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A-Level Results Row- Farce or Fix?
A-Level pass rate shoots up more than usual
By Joe Rukin
The independent inquiry into this years A-level fiasco, headed by former chief inspector of schools, Mike Tomlinson has decided that the farce was nothing more than an 'Accident waiting to happen'. The enquiry also cleared Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) chief Sir William Stubbs and Education Secretary Estelle Morris of any wrongdoing, so she promptly sacked Stubbs.
Head teachers, through a joint statement through the GSC, the HMC and the SHA were convinced where the blame lay:
"It is clear that OCR, AQA and Edexcel have statistically manipulated the decisions of awarding committees at chief executive level, bringing results down for candidates in both maintained and independent schools. We understand that direct pressure by QCA was brought to bear on the chief executives of the three examining bodies in England. This resulted in each awarding body making statistical adjustments downwards."
With head teachers unions not being impressed at the QCA, which they described as an 'arm of government', being given the opportunity to investigate it's own actions in the downgrading of A-level marks, Morris had appointed Tomlinson to head an 'independent' inquiry. However a public independent inquiry had also been called for by Sir William, maybe fearing he would be stitched up. Stubbs even requested to give copies of his evidence direct to the media, a request which was denied. Next, the independence of the inquiry was called into question by Stubbs, who had said Morris had attempted to prejudice it's outcome. He said that her actions in making a specific contingency plan- to re-grade the papers- had pre-empted the report, especially as this is what the report recommended. It is still unsure how many papers will be re-graded. Stubbs, who claimed 'something untoward' had gone on, said;
"The clear inference is that she has pre-empted the judgement of Mike Tomlinson - the independent investigator - and assumed only one outcome of its findings. It's wholly improper in this context when the inquiry is scarcely halfway through its initial phase for the secretary of state personally to have intervened."
Ms Morris responded by saying she had been looking at contingency plans, whilst Tomlinson said there had been no interference. Of course to this you have to act the fact that, not wishing to prejudice his own enquiry, from start to finish, Tomlinson said there was no evidence of a fix. The complaint from head teachers had been that the QCA had pressured exam board officials to alter A-level grades at the last minute to avoid claims that exams were getting easier, pointing at Stubbs, who admitted boards may have been under the impression that they should not let grades drift too high, but said
"At no point did I ask the awarding bodies to alter grades or marks."
The Tories and head teachers had joined with Stubbs' call to have the inquiry held in public. Damian Green, Conservative spokesman asked
"What is there to hide if the witness himself wants to give evidence in public? This is an alarming and disappointing decision. Pupils, parents and teachers deserve as open an enquiry as possible in the exam scandal and there is absolutely no reason why Sir William Stubbs should not give his evidence in public. It is vital that this investigation is not seen as a cover-up. Today's decision can only raise suspicion that the inquiry will not be completely open and independent."
Although the exam boards and schools were of the opinion that the QCA had asked for grades to be reduced, many believed that the Government had been the ones to order them. Morris said "categorically" that there had been no political interference, despite having met with Stubbs twice whilst exams were being sat. The allegations were that she got Stubbs to do the dirty work by telling boards what to do, so this statement may well be true;
"It would be entirely wrong for us or any government of any persuasion to get involved in any aspect of marking, assessing or grading students. Neither I nor any of my ministers have had any conversation of this type with examining bodies."
School Standards Minister, David Miliband, also denied that when he had met Stubbs over the summer he had exerted pressure to downgrade some results;
"I can give you an absolutely categoric assurance that at no stage did I interfere with the setting of grade boundaries in meetings with the QCA or with anyone else. At no stage was there any suggestion from me that there was a ministerial concern about the outcome of the grades. It would be quite wrong for politicians to be setting those sort of grade boundaries."
The Lib-Dems pointed their finger in a different direction, suggestion that the order came right from the top- i.e. Alistair Campbell. Former Labour education minister and founder member of the SDP, Shirley Williams said
"I don't think Estelle Morris was at fault. My impression is very strongly that she is right, that she was telling the truth when she said she wasn't involved. I'm not so sure about some of the other more junior ministers in her department. It does have the fingerprints of Number 10 on it. I don't mean, number 10 the prime minister, I mean number 10 the policy unit. That's the kind of worrying thing where central control from on high just lacks the sensitivity to actually see what is happening to teachers, parents and kids. Everybody just shrugs their shoulders and says to the young people affected, 'you can try again next year'. Supposing you can't? What if your family can't support you? It's a desperate situation for thousands of young people and what it shows up is a huge hole. It really isn't for number 10 or anybody else for that matter to tell people how to adjust exam results."
