Wednesday 5th August 2020

[refitman]

Morning all.

[citizenJA]

Good morning, everyone.

[gilsey]

Good morning.

I'd be interested to hear what those of us interested in education think about the Scottish exam-grading stramash.

Looking from the outside, seems to me the Scottish govt have missed a historic opportunity to give disadvantaged children a leg-up.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... mendations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There were complaints, too, about the SQA’s decision to cut Higher passes for pupils from the most deprived areas by over 15 points, from the 85.1% pass rate recommended by teachers down to 69.9%. By comparison, grades were cut in only 9.8% of cases for the best off pupils.

[gilsey]

ruth wishart
@ruth_wishart
The question we need to address is whether pupils with previously good results and high predicted grades suffered disproportionately if they came from areas or schools with poorer track records than the leafy suburbs. Appeals will be limited consolation.

[gilsey]

Darren McGarvey
@lokiscottishrap
What the Scottish govt is saying is that the many advantages enjoyed by the most affluent pupils are fine - its any suggestion that the scale might be tipped in favour of the poorest for ONCE in their lives that woukd invalidate the entire system of education

[frog222]

Darren McGarvey
@lokiscottishrap
What the Scottish govt is saying is that the many advantages enjoyed by the most affluent pupils are fine - its any suggestion that the scale might be tipped in favour of the poorest for ONCE in their lives that woukd invalidate the entire system of education

Seeing my daughter later, will ask her how they did it here. I've read that based on classwork, and perhaps other factors?, there were something like 9% MORE 'passes' in the baccalauréat this year. Since (I think) that gives automatic entry to public universities, possible overcrowding down the road ...

[Willow904]

There's definitely something to be said for making sure, if teachers have been over generous, that all pupils are marked down equally. The discrepancy does seem unfair. What happens next is more important, though. The onus is now on colleges to be flexible about grades for studying chosen courses so everyone gets the opportunity to show what they can really achieve. We have a chance here to move away from an obsession with exams and grades and school performance and return our focus to education and learning. Any exam is just a snapshot of where a student is at any particular time. We really do need to find new ways of thinking about education that is more rounded and more flexible and reflects how children grow and learn at different rates. National exams have a tendency to act as gateways, allowing some to progress but shutting the door completely on others. The arbitrariness of the way predicted grades have been allocated is closer to the arbitrariness of the examination system itself than most people would like to admit. Yes it's unfair how those from deprived areas have been bumped down further than others, but the sat exams would have probably done the same. Perhaps it's a good thing that this year's cohort get to say they've been failed by the system, which is always true for a significant minority, rather than being made to feel that they failed.

Looking ahead to English results there's going to be an extra factor than in Scotland and Wales as I believe Year 6 SATs results will come into play. Poor SATs results may prevent a late bloomer from accessing the highest grades at GCSE, if I understand correctly. It may also help identify high flyers in poor areas, though, and provide evidence and ammunition for appeals. We shall see.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Sturgeon getting a fair amount of criticism from beyond the usual suspects on this one, it appears. Always interesting when "teflon" politicians show a spot of rust.

[RogerOThornhill]

Morning all.

I'm shocked, shocked that the Daily Mail is on, the one hand jeering at the civil service for working from home, while elsewhere congratulating itself for producing its newspaper with *checks notes* its staff working from home.

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[RogerOThornhill]

And, I know this will come as a surprise, but John Longworth turns out to be a total hypocrite too...

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[AnatolyKasparov]

Morning all.

I'm shocked, shocked that the Daily Mail is on, the one hand jeering at the civil service for working from home, while elsewhere congratulating itself for producing its newspaper with *checks notes* its staff working from home.

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As mentioned by yours truly last night

[Willow904]

There's some interesting info on this Twitter thread about how the Scottish exam results were arrived at:

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stirlingsheep@stirlingsheep
Replying to @C4Ciaran @NicolaSturgeon and @JohnSwinney
The basis for award was
1) How you had performed at prelim
2) How well historically your school has done at predicting final bands in relation to final results (the estimate part).

