National Education Union president says calculated grade system has left many youngsters 'devastated'
NATIONAL Education Union (NEU) president and Portsmouth teacher, Amanda Martin, has said many young people have been left ‘devastated’ at seeing their marks downgraded through ‘nothing to do with their own performance’.
Ms Martin, who represents the country’s biggest teaching union, believes the weighting placed on the past performance of previous years’ pupils has prejudiced the outcomes for this year’s students.
She said that the way grades have been calculated has had a potentially detrimental impact on able students who may be from disadvantaged backgrounds attending schools who face challenging circumstances.
Nationally, 36 per cent of students had a lower grade than teachers predicted and a further three per cent were adjusted by two grades.
Ms Martin said: ‘Students have been downgraded for reasons which to them will be obscure. So not only will the result be devastating but many will discover it has nothing to do with their own performance and everything to do with the past attainment of their school.
‘Students prospects this year were governed by an algorithm and the unfairness of that process has been exposed.’
It’s a system which has left a number of the city’s schools looking to appeal their results.
Oaklands Catholic School in Waterlooville is going to appeal the grades of at least 70 pupils with headteacher, Matt Quinn, saying students had ‘lost faith in the education system’. University Technical College Portsmouth principal, James Doherty, has said he will be appealing grades in maths and physics after seeing teacher estimates downgraded by an average of one grade.
The system has also been criticised by Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for education, Cllr Suzy Horton.
Cllr Horton said: ‘We were led to believe that greater emphasis was going to be placed on teacher judgements and this seems to have shifted. This can disadvantage students due to historic variables at their school.’
After Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, performed a public U-turn in reinstating teacher predicted marks which had been downgraded, education secretary, Gavin Williamson, hastily announced the triple lock system in which students were promised they would get no lower than their mock exam results.
However it has since emerged this is not automatic but will involve an appeal process in which mock examinations are judged to be ‘validated’. Students also have the option of sitting an autumn examination.
The NEU feel this pledge has complicated rather than improved the situation while headteachers have highlighted fact that students would ‘normally perform better in their final exams when compared to their mocks’.
Ms Martin said: ‘Gavin Williamson has apologised and promised to put things right but his solution causes more problems than it solves. We are dealing with a crisis which should never have arisen. The solution is to award students the grades their teachers – who know them better than any data prediction – think they would have achieved.’
The government’s stance has been defended by Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt who said ‘there needed to be a standardisation process’.
Ms Mordaunt said: ‘I know there are some students who will be disappointed at their results and there do seem to be a number who have got vastly lower grades. These students should appeal via their college and my office can help support that.’
The Conservative MP also reassured students that ‘universities will not close off places until the appeals process is complete’.
Ms Mordaunt added: ‘This cohort have lost out on so much, we owe it to them to ensure they can get on with the next steps of their lives.’
Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage said: ‘I understand that data shows that grades have remained broadly stable this year with more disadvantaged youngsters than ever before going on to higher education. The triple lock system is there to help and my team and I are keen to support constituents who need it.’
The city council’s shadow cabinet member for education and Conservative councillor, Terry Norton, believes there needs to be some form of standardisation but is concerned by the number of teacher predictions which have been downgraded.
Cllr Norton said: ‘The city’s A-level results are slightly up on last year, however it’s concerning that around 35 per cent of students have had their results downgraded.
‘Teachers recommendations were a starting point, but of course there needed to be a standardisation process.
‘The crucial thing is that the process is fair and doesn't discriminate against any individual or group. With this in mind, it’s imperative that those who feel unfairly treated appeal swiftly.’
‘Therefore, we must ensure that the process is efficient and easily accessible.’