Do you believe Michael Gove that he had no part in GCSE grade deflation?

Poll

Do you believe Michael Gove that he had no part in GCSE grade deflation?

According to this article on the BBC Michael Gove said "The decision about where to set grade boundaries is made by exam boards. If you take English, then yes the number of As and A*s has fallen but the number of Bs has increased. The number of Cs has fallen and the number of Ds has increased. And that is the result of the independent judgements made by exam boards entirely free from any political pressure."

Do you believe this?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Don John

Original post by Captain Jack

Do you believe Michael Gove when he says the Government had no part in the change to grade boundaries leading to an overall drop in grades this year?

I don't know, and there's no significant evidence either way, but it's disturbing to see the instant anti-Gove-Tory bandwagon that formed because of a few butthurt students.

Reply 2

Elshad

He's a snakish wasteman

What I mean is that he is a low-level big-headed piece of **** scumbag who should be sent to North Korea.

Sincerely
This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

lisalilsmartass

Probably. We can be about 80% sure that pressure from the older generation in general has led to exams deflation not just in GCSE but also at A-Level. What I don't understand is what is often an onslaught of bitter resentment from the older generation to the younger generation in terms of high attainment grades. It's quite shocking and pitiful at times.

Reply 4

iPthreefifthteen

He was clearly trolling when he said he had no involvement. Was it not obvious?

Reply 5

Idle

Seems sensible that GCSE's stay at a pretty standard pass rate each year, where as before it was going up nearly a percent a year, if it goes down a tiny bit what's the problem? Students wouldn't have been calling it unfair if it went up now would they?

Reply 6

WharfedaleTiger

I doubt he had a direct influence-he's too smart for that-but outside pressure was evidently put on and he's been making a big show recently about stopping grade inflation etc.

Reply 7

MindTheGaps

Original post by lisalilsmartass

I quite agree! A 0.4% reduction in the number of A*-C grades can only be described as taking us back to the dark days of 2010!

Reply 8

Fires

Original post by Captain Jack

No. The so-called "independent regulator" Gove created is doing this work on his behalf and at his bidding.

It's a chilling thought, as he is visibly quite insane.

Reply 9

Doskey

I find it too much of a coincidence that both GCSEs and A-Levels deflated this year. However the government needed to do something about it and it seems like they chose this year to do it.

Original post by Idle

^This.

Reply 10

username854791

Let's look at the clues!

% A*-C rising every year since GCSEs began, ----> This year the trend is broken
The government said exams need to be toughened up months before the final GCSEs
Newsreport suggested unfair markings in Alevel exams ----> could this have led to anything.
Suddenly all exam baords toughened up in their markings.
Discussion about bringing O-levels back and making GCSEs Linear
It's 2012

hmmmm.. seems quite peculiar to me. :holmes:

haha sorry I just like talking to my self. :smile:

Reply 11

Deziah

I agree that the pass rate should go down, but it's not exactly fair making people work for a grade then suddenly telling them that they fancy having a grade inflation so their grade is going to go down. It'd be understandable if they just made the exams harder to begin with, then students could accept that they worked for their grade they deserved.
But yeah, I think the grade inflation has been heavily influenced by Michael Gove. Why would exam boards bring their own pass rate down? They have a reputation to keep and want more people to use their board.

Reply 12

Logi

While I agree that grade inflation couldn't have continued at the rate it was I disagree with how this was undertaken and definitely believe it was Gove's doing. By reintroducing norm referencing or "comparable outcomes" all that happens is that it's decided only x% of pupils can get a particular grade regardless of how many people actually deserved that grade. It doesn't make the exams more difficult, it just introduces a luck element on which year you happen to take your exam. This is obviously unfair but even more so when you consider that this wasn't explained prior to people actually taking their exams. To have the boundary shift afterwards when they have no ability to adjust is disgustingly unfair. How can anyone know what they need to do to achieve each grade when the boundaries shift after they've taken the exam?

If you want to affect grade inflation then there needs to be an actual change in the difficulty of the exams. However, an easier way to drop the % of high grades that people deem unacceptable is simply to remove public schools from the results. Over 50% of public school pupils achieve A*s and As at A-level compared to less than 25% of state school pupils and the figures are similar for GCSEs. They achieve this because they have bought an advantage over state school pupils which becomes unfair when you include norm referencing as their higher grades will push down the grades of state pupils.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 13

Jiraiya is no liar

The government still intervenes with the Bank of England's interest rate decisions....

Reply 14

Venomilys

Butt hurt GCSE students be butt hurt :yes:

Reply 15

sputum

Original post by Deziah

Why would exam boards bring their own pass rate down? They have a reputation to keep and want more people to use their board.

That reputation for ever-increasing pass rates is one that might not be as useful as previously :wink:

Maybe the schools entered more borderline/unlikely pupils this year. If I understand the stats correctly from a brief glance that would bring the pass rate down without affecting individual students one whit.
Maybe not. I'm trying to keep an open mind though.

Reply 16

Dalek1099

Original post by Captain Jack

This is rubbish,Gove definetley had something do with it,it may have been indirect or direct because it seems too illogical that he didn't have any involvement because Michael Gove said that the exams are too easy and are going to be made harder and then suddenly the grades dropped because no other politician has really stated that the exams were too easy and would be made harder before and this is the only time they have ever dropped,if he had no influence on the results I'm certain they would have increased again.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 17

MichaelE

I've hated Gove for a long time, he's my second most hated tory behind George Osborne. His involvement is absolutely blatant, In my school we saw this throughout the year. In one particular set of the results, 70% of the year received below a D. This is from the same teachers who the previous year at GCSE had 80% pass rate A*-C. This is no freak occurrence this is Gove's direct influence.

Reply 18

ThatPerson

Original post by Don John

I don't know, and there's no significant evidence either way, but it's disturbing to see the instant anti-Gove-Tory bandwagon that formed because of a few butthurt students.