Gavin Williamson

[Doha]

Centre predicted grades vs algorithm grades 

 

[Andyregs]

58 minutes ago, TheSage said:

 

We might get problems next summer as well. I hope we are better prepared for it.

Next summer could be more complicated. The lockdown means it’s already less of a level playing field than usual, but local lockdowns could further exacerbate the situation. 

[Joe B]

You reap what you sow.

[philpvfc]

23 hours ago, Jacko51 said:

How on earth is he still in a job?

As a teacher or x teacher how would you have done it?. The way I see it is the teachers over graded as expected and the mistake the Government did was to only mark down classes over 15 which excludes more private schools who tend to have lower class sizes. My Mrs is not happy the Government has backed down as the school where she works didn’t big up the teacher estimates and had strong evidence to back their estimates which is lacking at many schools, she now wishes like most schools that they over estimated results.

IMO, the Government should have stood by their policy and not stood to pressure to back down but they should have put pressure on universities to allow estimated results as well as actual. A levels mean nothing anyway, they are just a stepping stone on to degrees. It’s a real mess.

[philpvfc]

18 hours ago, Fosse69 said:

But how many students will still fail to get the Uni place   that  their new grades justify?

Take a year out if they can. If I was a student again I definitely wouldn’t go university and pay the fees this coming year with all the uncertainty and the fact you may not even be able to attend classes. The top universities will be over subscribed like always but others will be desperate to attract more students. 

[Jacko51]

12 minutes ago, philpvfc said:

As a teacher or x teacher how would you have done it?. The way I see it is the teachers over graded as expected and the mistake the Government did was to only mark down classes over 15 which excludes more private schools who tend to have lower class sizes. My Mrs is not happy the Government has backed down as the school where she works didn’t big up the teacher estimates and had strong evidence to back their estimates which is lacking at many schools, she now wishes like most schools that they over estimated results.

IMO, the Government should have stood by their policy and not stood to pressure to back down but they should have put pressure on universities to allow estimated results as well as actual. A levels mean nothing anyway, they are just a stepping stone on to degrees. It’s a real mess.

Exams were cancelled in the middle of March.  We are now in the middle of August.  That means the government has had five months to work out how to deal with this situation.   We have a situation where they produced a system through Ofqal which there were told in July would not work:

The people who know the students best are the teachers.  The assumption that all predicted grades are wildly inaccurate is wrong - certainly they are more accurate than some of the rubbish that has been thrown up by this algorithm.  My best year was when I had two GCSE groups which amounted to just under 50 students.  I predicted all bar two of them correctly and those two were within one grade. 

In five months, surely it was not beyond the wit of man to design a moderation system like that used for coursework and practical exams.  Sampling mock examination papers or alternative controlled conditions work should surely have been possible. 

I think we simply have to accept that this is a strange, unprecidented situation from which there may well be winners and losers but to try to say, as Williamson did on Friday, that his algorithm was super duper and wouldn't be changed only to change it on Monday is just ridiculous. 

 

 

[CAVALIER]

Not unusual for teacher’s assessments to be marked down is it. Nor is it for teachers to continually have digs at the right wing. Luckily the government saw sense and stepped in.

[Joe B]

I always enjoy threads relating to teaching.

[philpvfc]

47 minutes ago, CAVALIER said:

Not unusual for teacher’s assessments to be marked down is it. Nor is it for teachers to continually have digs at the right wing. Luckily the government saw sense and stepped in.

Trouble is, a lot of teachers and schools took the piss as was always going to happen. Where the Government went wrong was not have a robust fair system to justify marking down. Whatever they came up with was never going to please everyone but what they came up with was not strong enough  defend. Might as well give everyone A stars for their a-levels and let the university’s decide who they take in because nobody else gives a <ovf censored> what anyone gets on their a level results. 

[Joe B]

Me:

 

[CAVALIER]

1 hour ago, Joe B said:

I always enjoy threads relating to teaching.

So do I . I’ve plenty of experience in the area so like a good read

[Andyregs]

2 hours ago, philpvfc said:

My Mrs is not happy the Government has backed down as the school where she works didn’t big up the teacher estimates and had strong evidence to back their estimates which is lacking at many schools, she now wishes like most schools that they over estimated results.

 

How do you know they wouldn’t be affected? There’s a few big assumptions being made here. 

[Fosse69]

Not unusual for teacher’s assessments to be marked down is it. Nor is it for teachers to continually have digs at the right wing. Luckily the government saw sense and stepped in.

It was Cummings mates that set it up with NDAs

[TheSage]

It's odd how we trust teachers to educate and care for our kids but not to estimate their worth based on up to 7 years of teaching them (for A levels). Yet we trust without question plumbers, electricians, car dealers, dentists, GPs, etc. Why the difference? These people are professionals - it's an all graduate profession now, plus they all do an extra 12 months training and another 12 months on probation, so five years in all before they are fully qualified. Very few can match that. Many of them have also done the job for ages and have 30-40 years experience. But let's criticise and berate them. Williamson and the bloke in a fridge know best. Give me strength.

[Fosse69]

28 minutes ago, Nofinikea said:

So some kids were given the benefit of the doubt by some teachers...

This is a massive red herring.  This was never about correcting over stated grades, this is much more sinister.  This goes back to the very heart of this very nasty government.  Argue the semantics around it all you want but I suggest you open your eyes and look at what is right in front of you.

The silence from Boris is deafening.  They aren't even hiding there agenda anymore, they are doing these things in plain sight and yet somehow people still argue around the fringes creating diversion after diversion.

Wake up, this government will take every one of you to the cleaners unless you are a very wealthy and connected individual who happens to give them money.

Private schools had the boosts, 6th Form colleges  suffered, but the boosts have not been changed.