How we gave up on education
School closures and rampant grade inflation have had disastrous consequences for young people.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for those young people due to get their A-level results this week. Not only did lockdown school closures disrupt their education, but they are now predicted to end up with lower grades and fewer university places than past cohorts.
A-level results look certain to be lower this year than in either of the past two years, when exams did not take place. What is striking is that this is not in any way a reflection on the effort or ability of this cohort of students. Instead, the Department for Education (DfE) wants results to return to the levels they were at before the pandemic. This year is supposed to represent a mid-point, with results pegged half way between last year’s peak and 2019’s much lower threshold. Manipulating grade boundaries in this way suggests that, at the national level, exam results are more a political football than an accurate record of academic achievement.
That the DfE needs to do this at all is a tacit admission that the teacher-assessed grades awarded during the two years of Covid disruption were hugely inflated. This time last year, we were expected to buy into the fantasy that less education – less teaching, less time in the classroom, less time working with classmates – could magically produce better results. According to this logic, shutting schools completely would ensure all children an A grade in every subject.