Reverse all exam grades back to teacher’s own predictions

Revert final exam grades back to teacher’s predictions instead of forcing students to keep the standardised ones which exam boards have unfairly given based on the postcode in which a student lives. This will benefit students greatly and put many minds at ease in these already stressful times.

Final grades have been determined on the area in which a student resides, meaning many have been downgraded unfairly, even in this stressful situation. Standardisation of results has been prioritised over students’ true performance standard, which teachers have a good knowledge of. It is outrageous that final grades have been altered to fit the area over a student's true capability, which could have a huge impact on the emotional state of many.

Following an announcement on 17 August, the great majority of GCSE, A and AS level students have now received the centre assessment grades that their schools and colleges had submitted for them. In the minority of cases where the grades that the exam boards had previously calculated for students were higher than the centre assessment grade, students have received their calculated grade.

Ofqual had consulted on and implemented a standardisation process for exam results this summer, but the system resulted in too many inconsistent and unfair outcomes for A and AS level students. It became clear that the approach resulted in too many anomalies to be resolved through appeals and which severely undermined confidence in the system.

Subsequently, Ofqual decided to award centre assessment grades, which are the grades which schools and colleges assessed students were most likely to have achieved had exams gone ahead. The Government supported this decision, which was deemed to be the fairest approach to avoid some students receiving grades that did not reflect their prior performance.

We understand this situation has caused a great deal of stress and uncertainty and apologise for the distress this has caused young people and their parents.

Department for Education