This time of year still gives me anxiety dreams. 42 years after my dismal showing in my A-levels, I remember well just how stressful it is for students opening what once used to be a letter, but is now an email.
This week we have GCSEs, last week A levels. Headlines from last week won’t have gone unnoticed amongst those seeking university places. But the big headline was the large drop in grades.
Covid lockdowns have thrown confusion over the value of grades, with students being given teacher assessed grades for two years, rather than being allowed to prove their efforts through taking exams. Last year saw exams, but there was consideration taken for the effects of lost hours during lockdowns.
This year, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has been keen to get back to normal. Whilst there is a drop in grades from 2022, the key date to look at is 2019 – the last year before all our lives were thrown into turmoil by Covid. But irrespective of her views, the key decision maker in how grades are awarded goes to the exams regulator, Ofqual. Their independent decision – a correct one, in my view – takes us back to normal.
For students going to university, 79% of applicants achieved their first choice – just 2% lower than last year. Universities, it seems, have worked with Ofqual to ensure grade expectations matched the slashing of recent grade inflation.
But what is more worrying is regional and wealth differences.
You are more likely to get to your first choice if you live in the Southeast than in the Northeast. But you are also more likely to have done well if you come from a more affluent background.
Lockdown has amplified some inequalities. There are alarming numbers of children who have yet to go back to school. The influence of teachers on students who don’t benefit from the love and attention that most get from parents has been sorely missed, widening disadvantages to troubled households. The head of Ucas summed it up well: “challenges in widening participation to the most disadvantaged students still persist.”
Education is the absolute bedrock of our society. It not only ensures we are all, collectively, successful, it gives individuals opportunity to succeed as well. It is right that our internationally recognised exams have been revalued to everyone’s ultimate benefit, apparently, seamlessly. But all this will never take away the stress of results day.