Exam Results Fiasco

[Shayne]

Give them all an A pass rate FFS ,

Teachers are human too with the same petty prejudice and preference as anybody so the kid who made them look stupid by being more intelligent than the teacher gets marked down while two short planks Frank gets top marks coz his mum wears a mini skirt . Naturally intelligent people often hate the confines of school yet go on to succeed carreer wise perhaps self employed without qualification but luck and chance plays a huge role in that . Would it be a bad thing if some of these people were to end up in jobs alongside cluelesspeople who have the right bits of paper ?

Too young we are asked to choose what we want to be , school qualifies us for nothing it simply gives us the tools we need to pursue our natural ability , i imagine the best architects started out as building site labourers and the best ship builders were once deckhands , a medical specialist didn't get to the top of his game by chance his/her carreer evolved base on personal drive .
In the real world A level qualification means little more than you can read and write which in itself is all but useless until you can put forward some experienced proof of your ability .

Give them all an A in everything there is no consequence .

 

[Bob]

You make some valid points Shayne. As a secondary teacher, we had to provide predicted grades to students this year, and to be honest I didn't enjoy it one bit. School should not be seen as a panacea to prepare for all future life, but an opportunity to guide you in a direction you may want to go. Sadly the UK system forces specialisation too early. Our system, however flawed, provides for a minimum of 6 subjects up to final year, and often 8 are taken.

As for giving everyone an A, well I don't think that's an answer either, as the path forward requires some evidence of performance to known parameters.

I entered teaching 'late' having had a career in mapping, and doing my time farming and in engineering/hardware supply. I'd have to say that those experiences make me better at my job, as I can relate to some of the paths that may not be academic driven for students who's intelligence isn't confined to words and numbers.

 

[Beau]

You're partially right in that A level qualification doesn't necessary mean a lot, but it does prove to Universities and even employees that you worked hard to get those grades. A lot of students have the potential to make the grades, but poor choices and laziness turn those A's to C's. Now, what's the point going to university with this same mentality. You're not going to do well and it'll be a waste of money. Of course, in the UK anyway, because University loans can cover 100% of cost, you get everyone going for the sake of it, or for the "experience". And of course, Universities love it cause they get the money. The overall system isn't the greatest, but it's also not the worst.

My point is, a grading system is needed and it's unfair to just hand out A's to everyone. It's unfair to students who worked hard to get those top tier universities in prior years, and it's unfair on those who currently would have worked hard vs those students who would have just stumbled by anyway.

We also live in a world where unfortunately we are judged more on qualification and numbers, vs actual experience. I have found this out first hand after graduating and going through various interviews and leads. I'm not for it one bit. But in my case, and for recent grads, you have no choice but to get on board. I probably have a different view point to many on here being one of the youngest at 25.

 

[Shayne]

Only some live in that world Beau .

I must have been 14 possibly 15 when Mr Heywood the woodwork teacher and year head spotted me 3 flights up erecting scaffold with a cigarette in my mouth .

"Shayne i haven't seen you for a long while i'm just here to tell you that exams start soon and if you don't sit them then you can't legally leave school for another year and niether of us want that"

The exams were easy , i got very good marks and threw the whole lot out the bus window before i got home . That wasn't the life for me and i had nobody to show results to anyway . University or even College was never an option for me because i couldn't afford it , or maybe i could have with benefits and grants or whatever but i had nobody to guide me through the possibilities , I wouldn't have asked about it even if there had been somebody to ask because simple fact is people like me don't go to Uni , i had to work thats all there was to it .

The way i see it is this Government has been handed by very unlikely circumstance a opportunity to bridge the equality gap for an entire generation .

Unfair as it may be what does a true straight A student actually lose , some will succeed and some won't regardless of exam results , everyone can be sacked from a job or kicked out of Uni (i assume) so why deny any access to the test of time ?

 

[Dave_S]

You're partially right in that A level qualification doesn't necessary mean a lot, but it does prove to Universities and even employees that you worked hard to get those grades. A lot of students have the potential to make the grades, but poor choices and laziness turn those A's to C's. Now, what's the point going to university with this same mentality. You're not going to do well and it'll be a waste of money. Of course, in the UK anyway, because University loans can cover 100% of cost, you get everyone going for the sake of it, or for the "experience". And of course, Universities love it cause they get the money. The overall system isn't the greatest, but it's also not the worst.

My point is, a grading system is needed and it's unfair to just hand out A's to everyone. It's unfair to students who worked hard to get those top tier universities in prior years, and it's unfair on those who currently would have worked hard vs those students who would have just stumbled by anyway.

We also live in a world where unfortunately we are judged more on qualification and numbers, vs actual experience. I have found this out first hand after graduating and going through various interviews and leads. I'm not for it one bit. But in my case, and for recent grads, you have no choice but to get on board. I probably have a different view point to many on here being one of the youngest at 25.