"He or she is not just an exam passer. He or she is a human being. It is not dissimilar to the 11-plus which simply sorted out a fifth of the population to go on to higher education and told four fifths to get lost. Now the proportions have changed, we are only now telling two fifths to get lost. But that is a terrible indictment. We really shouldn't be running education like a supermarket where you compare prices. We have run out of creativity for children and teachers alike in the name of pushing up standards. Now if standards meant improving right across the board, character, originality, interests, then I wouldn't mind so much. But it doesn't. It always boils down to the same thing, how will we pass exams."
Morris was in definite trouble though, as when she announced an independent inquiry, she also said that all students who lost university places as a result would have them restored;
"Universities will promise a place next academic year for any student who would have got the place this academic year had grade boundaries been set in a proper manner. I would want to go further. I would want to offer in as many cases as possible a university place this year for a child affected in this way."
She even seemed to offer more money to provide these places at institutions which were already full, but then HEFCE said that she was referring to the 5% leeway in funding per/student over agreed targets for student numbers, which many institutions are already in to. Universities went yampy at the idea that the government would try and squeeze extra students in this term, especially as it has already started at most places, though there may be time at Oxbridge, as lectures do not start until the second week of October. This will be cold comfort to students, as in reality, far too many have missed out for them all possibly to be facilitated. It is also too late now for this year and chaos is already waiting a year down the road as the ones who chose a gap year will reapply with their correct -higher- grades, cutting down the number of places for next years sixth-formers. What has happened is peoples lives have been messed with. This guaranteed there could never be the chance of an inquiry saying the government was to blame -as it would create a generation of 'I'll never vote labour' voters- and also making sure that this will drag into the courts too.
The teachers verdict was that the new system of AS and A2 exams, was introduced too quickly, and that they were disappointed that Mr Tomlinson's report did not address accusations that this summer's AS-level exams had also been downgraded, saying that the grade E boundary was where the C grade boundary should have been. Even with the pass rate up an astronomical 4.5% to 94.3% before the downgrading was noticed- Stubbs was accused of running a fix, having allegedly saying if the pass rate was too high there would be calls for a public inquiry into how boards had marked exams. The question remains, just how high will the adjusted rise in passes be?
But the official verdict, and until the almost certain litigation starts (one law firm already acting for the Association of Head teachers reckons the 10,000 affected students could be in line for £50,000 compensation each), that's the one that matters was that the crisis was of an "accident waiting to happen". Mike Tomlinson, the former chief schools inspector, said that the crisis over A-levels was much deeper than the actions of one man. But still that one man, Sir William Stubbs was promptly sacked by Estelle Morris for the way exam boards perceived he was threatening them to mark down this year's exams. He said he got the boot was because he had said Morris had totally undermined the QCA and A-level results.
This sacking has drawn attention from what the Tomlinson report actually says, which is that the rushed introduction of the AS/A2 system is to blame. The report vindicated Stubbs, saying he had acted according to the "wholly proper and necessary concerns of the regulator".
The report said; "From the evidence collected, it appears that the alleged problem with the grading process this summer has its roots in decisions made by the DfES and QCA about the structure of the AS and A-level awards, the assessment model and the preparation for the introduction of the new arrangements, particularly for A2. The lack of a common understanding of the standard associated with AS and A2 units, along with the challenges associated with aggregation of the units, given all had equal weighting, played a significant part in the problems experienced by the three examination boards during the grading this year."
"In relation to the grading process, there is no doubt in my mind that to varying extents the three Chief Executives felt they were being put under additional pressure to deliver outcomes largely in line with the performance of students in 2001. I am satisfied that the requirements the QCA places on the boards, and as set out in correspondence, were all proper and in line with the regulatory responsibilities. My inquiry has been offered no evidence that Ministers offered any guidance on the expected outcomes of this year's A-level examinations. Nor was any present in the notes of meetings between Ministers and QCA officers. I therefore conclude that there was none."
So the result is that some papers will be regarded, with promises that no grades will go down. The odd thing that Tomlinson says is that
"The chief executives [of the exam boards] clearly passed on their perceptions [to downgrade papers] to staff and examiners,"
Odd only because examiners and teachers at schools which knew they would not have to be moderated had not marked down students satrted this fuss, as their perceptions of grades and the ones awarded differed so greatly.
But there is more to consider for Sir William Stubbs, the scapegoat of the piece. He says that he's a free man, found innocent, and yet the subject of unfair dismissal, who was under "enormous pressure" before he was sacked by Estelle Morris. He said
"She felt that my departure was necessary in order to remove drift and uncertainty in the education service, I think were her words. I was put under enormous pressure by the secretary of state to consider my position and she said if I went quietly and reasonably she would speak kindly of me recognising what I had done for education over many years and that I should draw my own conclusion if I didn't. I reflected on that and I wrote her a letter."
The letter is not in the public domain!
The more outspoken former head chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead was not impressed by the whole affair saying it was "depressingly inevitable" that the inquiry would exonerate all involved.
Previous Articles
A-Level Results Row- Farce or Fix?
A-Level pass rate shoots up more than usual
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