Adjusting next year’s GCSE and A level grades by regionis one of the options being considered by exam boards to mitigate Covid learning loss,ձcan reveal
The option was touted yesterdayby Labour shadow education secretary Kate Green who used aձinterview to call for a “regional dimension”to the way 2021 examresults “are norm-referenced”.
Nowthe head of the UK’s largest school exam board has disclosed that regional “special consideration” is one of the options under discussion.
Exclusive: GCSE 2021 grading ‘needs to be regional’
ʱ:Change GCSEs 2021, say students ‘drowning in anxiety’
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Grading by region would be a way of tryingensure students in areas hardest-hit by the coronavirus are notdisadvantaged by the pandemic.
Colin Hughes, AQA exam board chief executive, revealed toձwhat was being considered as exam chiefs work to come up with a solution for next year’s GCSEs and A levels by the end of the month.
Special considerationfor regions hit ‘really hard’
“One of the things that’s being talked about is the notion that we could apply some kind of regional special consideration,” he said.“So this particular region was hit really hard or even this particular school had it really hard.”
At the moment boards like to candidates “disadvantaged due to illness or unavoidable circumstances” byadjusting their marks.
Mr Hughes said the idea of giving special consideration to entire regions“seems attractive on the surface”.
But he warned: “The reality is that -how are you actually really going to measure that across space?
Would regional exam grades befair?
“The other thing is, if you did it regionally, is it fair that in order to do something for students in a rundown inner city area comprehensive and just down the road there’s a fantastic private schooland those students will get bumped up from a B to an A? Is that fair?Is that the right outcome?”
But there is growing pressure for next year’s GCSEs and A-levels to recognise the huge geographical disparities in the way Covid has hit education.
Yesterday aTesinvestigation revealed the proportion of schools with coronavirus cases this term ranged from 94 per cent in Middlesbrough to just 6 per cent in the Isle of Wight.
Leaders in the North have called for exams to be scrappedaltogether, with students“drowning in anxiety” warning that thethree week delay will not be enough.
Call on Ofqual to stop grades being blighted by Covid
And this week the headof a leading northern academy chaincalled for regional grading, sayingOfqual should“guarantee that there will be and those where there has been little disruption”.
Hamid Patel, Star Academies chief executive, added: “They could achieve this by comparing exam marks only with peers within similarly affected parts of the country.”
But if Mr Hughes’ reservations about the fairness of gradingby entire regions are shared by Ofqual and the otherexam boards, then the idea may be a non starter.
The AQA chief also warnedthat the same question of fairness would come up if special consideration was applied atschoolrather than regionallevel to counter Covid disruption.
There would be comparatively advantaged students getting a boost to their results that less advantaged candidates in other schools missed out on.
‘Just not manageable’
“That same argument applies in microcosm too so exactly the same effects would happen at school level,” Mr Hughes said. “So you have to take it right down to individual level.
“We’re talking about 600,000 students, it’s just not manageable, you simply can’t do that in a fair way.”
An Ofqual spokesperson said: “We are continuing to discuss contingency options for all likely scenarios with school and college leaders, and other stakeholders.
“We will provide advice to the government before it determines and confirms contingency arrangements for 2021 with the sector this month.
“We are also considering ways in which we can make the prospect of exams a little less daunting for students as we recognise they will have missed out on some teaching and learning and know this varies by individual, school, college and region of the country.
“More about our approach is set out in this from acting chief regulator Glenys Stacey to education secretary Gavin Williamson.”
