A-level results will not be adjusted to take into account the disruption caused by teachers’ strikes, as experts warned 50,000 pupils are set to miss out on top grades next week.
Ofqual, the exams watchdog for England, will make no special allowances for pupils whose teaching was affected by eight days of industrial action in 2023 as it attempts to bring grades back down to pre-pandemic levels, i understands.
Experts are warning of an increase in the number of appeals due to the correction, but any disruption caused by walkouts will not be taken into account.
A source close to Ofqual highlighted that students have been told to brace for slightly harsher grade boundaries this year, and that it is in pupils’ interests for top marks to be rewarded to those that most deserve them.
They said that while the regulator was sympathetic to students impacted by strikes, fiddling with the criteria this late in the day would also cause huge amounts of uncertainty for pupils set to receive their A-Level results on 17 August.
The source added that Ofqual was incapable of producing a specific algorithm to offer support to students most affected by this year’s walkouts, since similar efforts to do so for pupils most affected during the pandemic failed.
i understands that the decision not to make special provisions for teachers’ strikes was also fuelled by pressure from the university sector, which has made clear that universities can no longer accept record numbers of admissions seen during the Covid crisis.
It comes as Ofqual has reiterated that it will impose tougher grade boundaries this year as part of efforts to rid the system of rampant grade inflation in 2020 and 2021, when the ditching of exams for teacher-assessed grades caused a huge jump in top marks.
Around 45 per cent of all A-Level grades were either an A or an A* in 2021, while this year’s set of results will likely see the figure slump to around 25 per cent following a two-year process of grade deflation.
It means as many as 50,000 candidates are likely to miss out on the top grades they might have expected last year, when A-Levels were marked slightly more leniently, according to new research.
A study published earlier this week by Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, predicted that the tougher approach will mean nearly 100,000 fewer As and A*s compared to last year, affecting around 50,000 students.
Professor Smithers told i this would likely cause a jump in appeals, fuelled in particular by students and parents disgruntled over Ofqual’s refusal to factor in strike disruption.
“The parents who protest will marshal quite strong arguments, given that Covid hasn’t quite gone away and it’s had its effects on school practice, and then we had these teacher strikes. Candidates this year have been greatly affected,” he said.
“The dilemma Ofqual and the Government face is do they ensure a stable value to an A* or an A grade, or do they try to accommodate lots of individual appeals which really hold quite a lot of weight behind them?”
Professor Smithers said it could stoke a political row this summer that may prove a growing headache for the Government in the run-up to the next general election, expected in late 2024.
“There’s going to be a lot of parents whose expectations aren’t met this year. That’s going to bring a lot of pressure from some very upset people – well, upset voters actually,” he told i.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) in England walked out on eight separate days between February and July this year as part of a long-running dispute over pay. It included five national and three regional strikes.
No strikes took place during exam season itself, and schools tried to minimise the impact on students sitting their GCSEs and A-Levels as much as possible during industrial action.
Guidance issued by the NEU said striking teachers should “seek agreements with headteachers” that permit exam year students to attend school on strike days “for revision activities or exam practice”.
However, many students still faced disrupted learning anyway, with figures from the Department for Education showing that just 17 per cent of secondary schools remained fully open during the first nationwide strike in February, while 74 per cent restricted attendance.
Henri Murison, chief executive of business group the Northern Powerhouse, wrote to Ofqual in April urging the watchdog to be more lenient this year to reflect the impact of teachers’ strikes and the lingering effects of the pandemic.
“Not only did this year’s exam candidates lose lessons in the pandemic, many teenagers have not returned to school full time and behaviour in schools is much worse than it was,” he said.
“On top of that, they have had teacher strikes this year which closed some schools but not others, notwithstanding the promise by the biggest teachers’ union to reduce the impact on children.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This year GCSE and A-level grading is largely returning to normal, in line with plans set out by Ofqual almost two years ago, to make sure qualifications maintain their value and students get the opportunities they deserve.
“This means national results are expected to be similar to those in pre-pandemic years, and a student should be just as likely to achieve a particular grade this year as they would have been before the pandemic. The number of top grades also has no bearing on the number of university places available.”
Ofqual was approached for comment.
