Consultation: | Young Greens AGM 2020 |
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Agenda item: | F Emergency Motions (Opened on 19th July) |
Proposer: | Tom Hazell (Oxfordshire) |
Status: | Submitted |
Submitted: | 08/14/2020, 17:54 |
F1: Solidarity With A-level And GCSE Students: Scrap The Algorithm, Use Teacher Grades
Summary
Thursday’s A-level results day revealed just how unjust the systems used to decide grades in England and Wales in lieu of exams were. The governments in both countries have entrenched educational inequalities by downgrading the results of students in deprived areas while private schools saw a disproportionate increase in top grades. This motion seeks to affirm the Young Greens’ solidarity with students affected by this scandal and assert our call for the government to scrap the algorithm and use teacher grades for results.
Motion Text
Notes:
That on Thursday the 13th of August, hundreds of thousands of students
across England received A-level grades, which are key for their future
prospects, despite the coronavirus crisis denying them a chance to sit
exams as usual.
That, in England and Wales, the government used secretive systems based on
teachers’ rankings of students, their schools’ past results, and a
computer programme to determine students’ grades.
That, in England alone, 280,000 students received grades lower than their
teachers judged they were capable of, and that these downgrades were
disproportionately felt by students in deprived areas.
That in Wales, 42% of A-level grades were downgraded by exam officials,
and these downgrades were also disproportionately felt by students in
deprived areas.
That, after a similar scandal in Scotland, a movement of students and
teachers, supported by the work of Young Scotttish Green MSP Ross Greer,
came together to successfully force their government to U-turn and award
students centre assessed grades.
Believes:
That the algorithm used to predict A-level and GCSE grades is flawed,
unjust and unnecessary, and has turned A-level results into a postcode
lottery.
That no appeals process can solve the injustice caused by a flawed
algorithm.
That we should trust in teacher assessments as these already take into
account a wide variety of criteria - from coursework, to mock exams, to
individual predictions and former grades.
That the only way to bring justice to A-level and GCSE students is to
follow the precedent set in Scotland, scrap the algorithm and allow
students to use teacher assessed grades where they have been marked down
in the process of moderation.
That this disaster was a result of years of dodgy education reforms which
over-emphasised exams at the expense of other methods of assessment.
Resolves:
To call on the UK government Welsh governments to scrap the algorithm and
use teacher-assessed grades for English and Welsh A-level students’
results respectively.
To call on the UK and Welsh governments to ensure a repeat of this scandal
does not happen on GCSE results day by scrapping the algorithm and using
teacher assessed grades.
To call on the UK government to reverse damaging educational reforms, for
example by returning to the use of A2 exams in the first year of sixth
form and increasing the use of coursework.
To instruct the Young Greens executive committee to campaign against this
system of awarding grades and the educational equalities it has
perpetuated.
Supporters
- Nick Humberstone (Wandsworth)
- George Morris (Manchester Green Party)
- Macsen Brown (Brent)
- Sean Shore (Birmingham)
- Georgie Oatley (Norwich)
- Tyrone Scott (Hackney)
- Matthew Hull (Camden)
- Rosie Rawle (Oxfordshire)
Likes
- Dylan Lewis-Creser
Comments