Breaking news - all A-level and GCSE students to get grades predicted by teachers

It has just been announced that all A=level and GCSE students in England will get the grades predicted by their teachers. Similar announcements have been made or are expected shortly from the authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland decision was that students would get whichever was higher of the the A-level grade predicted  by their teachers or the one previously officially awarded, a few days ago and I presume this is how it will work for both A levels and GCSE's throughout the UK.

This U-turn was the only possible course of action since the levelling algorithm used in by the exam appeared to completely unacceptable and inexplicable results.

There was no good way to handle this situation. I don't think it was practical or safe to hold exams and students would rightly have said that their exam performance had been disrupted by the pandemic. It wasn't a bad idea in principle to have a levelling process to ensure fairness but the one employed by the different exam boards in each part of the UK appears to have catastrophically failed. We cannot allow the students taking their exams to have their career opportunities wrecked by that failure.


POSTSCRIPT


CONFIRMED - The PM's office has tweeted that 

"A Level, AS Level and GCSE results will now be based on teacher-assessed grades. 

Students will receive the higher of their teacher-assessed grade or their moderated grade."

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