in cheek”. They are upset for their students particularly those who have worked hard throughout the two years and whose places at university, apprenticeships etc are not available now. Those pay rises somebody questioned being given to teachers may result in redundancies at the school - the budget obviously didn’t take COVID-19 into account or the increase in wages. My son usually marks exam papers - he calls it his “cruise money” - good job we’re not going on one in the foreseeable future

[towny44]

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

I wonder how many brown envelopes were presented to teachers, head teachers or schools?

I would never normally contribute to this topic but in this instance with my son and daughter in law being secondary school teachers I have to hope that your remark was “tongue in cheek”. They are upset for their students particularly those who have worked hard throughout the two years and whose places at university, apprenticeships etc are not available now. Those pay rises somebody questioned being given to teachers may result in redundancies at the school - the budget obviously didn’t take COVID-19 into account or the increase in wages. My son usually marks exam papers - he calls it his “cruise money” - good job we’re not going on one in the foreseeable future

I hope that none of us are questioning the basic honesty of teachers but, according to those responsible for creating the algorithm, historic precedent shows that teachers' assessments of the grades their pupils might achieve, has always overestimated the actual grades achieved. The facts are that this system has produced a 3% increase in higher grades achieved and more pupils getting into their first choice of university. Unfortunately it is impossible to know how close it got to mirroring the results that would have been achieved, but then what system could have.

[Stephen]

Another factor. Most teachers will have given an honest assessment . But a few will deliberately or subconsciously recognised that their pupils doing well reflects well on their teaching ability and marked accordingly.

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

I wonder how many brown envelopes were presented to teachers, head teachers or schools?

What do you mean Ken. Your not saying there was anything underhand going on surely

[Clophill4]

Do we go over to a system that relies solely on teacher assessment, I hope not because that brings in the distinct possibility of personal bias. Although many years ago, I "clashed" with one of my A level teachers and his assessment delivered regularly and forcefully was that I would fail. In that subject I got one of my 3 A grades (they didn't have A* then). I would also assert that his continual snide and unhelpful remarks did not push me to do better, I just ignored him and carried on with my own plan. If teacher assessment is consistently higher than exam grades should teachers not learn from that?

[Kendhni]

It can also help the school look good if the overall grades are high, or is that just me being cynical

I wonder how many brown envelopes were presented to teachers, head teachers or schools?

I would never normally contribute to this topic but in this instance with my son and daughter in law being secondary school teachers I have to hope that your remark was “tongue in cheek”. They are upset for their students particularly those who have worked hard throughout the two years and whose places at university, apprenticeships etc are not available now. Those pay rises somebody questioned being given to teachers may result in redundancies at the school - the budget obviously didn’t take COVID-19 into account or the increase in wages. My son usually marks exam papers - he calls it his “cruise money” - good job we’re not going on one in the foreseeable future

Mostly tongue in cheek. However I remember the days when parents used to go down and 'negotiate' with schools to find another place for their child (similar for universities). In those days a contribution towards the renovation of the 'east wing' may have suddenly magic'd up a desk that happened to have no pupil assigned to it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Most teachers are of course honest and hard working. However despite the downward moderation the resulting grades still show upward inflation this year. Do we all believe that students and schools across the board are better than last year? Or were some of the grade estimates by teachers overly optimistic?

[david63]

Teachers are no different to anyone else when they are asked to judge their own performance. How many employees when asked how they are doing in their job will say "cannot cope and I am doing a bad job"?

It reminds me of the annual appraisal system that we had at work one year where we were all asked to grade ourselves on a multitude of areas on a scale of 1 to 5. Nobody could understand why I gave myself 5 for every question!

[Manoverboard]

Teachers are no different to anyone else when they are asked to judge their own performance. How many employees when asked how they are doing in their job will say "cannot cope and I am doing a bad job"?

It reminds me of the annual appraisal system that we had at work one year where we were all asked to grade ourselves on a multitude of areas on a scale of 1 to 5. Nobody could understand why I gave myself 5 for every question!

That's interesting ...

We had a system where performance ratings for each area would range between ' Excellent ' and ' Inadequate '.

The system was evaluated, with others no doubt, as a way forward for School Teachers. Feedback implied that they would consider five ratings along the lines of ' Excellent, Superb, Bloody Good, Outstanding and almost Wonderful ' but nothing approaching ' Inadequate ' or ' Room for Improvement ' could possibly be considered.

What are they in today's world I wonder or have they swapped it for a ' performance related contract ' type model.

[Manoverboard]

It's satisfying to note that the finest brains in the land are contributing to the Exam Appeal process, Ofqual or Offqual ?

[towny44]

If the exam boards are to keep to the similar results system, then which ones of those currently with passes is going to give them up to help someone else?

[oldbluefox]

I don't know why they didn't put them all through exams in July/August and be done with it. There would still have been the usual gripes from over expectant parents and students finding they are not as clever as they have been told but clearly there is something wrong with a system which drops you five grades from an A* position.
Most teachers are honest with their evaluations and as accurate as they can be but their predictions will always err on the side of optimistic. I doubt any teacher would downgrade a child. There are also those who are, should I say, not as professional and bow to the pressure of targets, professional performance issues and the need to achieve good results which are later used by Ofsted in their inspection data.

[Ranchi]

[quote=david63 post_id=279368 time=1597492602
The system was evaluated, with others no doubt, as a way forward for School Teachers. Feedback implied that they would consider five ratings along the lines of ' Excellent, Superb, Bloody Good, Outstanding and almost Wonderful ' but nothing approaching ' Inadequate ' or ' Room for Improvement ' could possibly be considered.

I was always had a quiet smirk to myself when teachers went in about their ‘outstanding’ lessons. Outstanding to me is an incomplete description. Surely ‘good’ or ‘bad’ needs to be added. I have certainly delivered some outstandingly bad lessons, although I hope the vast majority of them were quite good. I would find that a satisfactory situation.
.

[Mervyn and Trish]

One suggestion today is to scrub the tweaking and just award the grades as judged by the teachers. So hands up those who were tweaked upwards if you're happy with that?

[Clophill4]

Then next year when we have actual exams (Hopefully) and the grades are that much lower there will be another outcry.
Also as an employer looking for suitably qualified people will they be expected to take into account which year somebodies A Levels are to ensure they are comparing like with like.

[Manoverboard]

However .. keeping them at a lower level will mean a re-take for many which in turn means a far higher level trying to get into Uni next year. Becomes a serious problem if foreign students return in the same timescale