It's A-level results day in England and Wales and students have done VERY WELL....
Nearly double the amount of students received top grades in this year compared to two years ago, the last time formal exams were held...
Unlike the Teacher awarded Grades this year, the best objective analysis of these results is here - from the Education Policy Institute.
While a politician might try to convince you these two sets of results (2019 compared to 2020) are measuring the same thing, it’s obvious to anyone that they are not.
Simply put the difference is thus:
- In 2019 the students were assessed by a standardised exams under (broadly) the same conditions with those exams marked by independent professionals subject to further standardisation by 'senior examiners'.
- in 2021 students were assessed through differential in-house assessment procedures marked by the teachers (or teams) who set those in-house assessments.
And somewhat unsurprisingly, once you remove the objective standardisation procedures double the amount of students get awarded the top grades by teachers assessing students based on their own in-house assessment.
What we're getting here is teacher subjectivity getting in the way of objective marking.
All our children must have prizes?
it occurs to me that this is kind of what we do with our children - we 'change the goal posts' of competitions to make sure that more (if not all) of them can win at something and claim a prize.
We protect them from the rigours of the competitive adult world which divides us into winners and losers, waiting until our children are emotionally mature enough to be able to learn the lesson of where they 'measure up' compared to others and accept where they fit in on the scale of ability, and adjust accordingly.
A-level exams are a great opportunity for students to learn this lesson - about the right age, that bridge between childhood and adulthood - 18 years of old.
A great time for them to learn where their combination of effort and ability got them, and then for the majority who haven't got the best grades, they adjust accordingly - which for some will mean settling for less, others redoubling their efforts
Some of those students with inflated grades are going to really suffer going forwards as they learn painfully and possibly slowly that their set of As isn't reflecting the same underlying ability as someone else's set of As...... markets tend to sort these differences out in the long run.
However for others, this BOOST at 18 years of age might be a stimulus to spur them onto greater things, a kind of ability boosting placebo if you like.
Exams aren't necessarily better
NB even though these results are not measuring the same thing as 2019s doesn't mean I think exam results as usual are valid - they are TERRIBLE away of assessing students' abilities - very narrow and artificial - in fact teacher assessment may well be a better way of doing so, it's just the lack of standardisation that I'm concerned about.
Grade inflation WON'T be a problem if....
Students try and find their own way in life - If these inflated results encourage them to have a bit more confidence in themselves and set up their own businesses, create an industry for themselves, they'll probably be fine.
HOWEVER, if they're going to use their grades to chase a limited number of university places and standard jobs, half of them are in for a shock, because there is going to be a LOT more demand for these types of positions in the coming years, because of two years of grade inflation.
Ironically the class of 2019 might do better out of this - as employers can be certain their results are 'real', if they believe in the validity of those results of course.
Final thoughts...
What a mess, I'm glad I wasn't born in 2002-03!
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Degrees and grades have been meaning less and less and employers. It's all about experience and interviews now.
I'm not at all surprised - I think many degrees really aren't worth the money these days!