GCSE results being opened at Caister High School.
Picture: James Bass
Headteachers’ anger over plummeting GCSE English grades
By VICTORIA LEGGETT
Education correspondent, Education correspondent
Friday, August 24, 2012
6:30 AM
Headteachers blasted exam boards last night after a covert change in grade boundaries sent some English GCSE results plummeting and put youngsters’ sixth-form places at risk.
As schools worked their way through their exam results they began to notice the grades were not living up to their expectations.
It has meant many students aiming for an all-important C – required by many sixth forms, colleges and employers – were left with a D instead.
Last night Sean O’Neill, headteacher at Bungay High School, described the situation as “shameful”, adding: “They have changed the goalposts halfway through the course and penalised the young people.”
Ron Munson, headteacher at Taverham High School, said: “Nothing we had beforehand had given us a clue the grade boundaries were changing. It’s playing with people’s education.
“It’s an example of the exams being used as a political football and that’s not fair. It’s been a real surprise to many of my colleagues.”
The problems are thought to relate to a number of different exam boards and have affected schools across the country.
Some exam chiefs have admitted that the grade boundaries for a particular module were altered between the January 2012 assessment period and this summer’s exams.
The exam boards, exams watchdog Ofqual, and the department for education have all insisted any changes would simply have been part of efforts to maintain standards and ensure the exams were “robust and rigorous”.
Schools found their predictions for the percentage of students achieving A* to C grades in English were as much 15pc off the actual figure.
For many, it had a knock-on effect on the percentage of students reaching the government’s “gold standard” for GCSEs – at least five A* to C grades including English and maths.
Brian Conway, headteacher at Notre Dame High, in Norwich, said his school’s headline figure was about 15pc below what he had expected because of plummeting English results.
Peter Devonish, headteacher at Neatherd High School in Dereham, said his English department had a good track record of accurately predicting outcomes for students and had been left “dumbfounded” by yesterday’s results.
He said the school had expected about 81pc of students to achieve A* to C grades in English but had found just 63pc reached that level – a 15pc drop on last year’s results.
It means the percentage of students reaching the “gold standard” at Neatherd High has dropped 13 percentage points.
He said: “It’s making a mockery of the whole system. These grades are important for the children and them being able to go out and get on with their lives.”
Many sixth forms require students to achieve a set number of C grades to study A-levels with them – with some even specifying a C in English as an entry requirement.
An increasing number of employers also require at least a C in English before they will offer someone a job.
“A C in English and a C in maths are now considered to be absolutely vital,” said Rob Anthony, associate headteacher at The Hewett School in Norwich. “We have a number of students we were fairly certain were going to get a C and they have ended up with a D. They are now in a position where we have to question their places in the sixth form.”
Mr Anthony said he, along with many other headteachers across Norfolk, would take into account this year’s problems when it came to offering sixth form places.
The problem with marking of English papers has not affected schools consistently across the board. While some schools have seen marked decreases in their English results, it has not made too much of an impression on their “gold standard” figure, and some schools reported noticing very little change.
The grade boundary changes would have had a larger impact on those schools with more students on the C/D border.
Steffan Griffiths, headmaster at Norwich School, said he was not surprised to hear of yesterday’s problems. This year’s GCSE cohort received iGCSE results in English and English literature for the first time after the independent school chose to change which exams they took to get away from “inconsistencies in marking”.
Mr Griffiths said: “It certainly worked for us this year. We are pleased that we have not been affect this year but we have a lot of sympathy for the schools that have been.”
Last night a DfE spokesman said it was Ofqual’s job to “make sure standards are maintained over time” and added: “There has been a widespread debate over the last two decades about whether there has been grade inflation - that’s why we have strengthened Ofqual’s powers to make sure the system is robust and rigorous and to give the public real confidence in the results.”
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19 comments
What illogical, insane rubbish!!!!!
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Stanley
Sunday, August 26, 2012
.....Not seen those highlighted anywhere.....well schools keep the predicted Ds quietly in the statistical backroom don't they even though they logically must exist in every school? Time they proudly announced how well they do with the predicted Ds, so it doesn't look like they are the forgotten ones.
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popeye
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Don't know where Popeye got the statistics from? 1000s of predicted Ds got Cs? Not seen those highlighted anywhere. If it's true Gove and his gang would have been on the case immediately I think.Enquiry underway as a result of threats of legal action from Unions and LAs. Result will be interesting. No fudges hopefully.
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tonycallaghan
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Let's not forget the 1000s of students who were predicted a D and gained a C. Well done to you all for your hard work and good luck in your college studies!
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popeye
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Governments of both shades have interfered with exam boards for years. Exam results have been a political football for years. I speak as a retired Headteacher and senior union official of NASUWT for 10 years. The enquiry demanded by the Headteacher Unions should be instigated immediately. If Gove and his gang have been involved in exam rigging they should be sacked and covered in ashes. Previous secretaries of state for education have always sailed close to the wind but the current debacle is so serious that an independent enquiry should be set up forthwith. The Government have nothing to hide have they? So why should Clegg and Cameron not agree? We are all in it together are we not? Would Clegg and Cameron want this to happen to their kids in the future? The difference between a C and a D is significant for university and college entrance. Get on the case Dave and Nick,get this mess sorted now!
