Open letter to FM and Minister for Education
We appeal to you to rethink this year’s exam results.
Due to Covid-19, this year has not been a normal year for anyone. It has been especially hard on children and young people. The problems with the algorithms determining their results has made their futures even more uncertain and added to anxieties.
We call on your government to accept that and to make adjustments to ensure that this cohort of pupils get the compassion and understanding they deserve. If that means that this year’s results are a statistical blip, then so be it.
It is not only wrong but it goes against your own government’s Future Generations & Well-being legislation (2015) which sets out to create “a more equal Wales - a society that enables people to fulfil their true potential no matter what their background or experience”, as schools in the most deprived areas appear to have seen greater grade deflation (as compared with the centre assessed grades) than those schools with catchments covering more affluent postcode. We will not accept that working class students from Pontypridd should experience such blatant discrimination from an education system that should be helping them to tackle those class barriers.
It is clear that across the UK the algorithms determining these results cannot be trusted. We can trust the teachers and the integrity of the process for arriving at the centre assessed grades. In Scotland, this was recognised and rectified swiftly.
We therefore demand that those students who have seen their grades drop should have them immediately reverted back to the centre assessed grades.
Welsh students are losing out on university places now, so we urge you to act without delay.