Prelims can be all over the place, and arent in the main, standardised, to the point where some 1/

I'm not exactly sure when prelims are sat, but I don't think it's as close to the actual exams as mock exams in England & Wales tend to be which may create extra difficulties but overall we're likely to see the same issues repeated with GCSEs and A levels. The appeals process is more likely to be used successfully by better off families because it was ever thus, so the key responsibility for making this less unfair will fall on further and higher education providers to make sure students get to go on to further study/training that suits their skills with far more flexibility around required grades than usual.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Anybody about this not so fine afternoon?

(not much sign here so far of the heatwave we've been promised, that's for sure)

[citizenJA]

Anybody about this not so fine afternoon?

(not much sign here so far of the heatwave we've been promised, that's for sure)

I'm here
I was out for a bit

[frog222]

Anybody about this not so fine afternoon?
(not much sign here so far of the heatwave we've been promised, that's for sure)

Had a short trip to the beach to see some grandsons, then a masked haircut and a nice siesta in the cool ... now down to 27 outside but a good breeze !

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#TheWeekInTory is a monster today because they’ve been, well, even busier than usual, the scamps

1. The dictionary definition of Honour is, “the quality of knowing and doing what is morally right”. Keep that in mind as we tackle the Honours system
6:05 PM · Aug 5, 2020

UNROLL -- https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1291 ... 1596644314" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[frog222]

Some new ones to me in there, this --

59. More Gove: the NI politician John Hume died, and Gove praised his “integrity and wisdom” in helping to create the Good Friday Agreement
60. Gove wrote a 58-page pamphlet opposing the Good Friday Agreement and said those involved in the GFA were akin to “appeasing the Nazis”

Liked this , which I HAD seen--

Jeremy Hunt, who is worth £14m, and once explained bogus expenses claims by saying he forgot about 7 houses he owned (and which of can honestly say we haven’t forgotten about 7 houses we own) boasted of using £50 of taxpayer’s money to buy fish and chips

I'd be extremely surprised if 'unt is not worth considerably more than that !

[RogerOThornhill]

Schools Week
@SchoolsWeek
The minister also defended the government’s decision not to require older pupils to wear masks in school, despite the fact children over 11 have to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops

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[frog222]

CRACE Just another very quiet day in the home-office of dedicated contact tracers
A tracer’s secret diary: phone calls, 1; barbecues, 1; quizzes, 1; anxiety level: high
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ct-tracers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1st August: Receive a message from Boris Johnson saying all those working from home should now be working in the office. Worried, I ring the No 10 switchboard to let them know I don’t have an office. A bored receptionist says not to worry as Boris is working from his country house for the rest of the summer

.

[citizenJA]

CRACE Just another very quiet day in the home-office of dedicated contact tracers
A tracer’s secret diary: phone calls, 1; barbecues, 1; quizzes, 1; anxiety level: high
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ct-tracers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1st August: Receive a message from Boris Johnson saying all those working from home should now be working in the office. Worried, I ring the No 10 switchboard to let them know I don’t have an office. A bored receptionist says not to worry as Boris is working from his country house for the rest of the summer

.

The Crace take on this ought to be good

[GetYou]

Russ' Week in Tory is always worth a read, but this week's list is insanely long:

https://twitter.com/RussInCheshire/stat ... 0502705154

[RogerOThornhill]

Fight! Fight!

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Does anyone know who this John Duffield character is? His name crops up but I have no idea what he's done. He doesn't seem to be that nice though...

John Duffield
@jfwduffield
Replying to
@ZareerMasani
and
@Policy_Exchange
Portes is a charltan & not a particularly pleasant person. No PhD & barely any peer viewed publications.
7:01 PM · Aug 5, 2020·Twitter for Android

As someone pointed out career civil servants don't usually have PhDs,,,

[RogerOThornhill]

I do love the idea of someone who has a blog masquerading as Archbishop Cranmer accusing others of being pompous...

