25 August 2022
Responding to GCSE results released today [Thursday 25 August], Green Party education spokesperson Vix Lowthion said:
“Congratulations to the Class of 2022 GCSE students for gaining their grades today after years of disruption due to the impact of the pandemic. They have achieved despite the challenges and obstacles and should be commended for their determination.
“Of course, the pandemic has had a long-term impact on the educational attainment of our young people, but the ‘disadvantage gap’ that researchers have identified is not only the result of Covid. It is also the result of years of school cuts, increasing levels of poverty and hardship experienced by families under this Conservative government.”
Lowthion, a teacher on the Isle of Wight, added:
“We rightly congratulate many thousands of students and teachers for getting fantastic grades, but the GCSE exam system also leaves too many young people behind who have struggled to attain the results to help them take their next steps.
“We need an education and assessment system that supports all students to have the opportunity to achieve, have second chances for those who need extra support and doesn’t leave anyone behind.
“There are many accounts of well-deserved achievements by our young people today after many months of hard work by staff and students, but the widening ‘attainment gap’ in the last 20 years (1) identified by the Institute for Fiscal Studies means that every GCSE results day there are disadvantaged young people who are less likely to succeed.”
Young Greens co-chair Kelsey Trevett said:
“Congratulations to all those collecting results this morning. GCSE students have experienced government negligence throughout this pandemic, consistently putting their well-being, health, and education secondary to economic growth.
“The resilience shown by school pupils is admirable, and students should be incredibly proud.
“We reiterate our frustration at the missed opportunity to reform school assessment away from an unfair and unrepresentative exam model. And we will continue to fight alongside students for the radical educational overhaul which is necessary to prepare them for the future they are inheriting, and which values learning and education independently of its capacity for profit making.”
ENDS
Notes
1
https://ifs.org.uk/inequality/chapter/education-inequalities/
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