Exam results

The IB oral exam for foreign languages is a fix anyway.

Teachers always give their pupils a good estimate because it bolsters their confidence in the exam. Exam boards had to scale the predictions down to give a realistic comparison compared to previous years. There are always some children who on the day perform badly and there is always an appeal or the opportunity to resit the exam. Although it is disappointing it should not affect their long term goals.

Had ~Gove and C ummings not intervened there would have been ample evidence in AS levels for those doing A's.
Such a worry for the students and their families. Lets hope the English results will be fairer though I doubt it.

Does anyone know if there is any research into the gender differences in this? I know boys usually do better in an exam based system. They quite often have difficult relationships with teachers as well, girls are better at it. So there may be some boys who would have done better than predicted if they had sat an exam and girls who will do better under teacher assessment.

growstuff

The IB oral exam for foreign languages is a fix anyway.

Really? I administer the English A orals and they're rigorous, recorded, randomly sampled AND moderated.

growstuff

Can Ofqual intervene in the IB? I thought the IBO HQ is in Geneva.

I had an IB student this year who was awarded a 3. The school (a high achieving one) had predicted a 4. Quite honestly, I think she was lucky to get the 3 because she's bone idle. She's shouting "not fair" and I actually hope she's not upgraded because she doesn't deserve it.

Their address is Wales now. Exams administered from there too. I only started teaching it in 2015 so it could be a recentish change.

So there may be some boys who would have done better than predicted if they had sat an exam and girls who will do better under teacher assessment.
I thought that as well trisher. Girls do have better relationships with teachers and like to please. Boys please themselves. Our son appeared disinterested in lessons and didn't like engaging with his teachers, but he could walk into exams and somehow get straight A grades. How can they take this into account?

Growstuff said <<<<Universities will almost certainly have capacity for those who reach their offer grades, even if there are more of them because of the drop in overseas students.>>>>

It doesn’t work like that in Scotland, unfortunately. There is always a cap on home numbers because of the no-fees. They can’t afford to give places to all home & EU students. The places they offer are partly funded by overseas and RUK students.

It’s something nationalists don’t like to talk about - that Scotland’s own well-qualified prospective students are denied university places in their own country.

I have to say I never gave inflated grades to pupils but an honest assessment of how I thought they would do. And it was usually pretty close.

GagaJo

growstuff

The IB oral exam for foreign languages is a fix anyway.

Really? I administer the English A orals and they're rigorous, recorded, randomly sampled AND moderated.

They're a fix because the pupils know, more or less, what they're going to have to talk about and I know (because I was told to do it) that pupils are sometimes given a dummy run.

Is it as simple as 'girls have a better relationship with teachers and like to please'
I'd understood that the research suggested girls are more suited to continuous assessment because they work hard consistently and are more likely to submit their work. Boys often fly by the seat of their pants but tend to perform well in exams
Whatever, I do hope the English government follows the decision in Scotland and awards results based on teacher assessment. This year's students have had a very tough time. I heard of one who was predicted B's and awarded F's. That simply can't be right

The English oral changed this year. In the past they've always been by random (in the exam) selection of a literary extract. So no real way it could be cheated.

They've now gone to student pre-selection of extracts, so yes, the students practise beforehand. It's much more easily open to cheating. So I guess I take your point, growstuff.

GagaJo

The English oral changed this year. In the past they've always been by random (in the exam) selection of a literary extract. So no real way it could be cheated.

They've now gone to student pre-selection of extracts, so yes, the students practise beforehand. It's much more easily open to cheating. So I guess I take your point, growstuff.

I used to work in a school which taught IB and I've tutored two pupils over the last couple of years, so I've seen that it doesn't operate consistently across schools. I love the holistic approach and theory of IB, but I became quite disillusioned with how it seemed to work in practice. I know the IBO wants to give teachers maximum flexibility, which is a good thing, but that means that the assessment criteria are quite generic. I obviously only have direct experience of foreign languages. I also saw how many pupils with previous learning of a language were being entered for "ab initio" exams and how many native speakers were entered for Language B, which skewed the assessment criteria for genuine "ab intio" and second language learners.

I've had the opposite problem. Students who REALLY should take Language B doing A and dragging the rest of the class down with them.

