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The announcement that A-level and GCSE students could use their centre-assessed grades (CAGs) was initially met with celebration on social media. But my phone began buzzing almost immediately with messages from teachers with a more negative take on the decision.

Why? Wasn’t this the fairest way to undo the injustices of the past week and to ensure no more gross errors were made?

Well, the fear of these teachers can be grouped around three key points:

1. Teacher blame
   There will be a perception that the grades a student receives will have come directly from their class teacher. For years, we have been told teacher assessment is deeply flawed, that bias disrupts teacher judgements and that teachers cannot accurately judge performance owing to a lack of experience of student work in other schools. Teachers fear this is now going to fuel the fire of any discontent with the CAGs and lead to accusations that grades are lower because of teacher bias or because a school “doesn’t like” a student. Many are saying they are now dreading the fallout on results day, and expect student and parent accusations of teacher discrimination.
2. Disparity between schools
   It’s been well reported that grade inflation is around 10 per cent in the CAGs, compared with the previous year. Teachers fear that parents - many of whom will know parents of children at other schools - will compare notes and see that some teachers marked pupils more generously than others. One teacher put it bluntly: “We marked fairly and honestly: if an able student was underperforming and not working, that was reflected in their grade. If a student was working exceptionally hard but just not getting to the level needed, it was reflected in their grade. Other schools have not done that and we are going to get a lot of heat because of that.”
3. Impact on Year 10
   Among heads of Year 10, there is a real feeling that their pupils are going to be hugely disadvantaged by the move. The higher grades awarded to the past Year 11s mean, according to one teacher, that “next year’s Year 11 pupils will be in competition with others with higher grades that they may not have actually earned”.

This is not to say these teachers preferred the other approaches considered to remedy the exams issue this year, rather it is to point out that the shift to CAGs is not a perfect solution. There is a sting in the tail to this move - and it will be teachers, not the government, who will get stung.

Key questions following the government U-turn