I believe this afternoon’s decision to revert to teacher assessed grades was the right one for students in North Devon.
As a former maths teacher myself, I was more than a little surprised to find that appeals were being lodged on behalf of every single A’level maths student in North Devon. Maths is a relatively straightforward subject to predict, so that alone rang alarm bells for me. I wrote to the Education Secretary overnight on Friday, expressing my concerns, having spoken to all the Heads involved.
I do believe it was right to attempt to moderate grades, as normally happens with GCSEs and A’levels. However, the algorithm in my mind was fundamentally flawed and to try to run an appeals process for the volume of students involved would only prolong what was already a very difficult situation for far too many students.
I hope that North Devon students are now able to move forward in the manner they had hoped to.Selaine
