I have mixed feelings about this, to be honest. We had been told since April that the Centre Assessed Grades were crucial, and that the rank orders would be used for borderline candidates.
Since then, however, Ofqual (as well as Qualifications Wales and Northern Ireland's CCEA) have been presenting us with different analogies. Notably, they have been explaining how standardisation will map the exam board determined grade distribution by level/subject/centre onto the provided rank order.
Infographics in the past week have even shown a bucket of available grades which is given to the candidates for a level/subject/centre until it is exhausted.
So, yes, it would be no surprise to me if the spin in the TES article is more or less accurate. If the exam board has a bag of grades to hand out to a school for its candidates in level and subject such and such, how can it be any different to chucking the CAGs away and relying on rankings alone?
The unnamed exam board has been overly candid by stating that cohorts ≤ 5 entries will be given unstandardised CAGs, as will new centres. They have also defined the upper limit of "small" cohorts as 15. One can but assume that Ofqual's taper will only apply for cohorts with 6 to 15 candidates?
This afternoon's Ofqual press release doesn't exactly deny what the loose-tongued exam board rep told TES. We know they are grateful for the work of teachers --- aren't we all? --- and that "results for students will almost always be broadly in line with centres’ and teachers’ expectations" [my emphasis].