All downgraded Scottish Awards to be reversed

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With the student and media outcry of the Scots last week, who knows Ofqual and the English Govt. might bow down to the pressure.

I really hope so😥

Reply 41

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by highlighters0312

Surely Ofqual have to follow? Scottish students will compete with english students and that won’t be fair if the english students were downgraded and the scottish not.

I've started a separate discussion about what the rest of the UK should do here. :smile:

Reply 42

SarcAndSpark

Original post by bored_user:)

Wow would this happen for the A levels too??

I actually think not- if this happens in England, especially a week after results day, it will cause chaos in terms of uni places/clearing etc.

If it does happen, I wouldn't expect unis to necessarily have to honour the new results.

Reply 43

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Tbh i would be pretty annoyed about this if I was a previous years SQA student :redface:

This does seem to downgrade what the higher grades in this years cohort are worth

The system is meant to categorise people based on their ability (or in this year's case their projected ability), the merits of such a system is a different debate but that is how it currently works. As such you will unfortunately always have people who don't achieve what they wanted, this happens every year and every year there are a minority that complain about it. I don't really see why this year's complaints held anymore water for the sqa u-turn to have occurred. I sympathise with people's frustration about this situation but they are not the only cohort we need to consider, year 12s and year 10s who have missed a lot of teaching time are disadvantaged already, I can understand why people who are going to uni next year are worried about having to compete with deferrals from this year who may potentially have much higher grades.

There is now the issue of scottish students being at an advantage in english universities applications if a-levels do not follow suit, in a more ideal scenario the sqa upgrading would not have happened.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 44

BasicMistake

If you think this is a good idea then read this report about A Levels (note not SQA); if you still think it's a good idea then I'd love to hear why.

https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/8409/Predicted-grades-accuracy-and-impact-Dec-16/pdf/Predicted_grades_report_Dec2016.pdf

Reply 45

harrysbar

Doesn’t this reversal just prove that you can never please everyone?

Reply 46

Moonbow

Original post by 04MR17

I'm much more skeptical actually. There is no indication that Ofqual will make a similar decision. They can, but it shouldn't be relied upon to happen when you're thinking about your decisions and next steps.

Do you think the same will happen for GCSEs? I don’t think it’s likely but I’m curious nonetheless 🧐

Reply 47

redoubtable

Original post by theJoyfulGeek

Exactly! If everybody has an A, nobody has one. The point of these examinations is to distinguish between able candidates? If everyone does equally well, there's not really any point...

I have no idea about Advanced Highers though - I'm in England! All I have to worry about is the people getting A levels this year who are planning on deferring entry... and if all of my 9s at GCSE suddenly become worthless because everyone has them. :cry:

yeah exactly!! unbelievable

Reply 48

Moonbow

Original post by theJoyfulGeek

I know what you mean. I feel glad for the kids that worked hard and had got unfairly downgraded, but there are so many who put in little to no effort and they are getting the grades for what feels like free. All the work you put in is suddenly mopped away. I hope it doesn’t happen in GCSEs if I’m honest :frown:

Reply 49

redoubtable

cant trust anything any politician says
what was it nicola sturgeon was going on about last week? talking about the issue of credibility if you upgraded everyone. what happened to that lol

Reply 50

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by pineapplepink

cant trust anything any politician says
what was it nicola sturgeon was going on about last week? talking about the issue of credibility if you upgraded everyone. what happened to that lol

Feels to me like they're essentially putting two fingers up to the angry students and saying "You don't like it? Fine, have it your way."

Reply 51

1811 Pico Blvd

Original post by fallen_acorns

Well done scotland... you have managed to make grades useless for a year of students.

well not really - because employers won't remember which year this was in 5-10 years time, so what really has just happened is a whole cohort of students were just unfiarly given grades that they didn't deserved.. because the scottish goverment is incompetant and scared.

That's not to say the last crack at it was perfect... going based on school location was always a stupid thing... but instead of just scrapping and going with teachers grades, which we all know - and are provably - way to high... they should have taken a second crack and moderating the system slightly, but by a fairer metric then the wealth of your schools area.

Its amazing how weak and lacking in authority/confidence our goverments are... a few complaining students is enough to make them all terrified..

The whole cohort don't deserve the grades they've been given? :s-smilie:

Reply 52

Nessie162

Original post by 04MR17

Feels to me like they're essentially putting two fingers up to the angry students and saying "You don't like it? Fine, have it your way."

So you think it was fairer to fail students with basically no option of resitting the exams ever? We don't really have a resit culture in Scotland at all and resitting Advanced Highers in many subjects (such as sciences) is almost impossible.

Reply 53

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by Nessie162

I think it would have been fairer to change the algorithm, reduce the emphasis on historic data and give the teacher-assessed grades a higher weighting in the system while still moderating the results overall.

Reply 54

YourClassLiberal

Original post by 04MR17

Big news from John Swinney just announced folks.

- All downgraded awards will be withdrawn

- Awards that were downgraded will be issues solely according to teacher estimates.

See here, approximately 15:16 ish
https://www.scottishparliament.tv/

The BBC has an article on the story here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-53740588

There's a thread up here to discuss whether you think the same should happen in the rest of the UK.

If you received a notification for this post it's because you've previously posted in the SQA discussion and help forum. :smile:

All upgraded awards should be changed as well. Not fair to get better grades than teacher predictions. It works both ways

Reply 55

username4490612

Original post by theJoyfulGeek

They should've offered October resits instead, like England.

I was hoping for it as well.

Reply 56

Banshee123

Original post by laurawatt

Flipping heck, a 13.7% increase in the pass rate for Advanced Highers compared to the 2019 results

What it like on a year by year basis Other than 2020?

Reply 57

username4490612

Original post by YourClassLiberal

All upgraded awards should be changed as well. Not fair to get better grades than teacher predictions. It works both ways

No? It’s only for downgraded grades not upgraded

Reply 58

BasicMistake

Advanced Higher Pass Rates

2016-19 average: 80.4%
2020 moderated: 84.9%
2020 predicted: 92.8%

This will increase pass rates by over 12 percentage points. Failure rates will more than halve.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-53580888

Reply 59

highlighters0312

Also politically - the 2 year groups grades and their parents will be of voting age soon. Maybe that will sway BoJo