Last week, we read that Ofqual intervened with the exam boards to ensure grade boundaries tkept roughly the
same proportion of pupils get the top grades this year at A level as in
previous years. As a result, they were lambasted by representatives
of the educational establishment. But this time, Ofqual was right.
Whatever
one thinks of the Govian changes to A levels, this year promised to be a
difficult year for exam comparability: some subjects are 'reformed', new,
harder A levels, and some aren't. If Ofqual had allowed these new reformed
courses to be significantly harder in terms of their grading than a last round of unreformed
courses in subjects whose courses took longer to be approved by the regulator,
this year's results would have been influenced significantly by the roulette
wheel of A level subject choice, rather than by ability as we might hope.
Identical candidates who chose three unreformed courses might get AAA, where
those who chose three reformed courses might get BBB. (And this ignores potential
variations arising from markers not being given extra time to get up to speed
on the demands of the new exams). The difference might not have been one grade
in each subject; it could have been even wider. Thankfully, this particular
roulette wheel has been stopped before the ball came to rest on black or red,
favouring half the subjects' candidates with an easier high grade than the
other half. Pupils deserve better than this level of randomness. As it is, we read that while over 30% of unreformed exams were graded A* or A, only 24.3% of reformed exams were.
The
news isn't entirely good however. As I pointed out in a blog in 2013 (http://athinkinghead.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/grade-deflation-is-as-pointless-as.html),
grade deflation is as pernicious as grade inflation. Are employers in the
future going to understand that an A grade in A level English Literature
differs in value depending on the year in which the exam was taken? 2017 =
relatively easy, but 2018 = much harder? Of course not.
Interestingly, when I last wrote
about grade deflation, pointing out that the switch to numbered for GCSE
obviated this confusion, the chief regulator at Ofqual got in touch directly to
thank me (and to make a minor factual amendment to my blog - amounting to my
homework being returned with "7/10. Could do better" scrawled on it
in red ink). I was flattered by the attention.
I don't think Ofqual will get in touch with me this time, even if this time I am effectively marking their homework.
