Thousands of GCSE students are expected to receive higher grades than in previous years today after the government’s controversial last-minute U-turn.
Students in England, Wales and Northern Island will get grades based on teacher estimates on Thursday morning, unless a computer algorithm produces a higher grade.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said schools have likely given students ‘the benefit of the doubt’ if caught between two grades.
He told Sky News: ‘This is because schools may, understandably, have given some students the benefit of the doubt when they are on the borderline between two grades and they had the capability to achieve the higher grade.’
The algorithm, used after the coronavirus pandemic cancelled exams, saw more than a third of A-level grades initially reduced from teacher estimates last Thursday, sparking widespread protests and criticism.
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It comes after schools and colleges were told to not issue BTec results – with less than 24 hours to go until results day.
BTec students were left angry as the government failed to mention them in their U-turn announcement on Monday.
However, Exam board Pearson asked to delay level 1 and 2 results in the vocational qualifications on Wednesday evening to give them more time to recalculate the grades.
A spokeswoman for Pearson, the provider of BTECs, said: ‘Following Ofqual’s announcement that A-level and GCSE students are to receive centre-assessed grades, we will be applying the same principles for students receiving BTEC results this summer.
‘We will be regrading BTECs to address concerns about unfairness in relation to A-levels and GCSEs and ensure no BTEC student is disadvantaged.’
She added: ‘We know this could cause additional uncertainty for students and we are sorry about this.
‘Our priority is to ensure fair outcomes for BTEC students and we will work around the clock to provide revised grades as soon as we can.’
The eleventh-hour decision has been slammed as ‘utterly disgraceful’ by Labour’s shadow education secretary, Kate Green.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was reportedly warned six weeks ago that the algorithm could produce incorrect results for students – but decided to go ahead with it anyway.
A former director-general for the Department for Education, Sir Jon Coles, is understood to have written to Gavin Williamson more than a month ago, warning that Ofqual’s grading system would lead to unfairness in the system, a senior source in the department revealed to The Times.
The minister faced calls to resign this week from members of the Conservative Party who blasted his ‘catastrophic misjudgment’.
However, he insisted in a BBC Breakfast interview on Tuesday that he would be present to ‘deliver the world’s best education system over the coming year’.
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