August 23, 2020
by socialistiain
York Young Socialists stall on A-level results day 2020 – photo Iain Dalton
Across the country a growing movement of young people has forced the government and exam boards to abandon the biased algorithm which was being used to grade students GCSE, A-Level and BTEC results. Young Socialists called a day of action around the A-level results being announced, as well as a protest at Downing Street which helped kickstart protests being organised around the country. At the time of publishing these reports, BTEC students are still awaiting their results.
We believe that the regraded BTEC results should be released urgently, as delays could cost students jobs and university places, but we are also calling for university places to be fully funded for all who have applied for them, as well as a programme of creating decent permanent jobs in socially useful areas, such as building council housing.
Barnsley Young Socialists stall on a-level results day 2020 – photo Alistair Tice
Josh Fields, BTEC student and Young Socialists activist commented
“While A-level students were dealing with downgrading, I and many of my peers were yet to even receive our BTEC grades! This delay not only adds mental stress, but means if we receive marked-down grades we might not have enough time to appeal before university deadlines.
As a working-class student, I already faced struggles. I had to rely on a poorly financed bursary system that barely covers food and travel on a week-to-week basis.
I had to take a year off education before attending college to work full-time just to put myself through supposedly free education.
No A-level students were expecting the severe downgrading that occurred. Grades had been predicted on what the tutors expected, yet many students received much under this.
But most private schools and colleges were hardly affected by these grade cuts. The places hit hardest were in working-class areas.”
Hull Young Socialists stall on a-level results day 2020 – photo Paul Spooner
Hull protest report by Julia Louw
There was engagement with Young Socialists campaign stalls across Yorkshire from young people wanting to stop the unfair downgrading of results.
One student in Hull explained many of her friends had been disappointed by their results and were uncertain whether they would be able to go to university.
We cannot allow working-class youth to bear the brunt of Covid-19, and will continue to fight for a better education system.
Comment by Kat Gwyther, South Yorkshire Young Socialists
“On 13th August 2020, A-Level students across the United Kingdom received their results. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these results were not the product of formal assessment but rather based on assessments submitted by teachers and schools, or so everyone thought.
However, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) introduced an algorithm that resulted in 40% of all A-Level students receiving final grades which were below the submitted teacher assessed grades. On paper, this meant that some students who were predicted to receive C’s got U’s, and those predicted to get A’s received C’s.
This was not a case of a student missing a grade boundary by one or two points, it was a government failing delivered via Ofqual’s algorithm. There was also the question of a disparity among those who got their results downgraded with working-class students disproportionally affected by this algorithm.Labour MP for Hove, Peter Kyle, perfectly highlighted this, tweeting: “This is a ‘levelling down’ govt. ‘A’s up by 4.7% in private schools, 0.3% in sixth form collages [sic]. Locally, ‘U’s increased by 3x in one school and 66% of teacher assessments downgraded in another. Aspirations crushed, hard work ignored, social mobility destroyed.”
Dr Michelle Meadows, who is the director for strategy, risk and research at Ofqual, stood by the validity of the algorithm and argued that students from low socio-economic backgrounds were generally given inflated predicted grades which they would not necessarily achieve had the exams gone ahead as planned.
Not only has the algorithm attacked disadvantaged and working-class students but the appeals process also favoured those who could pay to change their grade with appeal fees ranging from £8 to £150, depending on the exam board and level of appeal.
The government soon did a U-turn on the results given via the Ofqual algorithm, instead of giving students the grades provided by their teachers’ assessment. However, this governmental failing resulted in outrage throughout society: student-led protests took place up and down the country, MPs from all parties criticised the process, social and traditional media were up in arms, and Young Socialists raised their voices in anger and action throughout the United Kingdom.
Interestingly, media reports of A-Level results tended to focus on the notion that the results were “unfair” and that they ignored all the hard work that students had put in in preparation for their final exams. These headlines imply that under normal, non-COVID, circumstances, exam results are a fair reflection of a student’s ability and do not discriminate based on their socio-economic background or other factors.
Sadly, this is not the case. While there may not be an algorithm that is actively downgrading working-class students, it is clear to see that the education system benefits white, middle- and upper-class pupils.
Middle- and upper-class students have access to a wealth of resources, like private tutoring and cultural knowledge, that working-class students are denied, not because they do not work hard enough but because their parents do not have the finances or time to provide these things for them.
For example, if a student goes on to study an Arts and Humanities subject, such as English Literature or Religious Studies, at a higher education institution, having some background knowledge of Classics and/or ancient history is incredibly useful. However, as most state schools do not teach Classics or Classics adjacent subjects like Latin, students who do not have access to private tutors, schools, or highly educated parents will join their course steps behind those who did have access.
The idea of a fair education system is not a reality in the United Kingdom under a Conservative government; the fiasco of this year’s A-Level results has highlighted this. The anger of this disaster must be used to fuel the action that works toward a fair education system where students are not penalised because of their postcode and parents’ pay check.”