Agreed. CV19 doesn't change any of this.

 

[flint]

What is unfair about this is that the grading decision is made using an algorithm which uses data based on the schools past performance rather than the teachers report on the individual. School with good past results: grades go up, poorly performing school: grades go down. Socially divisive, unfair and hopefully legally challengeable.

 

[TonyP]

Very emotive this and certainly there will be opposing views. Yes uni is not for everyone, and for those that it's not, achieving high results is not that important, and there are many that have become successful without a single A level.

My son is impacted by this and on a whole I think is unfair to him. He put in a lot of effort in the last two years to pull up his grades and actually did OK at his mocks earlier this year. When he got his results on Thursday, two of his three subjects were lower than his mocks, and one was higher. Makes no sense at all, so he will appeal as currently this means he will not get his first choice uni. The school share his view and will be supporting him with this appeal.

It just feels so very random and not really a reflection of him it his abilities or perhaps the grades he could have achieved if he sat the end year exams.

 

[Chas]

Because of illness my school work suffered before A level time so I was assessed on my term work on what my chances were I had with the A levels and the teachers decided 'none' so I never sat the exams. My parents later discovered they could have insisted that I sat them. So the result was I never had any A levels.
I left school with no qualifications but I served a trade apprenticeship (electrical installation) but gave that up after 10 years and went into the Theatre business for the next 40 years, 2 years with Theatre Projects with whom I got to work in nearly all the West End theatres Then joined The Royal Opera House for 38 years until my retirement. So I have had a very enjoyable working life with no regrets, I don't think a university life would have suited me.

 

[Shayne]

When i got my first tax paying job i was to young to pay tax but they took it anyway , my mum found out sometime later that i was working in a factory under a friend of hers so gave the instruction "make him or break him" . I was screamed at constantly while moving as fast as i could from 5am until after midnight sometimes .

I probably still have physical scars from that job some from the day i snapped and scattered hundreds of empty fish boxes with my fists and in the shocked silence that followed everyone heard me say "if you want me out then f^*%**^* sack me coz i aint quitting" . The shouting stopped , i became one of the team and i got my first pay rise before long , not because it was the first time the boss actually seen me collapse from exhaustion (a horrible feeling like your back and legs just momentarily turn to jelly) and ordered me home , but because he was astonished to discover i returned to work less than two hours later .

My next pay rise was a big one putting me on par with those who had worked there 20+ years because when i walked out after a row they discovered 3 men twice my age together couldn't do my job and keep up . Can't remember how old i was because it was a seasonal job and i worked several summers there but for sure i was still a teen .

Its by the by history now and i wouldn't change it if i could but i have to wonder how them same personal traits might have evolved had i even just once been offered something other than discouragement in the education system .

The points based system is bollox it was decided on my first day of high school they couldn't have me and my best mate in the same class . His dad was a loaded scruff with a large scrap metal and construction company so i was moved from an A set class to a B set class without further ado .

I appreciate some worked very hard to get the grade , and they must accept some just breeze it no effort at all , and we all know that some will never make the grade , all i'm saying is the real value in the grade comes much later so effort will be rewarded while others fall by the wayside .

 

[flint]

The one sitting on the step on the right might look familiar..........

 

[frank rabbets]

That's the funniest Flint.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I totally screwed my A-Levels up.... was prediceted ADE (yeah, I was good in some subjects....) and ended up with EDD - not helped by the school going through discussions on whether it was going stay open or was it going to close and generally pushing the stress levels up for students and the number of sh!ts given by teachers down.

So, I always joke I spelt my name with my A-Level results (which was not that easy to do in many cases), especially when I was working with young people.

I managed to get into uni via Clearing (UWE, Bristol) and got a Desmond (2:2)

Since then I've spent 10 years working in Outdoor Education and Youth Work, getting a Post Graduate qualification in that time, and for the last 7 years have been working on regional economies, economic development and innovation after a Masters in Economics.

I'm now doing a PhD... not easy, but they were never supposed to be...

However, my A-levels only held me back in one interview, all the rest of the time they've been of no consequence, but are a good signal until someone has built up a work record or similar.

What I think is much more important is actually working out what motivates you; it's taken a few years, and a lot of reflection, but I've got it down to this:

"Over 30 years ago I started taking things apart to work out how they worked, with varying degrees of success in putting them back together. This interest in how things work, maintained by running a classic car, has now grown to researching the interaction between research and economies to develop resilient, knowledge based economies - the challenge is you can't take them apart in the same way!​

​

Drawing on over 10 years experience as a facilitator, informal educator and outdoor education coach with young people and adults, I am now supporting regional Australian economies, focusing on the role that start-ups and entrepreneurial innovation has in creating strong and vibrant communities. "​

The better you can describe your "Why", the easier it is to sell yourself, and that might take a bit of time to get it sussed out.