I can’t let this pass without comment … the DFE need to sort this out … it’s a fecking mess !!
Let me remind you that in March Justine Greening wrote to the Education Select Committee (letter -> here ) and in this she states “Where employers, FE providers and universities currently accept a grade C we would expect them to continue recognising a grade 4” … don’t believe me? Page one of the letter is shown below
Today the BBC published an article about how the GCSE “pass” levels are causing confusion over university entry and in they list a load of universities – I’ve just looked at one of them here. On the entry requirements page of UCL – they have published the below, which shows that they are CLEARLY raising their entry requirements to a 5 where previously a C was acceptable. This is just wrong!
There is a statement from Ofqual saying that it remained up to universities to set their admissions rules and there is a load of waffle from the DFE about the changes being part of .. blah blah blah … no seriously that’s what I heard when I read what they had to say. If this was the case from day one then Justine Greening should never have made that statement to the Education Select Committee.
Like I say .. its a mess .. but does make me wonder why the latest Ofqual postcard doesn’t include what was on the previous version about employers, FE and universities etc??
EDIT* One of the comments I’ve just had says that the bar should be raised. That “may” be the case but this post isn’t about that discussion. The fact is that the education select committee are there to hold government bodies to account and they are being told stuff that can’t be delivered.
I think the bar for university has got to be raised anyway – far too many students go to university to study pointless subjects when they would be more suited to vocational or apprenticeship training. If the student can’t get a 5 in maths perhaps the student is not university material
that’s not the point … the point is that the powers that be are misleading the body that oversee them!!
Unbelievable!! Said in my best Victor Meldrew voice!
If this is universities then I’m worried about how employers are going to see these new grades.
I read this last night on BBC website – cue lots of muttering to my husband who couldn’t care less!!! One comment on there said that universities were ‘hedging their bets’ until they see results and it will be 2 years before said pupils are going to uni – but that is not the case for students who have resat on legacy this summer and unfortunately may need to resit on new gcse next year….with a changing bar for them to jump over!
Pam … absolutely!!
The 4 was given as a pass as well as 5 as a concession for this years cohort because of the disruption caused through the new grading system. The cohort were the first to sit new standards and it was thought only fair to allow a 4 as a pass. I understand that next year it will be just the 5 according to my granddaughters information from school. She sits all her GCSEs next year using new number system.
They need to make up their minds. This makes me so angry. It is hard enough to encourage students with the new more challenging paper, particular those at grade 4. A grade 5 is still difficult to define despite our best efforts, crossover papers etc.
The hardest bit is we will be judged against a 5 regardless of what the government say. Not that should bother the students, nor should it.
I will keep smiling and do what I can for the students in front of me. All I can do is encourage them to do their best.
As a lecturer within FE we are facing an uphill battle. All our students have failed their GCSE Maths at least once (some 2/3 times), so to keep on moving the goalpost is unfair. Hence, another valid reason for the learners not to attend classes as they can not see themselves reaching a grade 5.nor the importance on Maths.
Totally agree – from the Ofqual presentation at the conference she said that they would make sure that those students who would have got a C+ last year would get a 4+ this year so not disadvantaging them in any way. But this suggests that a proportion of them getting a grade 4 will indeed be disadvantaged as they may fail to get their next educational place 🙁
It is hard enough for us teachers to get our head around it but at least we know our students, unis and colleges don’t and are relying on a grade they clearly don’t really understand!!
And 5 years down the line how can employers or universities decide who has passed! These grades last throughout the persons career. Will people with a 4 pass have to resit later in life when their pass is devalued?