love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

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Correlation doesn’t imply causation and all that but Starmer appears to have just changed Labour’s policy on A-Level grades in England after being shouted at on Twitter by Alastair Campbell.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:39 (three years ago) link

Wait what?

Matt DC, Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:39 (three years ago) link

I am beyond rage at government incompetence/venality re exams etc. But I’m getting not far behind on rage front at @UKLabour inability to take them apart and force change on it. They are the Opposition. Not commentators saying how shit things are. Plenty of us can do that outside

— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) August 16, 2020

Starmer now saying that all teacher grading should stand.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:44 (three years ago) link

I mean it could be that or it could be the flak he’s getting after writing in the MoS.

caută tu singur (gyac), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:46 (three years ago) link

starting to wonder whether he'll see out 2021

no ifs, no buts, no scampo nation (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:47 (three years ago) link

When the Government is on the ropes over the A-level fiasco (and on course to repeat that fiasco over GCSEs next week) and when the eviction ban ends on Monday with thousands of tenants in arrears, to change the subject to what happens on 7 September is a curious priority.

— Andrew Fisher (@FisherAndrew79) August 16, 2020

caută tu singur (gyac), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:57 (three years ago) link

Absolute magic

Can someone explain how @jessphillips became an American TikTok teenager meme having been labelled as PTA Cheryl? pic.twitter.com/hKLZpNbnH4

— Alejandro (@adb0wen) August 15, 2020

caută tu singur (gyac), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:59 (three years ago) link

the role she was born to play

scampo, foggy and clegg (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 16 August 2020 16:22 (three years ago) link

terrible misogyny, I'm appalled

no ifs, no buts, no scampo nation (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 16 August 2020 16:31 (three years ago) link

It’s time in the short term to maximise the pressure on government to extend the evictions ban but also to open up the longer term discussion of housing provision and the role landlordism plays in distorting access to the housing market & housing supply. https://t.co/0L06NQbLEx

— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) August 16, 2020

xyzzzz__, Monday, 17 August 2020 10:23 (three years ago) link

CALL IT BY ITS NAME

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 17 August 2020 10:28 (three years ago) link

Tory MPs told by whips there is announcement coming around 1600 on A-Levels in England. Spoke to a few Ministers who are confident there will be a change of policy today but not sure to what extent #dangerzone "This has been lamentable, avoidable and forseeable" said one

— Ross Kempsell (@rosskempsell) August 17, 2020

caută tu singur (gyac), Monday, 17 August 2020 11:25 (three years ago) link

People weren’t able to drive during lockdown so I’ve written an algorithm to send speeding tickets to random drivers based on historic speeding records in their area.

— Matt Day (@reformattday) August 16, 2020

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 17 August 2020 11:48 (three years ago) link

Let’s just get individual police officers to use their insight into the local community to give out the fines they assume people would have racked up if they’d been allowed to drive instead.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:06 (three years ago) link

It definitely looks like they're going to revert to teacher grading, which is going to open up an interesting series of challenges - not least what universities who have offered more places they can fulfill, on the assumption that a proportion of the learners aren't going to get their grade, are going to do.

The inherent unfairness of teachers with wildly different standards applying the grades can probably be brushed under the carpet. idk what happens if the grade awarded is higher than the teacher-predicted one but that's likely to be a relatively small number,

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:21 (three years ago) link

Also not sure what happens if we're here again in nine months with exams that need to be cancelled.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:22 (three years ago) link

Here in France the bac exams were cancelled also, and its notes were instead determined by committees who used as the basis the grades earned during the school year. I gather that there were no such committees in England?

Joey Corona (Euler), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:25 (three years ago) link

I should add, among those grades earned during the school year are the bac blancs, which seem to be what you are talking about with "mock exams" in England.

Joey Corona (Euler), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:26 (three years ago) link

It's not a lack of committees, it's a lack of grades throughout the year. The major problem is that in 2018, the government basically moved to an 'all your eggs in one basket' model of linear assessments on the assumption that ongoing assessment and courseware were reducing standards. You have one big set of tests at the end of the year and that's that. iirc, when i did my A-Levels, something like 60% in some subjects had already been determined before the final term. Now that would be 0%. There's not even a consistent approach to mock exams.

