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Dr Colm Hickey Goldie Sayers has fair. What if it had been your son or thanked scientists for daughter? How would you react? Al- At the in helping her claim the most two out of every five results 2008, Goldie Sayers threw a British Olympic medal she was were lower than the grades pre- javelin record of 65.75m finishing in denied by a drug cheat. dicted by their teachers. fourth place. Russia’s Mariya Abaku- Ofqual said that accepting teacher mova was second. However, in 2016, grades without standardisation Abakumova, was stripped of her would have meant an ‘implausibly medal for having taken the anabolic high’ year-on-year 12 per cent in- steroid, turinabol and Sayers was crease in grades of A and above. The awarded her richly deserved bronze. disparity was justified, because She said: “When anything that hap- teachers have a ‘tendency to overes- pens in life isn’t completely fair you timate to a greater extent the grades might feel a bit frustrated…Know- of socio-economically disadvan- ing that you did it, the validation taged students’. Yet Ofqual’s data that you were pretty good at some- showed that the most disadvantaged thing. The medal is the proof of it. students were more likely to have Update.... However, ‘Financially I would have their predicted grades marked made more money, being a medal- you took the envelope? Perhaps you per cent. This compares with a 1.7 down. The proportion of pupils Education Secretary Gavin list, … because there was more went to the toilet to open the results per cent, two per cent and 0.3 per achieving a C or above fell by 10.4 Williamson is facing calls for sponsorship around…My coach in the cubicle so no one could see cent improvement in academies, percentage points among the most clarity for students and would have got a bonus of some your expression? Do you remember comprehensives and colleges re- deprived third of pupils, compared universities after his major sort. The athletics performance di- meeting with your friends trying to spectively. These outcomes are not to 8.3 percentage points among the U-turn over GCSE and A-level rector (Dave Collins) would have be modest if you had done well or fair because many independent wealthiest third. John Craven, CEO grades in . kept his job.” ‘cool’ if you had not saying that it schools did not have their predicted of social mobility charity UpReach Elsewhere, Jenny Meadows had didn’t bother you? Remember going grades downgraded if they had small observed: “It is clear that high-at- On Monday, Mr Williamson her bronze medal at the 2010 Euro- home to tell your Mum and Dad and teaching groups whereas larger co- taining students from poor back- back-tracked to say results pean Championships upgraded to then out in the evening with your horts were subjected to the flatten- grounds have been disadvantaged estimated by teachers could silver and believes that Russian dop- mates? Was it something like that ing down produced by Ofqual algo- by the methodology.” be used after mounting anger ing has deprived her of ‘at least three for you? I bet it was, but not this rithm which, unbelievably and The Bible reminds about justice. over the downgrading of about other medals’. “The main thing for year. Oh no, Covid-19 saw to that! unfairly, mandated that some chil- Leviticus [19:15] ‘Do not pervert jus- 40 per cent of A-level grades me is the moral injustice,” she said. This year was utterly different. In the dren had to receive a grade U and tice; do not show partiality to the by exams regulator Ofqual on “During my career I never felt that I words of W.B. Yeats: “All changed, this meant that some students pre- poor or favouritism to the great, the basis of a controversial was the world’s best but now I have changed utterly/ A terrible beauty is dicted a C or even a B received a but judge your neighbour fairly.’ algorithm. retired I have reflected a bit and un- born.” grade U through an computerised Let’s hope that it is applied to the fortunately I have a little bit of bit- The decision of the government to programme. You know that is not 330,000 A-level students. terness creeping in, which I have abandon examinations as a result of never had before. I am thinking Covid-19 was momentous, but peo- ‘what if?’ – if I had been European ple understood it. It was not possible and world indoor champion it to conduct terminal examinations would have been amazing.” so schools were asked to predict All Sayers and Meadows ever what they thought their students wanted was a chance to demon- would achieve if they took the exam. strate that their talent was enough This was a rigorous process of mod- for them to win on the world stage. eration including mock exam re- Cheating by others denied them the sults, coursework other teacher as- glory that was theirs. They didn’t re- sessments, homework, teacher ceive the recognition at the time knowledge of the syllabus, past pa- they should have. They lost out on pers to arrive at a Centre Assessment the fame, glory and finance that suc- Grade for each student. It was thor- cess brings and they have had to live ough and it was fair. with the knowledge that what was However, it had one fateful flaw. theirs was denied them and no ret- In the eyes of Ofqual and the DfE it rospective awarding of medals can was too good. Too many students ever make up for the thrilling emo- were getting high grades. It was out tion of success at that time. of kilter with previous years’ per- Sport mirrors life. That’s why we formance. So, the response was love it. Athletes live in a strange and brutal and simple, or to put it an- secret world and we marvel at the other way brutally simple: quash sacrifice that they put in to win their the results and realign it to the sta- medals. Their tears of joy as the na- tistical norm. Job done. All good, tional anthem is played and the but it was not as 40 per cent of A- Union Jack raised brings us, for a level grades awarded were lower fleeting moment, in communion than teacher predictions. At first with them as we feel uplifted by this did not seem to be anything to their efforts. Black or white, rich or be too worried about. It could be poor, they have proved themselves, defended as maintaining the stan- have overcome adversity and tri- dard and preserving the integrity of umphed, sometimes against all the system. Indeed, A-levels are odds. It’s moving; it’s emotional and meant to be tough and if students it’s great. couldn’t cope well – tough “but We, too, have had our own na- looking at the big picture, I think tional examination and have experi- overall we’ve got a very robust set of enced the same degree of nervous- grades,” said Boris Johnson. While ness and expectation after years of it was certainly robust, it certainly preparation. Do you remember get- was not fair. ting your A-level results; the nervous Let’s examine fairness. For the top Students from Codsall Community High School gather prior to marching to the constituency office of their local journey to the school, the feigned A* and A grades, independent MP Gavin Williamson, who is also the Education Secretary, as a protest over the continuing issues of last week’s A- insouciance about their impor- schools in England saw the greatest level results which saw some candidates receive lower-than-expected grades after their exams were cancelled as a tance? Did your hands tremble as improvement on last year – up 4.7 result of coronavirus. (PA Images/Jacob King)

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