Teacher assessments must be trusted for the beleaguered class of Covid-19 https://reaction.life/teacher-assessments-must-be-trusted-for-the-beleaguered-class-of-covid-19/

There is no ideal solution to the exam mark debacle. Nothing perfect. Nothing totally fair to everyone.

But this is currently the worst outcome.

#Torychaos

The triple lock doesn't make it fair. It allows students to choose between their awarded grades, their mocks or to sit their exams in the autumn... seems legit...

Mock grades aren’t a serious measure due to the wild variation in how students approach them. They are only ‘mock exams’ under ‘mock’ exam conditions and they do not conform to the same standard as real exams.

Anyone fine with mock exam results being used but getting in a hissy fit about teacher estimations is not really concerned about fairness or accuracy.

Being told to sit exams in August by the government who cancelled them originally because they had mishandled the pandemic from the beginning and couldn’t think of any way to safely hold them isn’t exactly ideal either for students preparing for university or employment...

They need their grades to start courses in September. And how will the mass retakes be organised given that schools will already face huge disruption on reopening due to Covid safety measures? In any case it's still not a level playing field with classes of 2019 or 2021...

Schools and colleges were asked to predict the grades pupils would have achieved in each subject if they had sat the exams. These predictions were sent to the exam boards along with the order of who teachers thought would do best....

They fed this through a statistical mode. The algorithm had been tested by calculating rankings for last year but they used actual results for the ranking data. This means the test is completely irrelevant as it uses actual ranking data, not teacher’s opinions.

It's all a mess. Every possible solution to this is a mess. Imperfect. The one we have chosen is giving yet more advantages to the rich adn privately educated. Disadvantaged pupils become more disadantaged. An unequal country becomes more unequal.

The imperfect solution of using teacher's estimations is hated by many becuase of predjuce against teachers & either ignorance or warped stereotype of all teachers being politicised.

And yes, exam results often flal short of estimations because exam results depend on good condition for revision, revision being done well, then optimal performance on the day. So yes, this option isn't perfect or fair or as accurate as it could be. But it's the least worst.

They are based on long term teacher assessment, working with the pupil, marking their work, assessing everything they do and collating and analysing data. It is not picked out of a hat & most teacher's aren't just trying to make themselves look good.

Funnily enough most teachers have professional pride and integrity.

But yeah, let's pretend going with estimations would be the end of the world & that employers won't loot at this whole cohort's results differently in any scenario. They already have a mark against them.

Let the private schools shell out the A's. As we know the cream always rises to the top in England.

Thick and Rich.