So there was Michael Gove on BBC Breakfast News this morning. I’d forgotten what he looked like and I seriously doubt if any of the students unfairly cheated of a pass grade in this summer’s GCSE English examination actually care what he looks like. In the words of one Deputy Headteacher I’ve just spoken with, they’ve “gone to the wind” – they’ve left school and dispersed and the school is unable to facilitate any plans for them to take the much vaunted offer of an Ofqual re-sit in November. A meaningless gesture – utterly meaningless.
The schools themselves are galvanised and angry. They want to stick one on the Government and the minister and officials responsible.
A Head of English acknowledged that data was not her strong suit but did say that she knows her students and how their performance could be tracked and analysed. Like Heads of English and their teaching teams up and down the country, she was sure about the likely performance of her students. To listen to the official line, though, they’d have you believe that she and her colleagues were little better than the punter placing an annual bet on the Grand National after a cursory look at form in the papers.
What this Head of English and her Headteacher are good at, however, is post-results analysis and the construction of strongly worded letters to exam boards and the like. I’ve read the letter and they’re pulling no punches. Like I said, they’re angry and know a serious injustice when they see one.
They’ve highlighted key concerns and posed serious questions for the examination board to address. They bring their letter to a close with a line that goes like this; “It is extremely disheartening for a student who has worked extremely hard to achieve a specific grade only to be told that a marks adjustment has deprived them of the grade that they actually achieved.”
I hope they and their students – wherever they are – get the honest answers they deserve.
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