GCSE results: the shadow of the 1944 Education Act still lurks
GCSE results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were released on 22nd August and the conundrum about who achieves what grade and why continues.
The results were broadly in line with those achieved in 2019 the last year before the pandemic which was what Ofqual the regulator was aiming to achieved.
Those students who passed, having studied during the very difficult pandemic period deserve congratulations.
The proportion of top grades awarded to those at Grammar schools rose to 60.3% from 59.4%. The figure for fee paying schools 48.4% (47.5%) while Comprehensive schools were more or less static at 19.4%
The perhaps obvious point here is that Ofqual in England have determined an artificial quota for those who achieve the top grade. Why is it not the case that anyone student who meets the criteria for achieving the top grade receives it?
A light was shone of Ofqual approach this year when Ofqual determined that top grades for French and German should rise. They did. French has gone up from 5.1% in 2019 to 8.1% now. German has risen from 5.8% to 10.4% over the same period. Well done obviously to the students involved and perhaps hard luck to students who sat the exams in 2019 who would have done better on the same performance 5 years later.
It goes further than just sense of fairness checking between individual examiners to make sure broadly similar grades are given for broadly similar papers. It suggests rather a worldview where only a certain number can achieve but the number is variable depending on requirements. In the 1944 Education Act it was stated that 25% would go on to University and 75% would not.
The world has changed since then, University education has expanded and there is a much increased demand for those with qualifications. Now of course it might be argued that qualifications shouldn’t matter, capability and aptitude should. In a saner world one would hope so. In the meantime its surely worth asking what the pass/fail mentality of 1944 is doing still lurking in 2024.
Ofqual has a Chief Regulator but who regulates the Regulator
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