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tonycallaghan
Saturday, August 25, 2012
I think it is time to throw out imposing ordered alphabetic letters on our poor little children according to their results. The ocean is a fairly egalitarian society, with no fish thinking he is better than the next one. So here is the new order. The A*s would become Starfish, the As Anemones, the Bs Barnacles, the Cs Crayfish, the Ds Dabs and the Es Electric Eels. Thus in this new order and electric eel would feel equal to a starfish, even if it is a shocking result. Borderline problems would be a thing of the past, for instance the much maligned C D borderliners in this sytem would become crabs, and be allowed into 6th form college, where of course they would do swimmingly?
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popeye
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Bar a few exceptions the usual bitter and twisted anti-teacher brigade spouting rubbish. When the grades were going up I thought the teachers and the exam boards were blamed for making it all too easy rather than praised, but u wouldn´t think so reading these comments.
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Stanley
Saturday, August 25, 2012
I just hope that the lack of intelligence shown by some commentators here, demonstrating their lack of understanding of the issue, is not indicative of the general intelligence level of adults in Norfolk. Sarcastic and patronising is another way of describing some comments here too.
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micklynn
Saturday, August 25, 2012
.....stop and consider that it's CHILDREN who get the exam marks and are most affected by their results.....Good point, let's give all of em A*s bless em.
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popeye
Friday, August 24, 2012
I suggest that anyone using this year's results as an excuse to comment on teachers might want to stop and consider that it's CHILDREN who get the exam marks and are most affected by their results. Whether it's their own 'fault' or anything to do with the constant goal-post moving throughout the education system it's still them that have to deal with the results and try and plan their future.
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My opinion
Friday, August 24, 2012
We all know how much the teachers dislike Michael Gove, so this comes as no surprise. Quite why teachers were content with their students just getting a C grade is beyond me. When we had year on year rises in the number of people passing GCSEs the teachers were first in line to get the credit. Now it`s gone the other way it`s someone elses fault. Maybe teachers need to apply themselves that little bit harder in the future and stop whinging.
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BG
Friday, August 24, 2012
Well said Mick-and it seems that the grade boundary has been shifted mainly at that crucial place between D and C. Schools should now be calling for an independent inquiry to moderate the exam and marking against previous years. If it the average attainment at that grade boundary is found to equal that of other years we can only assume that the decision to shift it was political. Just as for the last twenty or so years the meddling with education has been led by politics rather than any desire to educate our children properly.
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Daisy Roots
Friday, August 24, 2012
If one wants to argue the value of education andor teachers then I suggest that some of you understand the issue, which is the downgrading of results. This is akin to raising the high jump bar when the athlete is running up to it or having cleared the bar the athlete is told it was not high enough and must jump again.
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micklynn
Friday, August 24, 2012
If you cannot get at least a C in GCSE exams after 11 years of free education You are either not worked hard enough or the teaching is you know what. Independent schools don't seem to get that problem their pupils work at it and get the results fact
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PaulH
Friday, August 24, 2012
Typical teachers blaming everyone but themselves. Maybe they should ask for a few more teacher training days tagged onto the end of their 7 week summer holiday to ensure they get it right for next year. Or maybe a few more half half terms. They have a hard life.
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A business with big ambitions
Friday, August 24, 2012
So the teachers are not as clever as they like to make out. Stricter marking = useless results. Typical Teacher blame. Blame anyone but themselves.
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"V"
Friday, August 24, 2012
These sixth forms know the grade boundaries have been shifted so there is no reason why they should not admit those affected and allow them to retake the English GCSE alongside A levels. The whole matter is fishy since all of the exam boards seem to have raised the grade boundaries in English at the marks which most affect the pass at a C ( which is vital , being the supposed equivalent of the old O level and necessary for many further and higher education courses and jobs.) The number of passes at and above C is crucial for schools wishing to avoid compulsory academy take over. This looks like Gove gunning for the schools with more pupils likely to be on the grade boundary and ruining kids' futures in order to get statistics to justify academies.
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Daisy Roots
Friday, August 24, 2012
I have always thought the system where grade boundaries are adjusted to allow a set percentage of passes at each grade to be very unfair. Students do not compete just within their year, but on their cvs for the rest of their lives. It should not be beyond the capability of exam boards to moderate across courses,exam questions and marking so that standards are constant and if one year more pass an exam because students are good, or if more fail, so be it. But giving a two kids of the same standard different grades in different years to keep numbers of passes at each grade the same (and to make the work of lazy exam boards easier), absolutely stinks.
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Daisy Roots
Friday, August 24, 2012
I can't help but observe that when the results are good, it's all down to the teachers and quality of teaching. When it goes in the other direction someone else is to blame .....
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BureValleyPaddy
Friday, August 24, 2012