No Pre-U turn

The Tories` "U-turn on their A-level grading system" was indeed, as your article stated, deeply "humiliating" for the government, and, of course, it was most welcome, as it did repair a huge level of injustice heaped on thousands of young people (Star, 18/08/20).What it didn't do, however, was to change the way our so-called "top" universities are dominated by undergraduates who received their earlier education in private schools. The rise in A/A* grades of 4.7% was the epitome of grade inflation, yet the mainstream press and media largely ignored it. It wasn`t affected by Williamson`s change of heart, so these advantaged students were able to book their places at Oxbridge and the rest, without any challenge or furore. As it took until last weekend for Gavin Williamson to realise that there were, in his words, "real concerns about what a large number of students were getting", it is more than likely that he will never realise what a good job he has done for his Tory leaders. With no public outcry about private schools` grade inflation, and no media inquiry into the number of students in the independent sector whose grades were actually Pre-U qualifications, rather than actual A-levels, Williamson has served his masters well. Their guaranteed university places will no doubt provide the excuse they need to deny most of the genuinely talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to show their true potential, whilst the secrecy surrounding Pre-U grades, and the way they were decided, remains. Thursday`s GCSE results, despite the U-turn, will almost certainly fail to reveal the disparities between actual GCSE grades and those of the preferred exams in the independent sector at this age, the iGCSEs. Another U-turn, this time on examination results, is par for the course as far as this government is concerned, but no Pre-U turn means yet another victory for the privileged! Another reason, too, for Johnson and Cummings to defer Williamson`s sacking - for now! As it took until last weekend for Gavin Williamson to realise that "there were real concerns about what a large number of students were getting", it is more than likely that he will never realise what a good job he has done for his Tory leaders (Government forced into humiliating exams U-turn, 18/08/20). With a rise of 4.7% in the number of A/A* grades for private school pupils, no public outcry about such grade inflation, and no media inquiry into the number of students in the independent sector whose grades were actually Pre-U qualifications, rather than actual A-levels, Williamson has served his masters well. So-called "elite" universities will have already guaranteed places for these pupils, providing an excuse again for denying most of the genuinely talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to show their true potential. Another U-turn, this time on examination results, is par for the course as far as this government is concerned, but no Pre-U turn means yet another victory for the privileged! Another reason, too, for Johnson and Cummings to defer Williamson`s sacking (Why Johnson wants to keep minister in place - for now, 18/08/20). With 49% of entries by students in private schools in England receiving an A/A* grade, compared with 20% for state-educated students, the inevitable increased domination of so-called "elite" universities by students from the independent sector is, as your editorial rightly says, "not just unfair but grotesque" (Ministers, not pupils, are the ones who have messed up this year`s A-levels, 14/08/20). It is not a new phenomenon, of course, especially with private schools in recent years choosing Pre-U examinations in preference to A-levels. and increased entries this year for such qualifications. Totally predictable, too, is the secrecy which not only again surrounds Pre-U examination results and the proportion of entries awarded top grades, but, of course, the way the final results were determined. According to the website, predicted grades, rank orders and previous performance were taken into account, but whether an algorithm decided a predicted B candidate should be awarded an E because of the previous teaching group`s results in 2019 is unknown. Huy Duong described the "information Ofqual had made available about its methodology" as "scant", but imagine if he had been working on Pre-U exams rather than A-levels (Concerned father who predicted the A-level results farce, 15/08/20)! Rather than subsume Pre-U results in their A-level ones, shouldn't all private schools, and the relatively few state schools which use them, be forced to separate the two, so that a clearer picture of how the examination system is being abused emerges? Pre-U examinations are being phased out over the next few years, but that still means hundreds of university places will be gained by students taking an alternative route. And the government still insists on calling it "a level playing-field"! Comments like "national outrage" and "rolling disaster" were inevitable as soon as the government decided to award A-level grades "based on an algorithm conceived by the regulator Ofqual" (Mocks proposal "shows failure to understand how system works ",13/08/20). With previous results a factor, it was always likely that pupils who "made progress since GCSE" would "lose out significantly ". The teachers' predicted grades and orders of merit should have gone to the same subject markets along with samples of pupils' work, and the final grades decided after the usual careful moderation. By persisting with such an obviously flawed system this government shows itself not only lacking trust in the teaching profession and completely out of touch with the workings of state education, but also intent on exacerbating inequality rather than reducing it! Strangely there appears to have been no fuss over the awarding of grades for Pre-U exams, the ones preferred to A-levels in most of our private schools!