I love teaching IB. I LOVE creating my own curriculum. Going back to the UK with preplanned, no deviation lessons nearly killed me.

A previous IB school forced my hand into giving more help to the students for the oral than was allowed. Yet another one on the list of reasons why I left. I'll be the only IBDP English teacher in my school this year. No cheating. I won't take that risk.

Teachers on the whole tend to over estimate grades because of the pressure of league tables. This is why there needs to be some form of moderation. Very difficult this year with very little work completed on which to base estimated grades. Unfortunately, some students will lose out but others will gain as they will receive grades they would not have achieved had they taken an exam.

I'm not sure they do Gwyneth. We are held to account for the accuracy of our predicted grades. Mine are usually pretty accurate (not bragging, we are forced to be). If we're very out in our predictions, it will affect our performance management review and for a younger/newer teacher would prevent them progressing up the pay scale.

Gwyneth

Teachers on the whole tend to over estimate grades because of the pressure of league tables. This is why there needs to be some form of moderation. Very difficult this year with very little work completed on which to base estimated grades. Unfortunately, some students will lose out but others will gain as they will receive grades they would not have achieved had they taken an exam.

I agree with you that there will be some who will achieve higher grades than if they had taken an exam. It will be interesting to know what happens to them. Will they perhaps go to university and not be able to cope with the demands? Or will there be some who will do well, maybe showing that the demands for some courses are too high and/or A levels (Highers) don't really match the needs for further study? In which case, are the exams fit for purpose?

Incidentally, despite my misgivings over IB assessment, I do think the whole IB is a better preparation for further study, work and life in general. It's a shame it's so elitist.

GagaJo From my work as an examiner and talking to Chief Examiners, I know that most teachers overestimate predicted grades. I've also seen it with the pupils I tutor, although I'm pleased to say that my first result this year (CIE IGCSE announced its results before the other boards) was a 9, which I confidently predicted.

growstuff I think exams although stressful are the only fair way to assess students. The reason I say this is that students from backgrounds where parents are well educated will often give their child a lot of help in their coursework to enable them to achieve a high grade. Whereas, there are students from less privileged backgrounds who complete their coursework with only the minimum guidance from their teacher and manage to do well and it is their own work. As a result of their hard work they will usually achieve a good result in the exam. If exams are substituted for assessment only it can allow for some students from privileged backgrounds to achieve grades they do not deserve or have earned. This is why both assessment via coursework and examination is needed to create a fair system for all. I am referring to the system in England here as I am unfamiliar with the Scottish education system and whether or not coursework is part of the overall grading.

Good post Gwyneth, I agree. Until we find a better way of measuring every pupil's attainment, exams serve as the best indicator of their natural ability. Some people may say exams cause children unnecessary stress, but isn't life, especially in the workplace, all about stress and drawing upon the lessons we have learned?

Gwyneth I agree with you, although exams don't always mean that pupils are on a level playing field. That's why parents hire me as a private tutor! I'm a one woman exam results factory!

I suppose what I'm saying is that exam results aren't the only indicator of a person's ability - for all sorts of reasons. For a start, exams only test a limited range of skills, which aren't always those which are needed in the future.

After a few years, they really don't matter. They might open up doors (or at least ensure they're not closed in your face), but eventually people are judged on other criteria, including so-called soft skills, which no exam (especially a timed written one) will ever be able to quantify.

The sudden U turn by the Scottish Executive was less about listening to pupils / parents/ teachers ,and more about saving John Swinney from losing a vote of no confidence.

What is Swinney's relationship with exam results? Aren't there independent exam boards and a regulator in Scotland?

I can't see that Gavin Williamson (the Education Secretary) would be blamed for exam results in England, as he doesn't have responsibility for them.

growstuff

GagaJo From my work as an examiner and talking to Chief Examiners, I know that most teachers overestimate predicted grades. I've also seen it with the pupils I tutor, although I'm pleased to say that my first result this year (CIE IGCSE announced its results before the other boards) was a 9, which I confidently predicted.

Most teachers do NOT overestimate predicted grades. And many of their predictions are moderated. Your post rankles with me as you seem to be blowing your own trumpet while doing real teachers down.

Anyway I hear talk of allowing some mock results to stand.,