Young Socialists - Yorkshire 
Young Socialists actions help force government U-turn on exam grading
August 23, 2020 by socialistiain Leave a comment
York Young Socialists stall on A-level results day 2020 – photo Iain Dalton
Across the country a growing movement of young people has forced the government and exam boards to abandon the biased algorithm which was being used to grade students GCSE, A-Level and BTEC results. Young Socialists called a day of action around the A-level results being announced, as well as a protest at Downing Street which helped kickstart protests being organised around the country. At the time of publishing these reports, BTEC students are still awaiting their results.
We believe that the regraded BTEC results should be released urgently, as delays could cost students jobs and university places, but we are also calling for university places to be fully funded for all who have applied for them, as well as a programme of creating decent permanent jobs in socially useful areas, such as building council housing.
Barnsley Young Socialists stall on a-level results day 2020 – photo Alistair Tice
Josh Fields, BTEC student and Young Socialists activist commented
“While A-level students were dealing with downgrading, I and many of my peers were yet to even receive our BTEC grades! This delay not only adds mental stress, but means if we receive marked-down grades we might not have enough time to appeal before university deadlines.
As a working-class student, I already faced struggles. I had to rely on a poorly financed bursary system that barely covers food and travel on a week-to-week basis.
I had to take a year off education before attending college to work full-time just to put myself through supposedly free education.
No A-level students were expecting the severe downgrading that occurred. Grades had been predicted on what the tutors expected, yet many students received much under this.
But most private schools and colleges were hardly affected by these grade cuts. The places hit hardest were in working-class areas.”
Hull Young Socialists stall on a-level results day 2020 – photo Paul Spooner
Hull protest report by Julia Louw
There was engagement with Young Socialists campaign stalls across Yorkshire from young people wanting to stop the unfair downgrading of results.
One student in Hull explained many of her friends had been disappointed by their results and were uncertain whether they would be able to go to university.
We cannot allow working-class youth to bear the brunt of Covid-19, and will continue to fight for a better education system.
Comment by Kat Gwyther, South Yorkshire Young Socialists
“On 13th August 2020, A-Level students across the United Kingdom received their results. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these results were not the product of formal assessment but rather based on assessments submitted by teachers and schools, or so everyone thought.
However, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) introduced an algorithm that resulted in 40% of all A-Level students receiving final grades which were below the submitted teacher assessed grades. On paper, this meant that some students who were predicted to receive C’s got U’s, and those predicted to get A’s received C’s.
This was not a case of a student missing a grade boundary by one or two points, it was a government failing delivered via Ofqual’s algorithm. There was also the question of a disparity among those who got their results downgraded with working-class students disproportionally affected by this algorithm.Labour MP for Hove, Peter Kyle, perfectly highlighted this, tweeting: “This is a ‘levelling down’ govt. ‘A’s up by 4.7% in private schools, 0.3% in sixth form collages [sic]. Locally, ‘U’s increased by 3x in one school and 66% of teacher assessments downgraded in another. Aspirations crushed, hard work ignored, social mobility destroyed.”
Dr Michelle Meadows, who is the director for strategy, risk and research at Ofqual, stood by the validity of the algorithm and argued that students from low socio-economic backgrounds were generally given inflated predicted grades which they would not necessarily achieve had the exams gone ahead as planned.
Not only has the algorithm attacked disadvantaged and working-class students but the appeals process also favoured those who could pay to change their grade with appeal fees ranging from £8 to £150, depending on the exam board and level of appeal.
The government soon did a U-turn on the results given via the Ofqual algorithm, instead of giving students the grades provided by their teachers’ assessment. However, this governmental failing resulted in outrage throughout society: student-led protests took place up and down the country, MPs from all parties criticised the process, social and traditional media were up in arms, and Young Socialists raised their voices in anger and action throughout the United Kingdom.
Interestingly, media reports of A-Level results tended to focus on the notion that the results were “unfair” and that they ignored all the hard work that students had put in in preparation for their final exams. These headlines imply that under normal, non-COVID, circumstances, exam results are a fair reflection of a student’s ability and do not discriminate based on their socio-economic background or other factors.
Sadly, this is not the case. While there may not be an algorithm that is actively downgrading working-class students, it is clear to see that the education system benefits white, middle- and upper-class pupils.
Middle- and upper-class students have access to a wealth of resources, like private tutoring and cultural knowledge, that working-class students are denied, not because they do not work hard enough but because their parents do not have the finances or time to provide these things for them.
For example, if a student goes on to study an Arts and Humanities subject, such as English Literature or Religious Studies, at a higher education institution, having some background knowledge of Classics and/or ancient history is incredibly useful. However, as most state schools do not teach Classics or Classics adjacent subjects like Latin, students who do not have access to private tutors, schools, or highly educated parents will join their course steps behind those who did have access.
The idea of a fair education system is not a reality in the United Kingdom under a Conservative government; the fiasco of this year’s A-Level results has highlighted this. The anger of this disaster must be used to fuel the action that works toward a fair education system where students are not penalised because of their postcode and parents’ pay check.”
Filed under Comment, YFJ Events Tagged with A-Level, Barnsley, BTEC, GCSE, Hull, results, York, Young Socialists