Congratulations to all students who are collecting A Level and GCSE results this summer! Much has been said about this year’s A Level exam scores, released last Thursday. Many of the headlines were written before results were published and much has proceeded as expected with outcomes generally lower than the Teacher Assessed Grades of 2021 but higher than the previous public exam session of 2019. This year’s marks were crunched to hit a midpoint between these two goalposts, all part of a phased return to pre-pandemic levels of attainment.
Dangers exist, however, when comparing recent years and some of the recurrent narrative about results. Social media posts of some school and colleges, can be misleading also. In 2019, students sat public exams with familiar grading and moderation systems. Although imperfect, this world was at least familiar. Lockdown interruptions necessitated pragmatism and a new approach to assessment. After much shooting in the dark, U-turn flipflopary and a dumped algorithm, Centre (CAGs) and then Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) ruled the day. This year, we have returned to near-traditional public exams as mentioned above.
Drawing comparisons is problematic in this context. Each set of results, 2020 to 2022 is truly unprecedented. Apples and pears come to mind. Ongoing talk of previous grade inflation remains flawed to my mind as it is impossible to inflate something that has never existed before. Moreover, it’s reasonable to expect different assessment mechanisms to yield different outcomes. That’s what we have seen in recent years, including last week, and I expect it will be the same when GCSEs are published tomorrow. We should therefore concentrate energy and column inches on congratulating our young people and not doing them the disservice of making invalid judgements. Let’s regard each year in context, including this one, recognise the hard work and achievement of each cohort during a disrupted and difficult time and give them the credit they deserve.
I’m pleased to say we’ve done just that Bradford Grammar School through the CAG / TAG era and again this summer. The fruits of our school’s remote education programme, which swung into operation during lockdown, were reaped when sealed envelopes containing A Levels were opened last week with 40% of grades at A*, 73% at A*A, 91% A*-B and 100% pass rate. Continuity of education and pastoral care underpinned these pleasing headline statistics, although, as ever, it was the many stories of personal success, at various levels of achievement, that will stick longest in the memory. We tentatively hope something similar might be the case for our hardworking Year 11s tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Whatever the outcomes, we will celebrate their results in the moment, understanding that the particular nature of these achievements will be something unique.
“The fruits of our school’s remote education programme, which swung into operation during lockdown, were reaped when sealed envelopes containing A Levels were opened last week with 40% of grades at A*, 73% at A*A, 91% A*-B and 100% pass rate.”
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