Yet More Gcse Chaos

[sherrardk]

According to the DfE, students will receive their centre assessed grades on Thursday but they can accept the one arrived at by the algorithm if it’s higher - but these might not be ready in time (but they don’t say when they will be available). I’m aware that these are unprecedented times but how can they have made such a mess of this?

[fiction-factory]

I'm pretty sure that if the students had had to sit an exam there would have been lots of complaints that it was unfair on less well off and BAME students because they were less likely to have tutors, laptops, access to resources, highly educated parents to help them, etc.

[fiction-factory]

I assumed that the reason the algorithm results would still be available is that they had already been sent to schools (just as I heard universities received the results a week early), but that can't be the case can it if there is now a delay.
Yes, it's a mess

[horselady]

Agree with Gness, the kids have missed out on so much. My grandson finished school with exactly 2 hours notice on that day in March, just told to go straight home, none of the silly, fun stuff like writing on each others shirts and things. No prom, no seeing friends for a while and now they get this done to them. They will always be "the class of 2020" when we look back at this shambles.

[fiction-factory]

More so than the tens of thousands who died early in care homes or the families who were unable to meet up or the shielders who saw no-one for months?
I think it's been hard for all and when they look back I don''t think missing a prom will seem a big deal.
But the whole exam thing has indeed been a shambles. Yet I don't remember many predicting that the algorithm approach would fail and suggesting just teacher grades or run all the exams anyway.

Even running the exams you'd have needed an algorithm to adjust all the scores/grade boundaries and how would you take account of students who hadn't yet covered some topics? That would have brought lots of problems and criticism too

[horselady]

I don't suggest for one moment that it is more harrowing than the care home/family situation. I merely agreed with Gness about the position the youngsters are in.

[sherrardk]

FF, we know people died and had horrible times but I’m talking about the 1000’s of 16 year olds who are being royally arsed about on top of having put up with Covid and maybe shielding, isolating and having people die. Do you remember being 16?

[iluvmargie]

I agree with ff, far worse things have happened and the young are far more resilient than the elderly. And yes, I remember being 16 - what's that got to do with anything ?? I'm pretty certain we will ALL look back on 2020 as being an horrendous year for allsorts of reasons.

[horselady]

For goodness sake-the topic was referring to the GCSE chaos and the effect it has on the kids. Why are we suddenly having these comparisons, the subject was not about care homes or the elderly.

[fiction-factory]

I just felt the "No prom, no seeing friends for a while and now they get this done to them. " was over egging the pudding.

Yes, it has been a shambles but I don't recall anyone suggesting an alternative back in April- in fact it was not really until August that we heard people starting to question the algorithm. At least this way we got teacher predictions which were simply 'optimistic' overall whereas if we'd left it just to schools with no moderation the temptation to boost grades would have been too great.

[fiction-factory]

And i don't underestimate what it means to 16 and 18 year olds. I work with them. I just think the problem has been overexaggerated by some with an agenda, that teenagers are resilient and are fortunate not to have been affected anywhere nearly as badly as older people in terms of health, death, job losses, shielding, loneliness etc

[Old_Geezer]

All the issues stem from the government reaction to Covid, so the source is the connection. The squeaky wheels gets the publicity, so it's possible many students, although concerned, were/are more philosophical about it. But hey, making a fuss gets them back their undeserved higher grades, so for them it was worth it to seem brighter than other age groups. Of course, employers and educational institutions may treat that year's results with more caution. A bit like, "You only got that because you were the Covid generation' students".

[maggiebee]

While I admit it's a bit of chaos, it definitely is not the end of the world even for 16 year olds. How many of you on here had "proms", wrote on your friends shirts etc. Certainly not if you were 16 during the 40/50s. Most would have left school, got a job and just got on with life. Colleges/Uni will always be there, there's no law that says you have to go when you are still in your teens. My class of "mature" students in the 80s ranged in age from 24 to 48 and with a bit of life experience behind us we all got on just fine.

[iluvmargie]

horselady - almost every thread goes off topic, if not every, why should this be any different?