[frog222]

Russ' Week in Tory is always worth a read, but this week's list is insanely long:
https://twitter.com/RussInCheshire/stat ... 0502705154

See above 5.04 !
(It's because the Tories are committing insane numbers of crimes against good governance, common decency, etc ! )

[GetYou]

Russ' Week in Tory is always worth a read, but this week's list is insanely long:
https://twitter.com/RussInCheshire/stat ... 0502705154

See above 5.04 !
(It's because the Tories are committing insane numbers of crimes against good governance, common decency, etc ! )

Haha, sorry I missed that earlier, it's been a long day as well

[frog222]

GetYou Definitely worth a read , there's always some bit of awfulness that escaped me, at least ! NN

[citizenJA]

Russ' Week in Tory is always worth a read, but this week's list is insanely long:
https://twitter.com/RussInCheshire/stat ... 0502705154

See above 5.04 !
(It's because the Tories are committing insane numbers of crimes against good governance, common decency, etc ! )

Haha, sorry I missed that earlier, it's been a long day as well

(cJA bold)
Same here
hard day for me

[citizenJA]

CRACE Just another very quiet day in the home-office of dedicated contact tracers
A tracer’s secret diary: phone calls, 1; barbecues, 1; quizzes, 1; anxiety level: high
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ct-tracers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1st August: Receive a message from Boris Johnson saying all those working from home should now be working in the office. Worried, I ring the No 10 switchboard to let them know I don’t have an office. A bored receptionist says not to worry as Boris is working from his country house for the rest of the summer

.

The Crace take on this ought to be good

I regret to report I wasn't able to enjoy Crace this evening. I think I'm just tired.

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[AnatolyKasparov]

I do love the idea of someone who has a blog masquerading as Archbishop Cranmer accusing others of being pompous...

Rather like one of the surest signs of being a pompous blowhard on Twitter is a "classical" Greek/Roman avatar.

[adam]

There's definitely something to be said for making sure, if teachers have been over generous, that all pupils are marked down equally. The discrepancy does seem unfair. What happens next is more important, though. The onus is now on colleges to be flexible about grades for studying chosen courses so everyone gets the opportunity to show what they can really achieve. We have a chance here to move away from an obsession with exams and grades and school performance and return our focus to education and learning. Any exam is just a snapshot of where a student is at any particular time. We really do need to find new ways of thinking about education that is more rounded and more flexible and reflects how children grow and learn at different rates. National exams have a tendency to act as gateways, allowing some to progress but shutting the door completely on others. The arbitrariness of the way predicted grades have been allocated is closer to the arbitrariness of the examination system itself than most people would like to admit. Yes it's unfair how those from deprived areas have been bumped down further than others, but the sat exams would have probably done the same. Perhaps it's a good thing that this year's cohort get to say they've been failed by the system, which is always true for a significant minority, rather than being made to feel that they failed.

Looking ahead to English results there's going to be an extra factor than in Scotland and Wales as I believe Year 6 SATs results will come into play. Poor SATs results may prevent a late bloomer from accessing the highest grades at GCSE, if I understand correctly. It may also help identify high flyers in poor areas, though, and provide evidence and ammunition for appeals. We shall see.

In the good old days of coursework and modular courses, by the time schools sent everyone home in March we would have had about ¾ of the assessment for the course complete and any final predictions could be very confident. I used to teach a modular A level where before the final exam I would have a numerical mark out of 300 for every student, with 100 marks to go in the final paper but 40 marks between each grade boundary - so somebody on a bottom A grade with 240/300 would need 80/100 on the final paper to get an A overall but would need less than 40/100 to miss a B overall. Now, with no coursework and no modular exams along the way, grade predictions are just dressedup guesses. At the very very least, exam boards should be looking at schools' performances subject by subject and not at the school as a whole in order to make a judgement about this year's predicted grades.

[frog222]

My daughter told me that 'marginal' lycée students were marked 'up' . So nationally 9% more passes than last this year. Pass = 10/20 .

That's the first check I've done ...