11 August 2020
All A Level students must have a clear and credible way to appeal their results on Thursday to ensure pupils from disadvantaged communities are not doubly penalised by the arbitrary downgrading of their scores, the Green Party has warned.
Grades submitted by teachers for students across the country are expected to have been downgraded by exam regulator Ofqual after exams were cancelled this summer due to coronavirus, fuelling fears youngsters from disadvantaged communities will be most unfairly affected.
Ahead of the results being published on Thursday [12 August], the Greens have said the grades teachers gave their pupils should have been granted and that all students must have a simple and credible way to appeal their results.
Green Party education spokesperson Vix Lowthion said:
“Downgrading students for no fault of their own is the worst way Ofqual could have gone about this.
“It has been an extremely difficult summer for schools, pupils and examiners, but basing grades on schools’ past attainments will punish disadvantaged students and only widen inequalities in our society.
“This has not been a normal year and there is no point in pretending it has been. Instead, teachers should have been listened to and trusted. Teachers are the ones who know their pupils best and are most qualified to say how they would have achieved.
“Now it looks like modelling has taken place, the government must do everything it can to ensure a clear and credible appeals process is in place that allows any student to appeal their grades.
“The current system looks arbitrary and unclear. This is not the time to be gambling with peoples’ futures when so much is at stake, both for our young people and the country at large.”
ENDS
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