This week A-Level and GCSE students will be receiving their
results. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the largest school
leadership union NAHT, said:
“All students receiving their results this week deserve our
congratulations. This is the culmination of a huge amount of work
in the most challenging of circumstances. Students have shown
great resilience and determination this year. For each individual
student, their grades are a passport to the next phase of their
education, training or employment.
“Students, parents, education providers and employers have every
reason to be confident in this year’s results, even though there
have been no exams. This year’s grades are based on students’
actual work, assessed by their teachers, moderated and quality
assured. There are no algorithms this year, just human effort and
human expert judgement.
“Talk of grade inflation is unhelpful. The results in 2021 cannot
be easily compared to any other year. The methods used to
generate them are very different to normal years when exams take
place, and even to the processes used to award grades in 2020.
The grades awarded in 2021 are a holistic judgement based on work
which students have produced.
“These evidence-based decisions are very different to the normal
way grades are awarded through exams. Many students will be able
to demonstrate higher levels of attainment through shorter
assessments taken throughout their course than in an exam on one
particular day in June. Students should be confident that they
are getting the grades they deserve and that reflect the standard
of achievement they have demonstrated.
“In making any comparisons, between years or between different
groups of students, care must be taken not to come to quick and
simplistic conclusions for differences. Differences in results
between types of school or groups of students are very complex
issues and, in the circumstances, will reflect issues of
educational inequality which have been exacerbated by the
pandemic.
“Government and Ofqual made the policy decisions and exam boards
created the detailed guidance on awarding grades this year.
Schools and colleges implemented those processes with
professionalism and integrity. It was obvious to schools and
colleges last summer that contingency arrangements would be
needed in 2021, and yet it took until the end of March to produce
the details for generating grades in the absence of exams. School
and college staff are to be commended for the way they have
managed to bring a sense of calm and rigour to proceedings. The
government’s contribution was to create an unnecessary layer of
risk and instability by failing to act swiftly enough.”
