Education experts have described the number of As in today’s GCSE and revised A-level results as ‘staggering’ after a record number of A grades were awarded based on teachers’ estimated grades.
A record high proportion of GCSE entries in England were today awarded the equivalent of A* or As – with 25.9 per cent getting a Grade 7 or above compared with 20.8 per cent last year- after a Government U-turn meant results could be based on teachers’ estimated grades instead of a government algorithm.
The results were released at the same time as revised A-level results which showed more than 10 per cent of A-level entries have been upgraded following a U-turn on the way results are awarded, with 38.1 per cent of students gaining an A or A* this year, compared to 25.2 per cent in the original algorithm grades.
It was also announced today that all A-Level students with the correct grades will get into their first choice of university, and caps on student numbers for medical degrees have been scrapped amid unprecedented demand caused by the increase in grades.
Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, described the percentages of top A-level grades as ‘staggering ‘.
He said: ‘The percentages of top grades are staggering, and no help at all to university admissions tutors having to take difficult decisions.’
‘The rank order of the subjects by grade tends to be very similar year by year, and this year the teachers have been extraordinarily generous.
We do need exams to be able to tell who really deserves the grades.’
Former head of Teach First Sam Freedman said: ‘It is true that unmoderated (even moderated) teacher assessment isn’t a great way to assess high stakes exams but not because teachers are unprofessional or dishonest; just because you can’t maintain consistency across thousands of different institutions.’
Speaking about specific cases of graded inflation, he told the TES: ‘While this is certainly less problematic than young people missing out on places it’s not great that some students will have grades higher than they could possibly have achieved and are thus eligible for courses they won’t be suited for.’
But others said that teachers had to be given high grades for schools to remain competitive.
Education adviser and former Kent headteacher Peter Read also told MailOnline: ‘In order to be fair to other candidates, grades have to be set high.
Otherwise they would perform badly in those subjects and apart from other consequences entry numbers would fall sharply.
The surge comes after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson scrapped the controversial algorithm system leave application for school both A-levels and GCSEs following a mass outcry from students and parents – and conceded teachers’ predicted grades must be used to mark pupils who could not sit their exams because of the pandemic.
Hundreds of thousands of youngsters received their GCSE results at 8am this morning following major changes – but Btec pupils will not get their final results following a last-minute review of grades.
More than one in four (25.9 per cent) GCSE entries in England scored one of the three top grades of 7 to 9 this year, up from just over a fifth (20.7 per cent) last summer, figures from exams regulator Ofqual show.
- Ministers have admitted they were warned six weeks ago that the exam algorithm was badly flawed;
- Ministers and universities said all A-Level students with the correct grades will get into their first choice;
- The Government also said it will scrap the cap on student numbers for medical degrees including dentistry;
- 500,000 BTEC students must wait another week to get their grades after the exam board axed results;
- Frustrated students and parents were left waiting for GCSE results after their email failed to arrive at 8am;
- Schools minister Nick Gibb apologised to students for the ‘pain and the anxiety’ they felt before U-turn;
- The appeals process for students unhappy with their results is still unclear following the Government U-turn.
Revised A-level results showed more than 10 per cent of A-level entries have been upgraded following a U-turn on the way results are awarded, with 38.1 per cent of students gaining an A or A* this year, compared to 27.6 per cent in 2019
A group of five students from Lewes Old Grammar School smile after receiving their GCSE results this morning.
The independent day school in the East Sussex town had a number of pupils achieving seven to nine top 9 grades this year
This graph shows the proportion of students in England achieving an A/7 or above – and a C/4 or above – has shot up this year
The subject with the highest proportion of pupils gaining a 7 to 9 grade was classics at 74.6 per cent, followed by modern languages other than French, German and Spanish, and triple science (biology, chemistry and physics) at 53 per cent
Other modern languages have the highest rate of A/A& grades at 73.8 per cent, followed by further maths at 71.1 per cent, German at 58.3 per cent and Spanish at 54.5 per cent
Citizenship studies has seen the biggest proportional rise in pupil numbers compared to last year, followed by Spanish
Performing/expressive arts, engineering and economics saw the biggest increase in A grades in this year’s GCSE results
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox news halfRHS" data-version="2" id="mol-96841620-e302-11ea-9eff-fd4f99a01f4e" website of all GCSE pupils get A/A* equivalent grades