The bac, aiui, doesn't have a process of total standardisation either.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:31 (three years ago) link

The Guardian ran a piece comparing how European systems dealt with the same problem and the only one that i can see fitting the UK linear model would have been Germany - which made the kids all come to school and take exams like nothing was wrong.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:32 (three years ago) link

Wow, so no notes during the year. We don't even do that in our universities!

The bac is becoming less standardized starting with the 2019-2020 academic year, just ending. My son is part of this first class of the new system. Briefly, while the bac used to be determined by only the exams at the end of the year, now it's calculated in part by the notes during the school year ("control continu"). So with the rona this year it wasn't as systematically difficult to move to using entirely control continu to determine the bac scores, though we hope that next year the exams will return. Bac notes don't matter very much---what matters is whether you get your bac or not, since that's the determiner of whether you're admissible to university or not. The grands écoles are different, and I don't want to clog this thread with such foreign nonsense. Simply said, I was surprised to read that there are no notes during the year. I suppose that is mostly how it is at UK universities as well.

Joey Corona (Euler), Monday, 17 August 2020 12:52 (three years ago) link

> on the assumption that ongoing assessment and courseware were reducing standards

this changed iirc with the switch from gce to gcse - my gce's were mostly exam-based, by brother's gcse's two years later were mainly coursework.

and i've a feeling gove, with his usual lack of imagination, changed them back to what he knew from school - the gce final-exam way.

koogs, Monday, 17 August 2020 12:59 (three years ago) link

The Welsh government has u-turned:

I am taking this decision now ahead of results being released this week, so that there is time for the necessary work to take place.

For grades issued last week, I have decided that all awards in Wales, will also be made on the basis of teacher assessment.

For those young people, for whom our system produced higher grades than those predicted by teachers, the higher grades will stand.

Maintaining standards is not new for 2020, it is a feature of awarding qualifications every year in Wales, and across the UK.

However, it is clear that maintaining confidence in our qualifications whilst being fair to students requires this difficult decision.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:36 (three years ago) link

The rhetorical division between maintaining standards and maintaining confidence is an interesting one.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:37 (three years ago) link

Crazy to me that this year, of all years, we should make grade inflation between years the primary concern - as if this year’s students have somehow had it easier

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:43 (three years ago) link

That only works if you think about grade inflation like financial inflation. The challenge is that some students will have had their grades inflated and others won't - which could be true within the same area, the same school or even the same class.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:47 (three years ago) link

SV how do you explain the stories of people whose results have e.g. gone from BBB to EEE?

neith moon (ledge), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:49 (three years ago) link

All A level and GCSE pupils in England to get teacher assessed grades -- announcement 4pm sources tell @thetimes

— Rosemary Bennett (@RosieDBennett) August 17, 2020

caută tu singur (gyac), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:51 (three years ago) link

SV how do you explain the stories of people whose results have e.g. gone from BBB to EEE?

To be honest, i don't know. It sounds ridiculous but the most likely explanation is probably human error. I've not seen any concrete examples of it happening or any stats on how prevalent such a situation might be but i wouldn't rule it out as impossible. aiui, about 60% of grades are exactly in line with teacher predictions and 96% are within one grade of them. For a learner to drop from B to E not once but three separate times in three different subjects would be extraordinary. You'd need a psychometric expert to give you a proper answer but the only way i could see it happening, other than human error, would be for that learner to be consistently ranked last in a class that has historically, consistently, produced a lot of E-grade learners but were somehow all ranked as B by the teacher this time. If that's the case, that'd be where the option of a cohort appeal would kick in.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 13:57 (three years ago) link

thanks. i'm sure dealing with oversubscribed universities will be a huge challenge and students will still miss out through no fault of their own but it seems like less of a kick in the teeth than this debacle.

neith moon (ledge), Monday, 17 August 2020 14:19 (three years ago) link

In till 2024 baby.

So far the Government has U-turned on face masks, the NHS migrant surcharge, income tax on COVID tests, free school meals...a Government that requires moments of national outrage to rein in incompetent, arrogant and stupid policymaking isn't a Government that's fit for office.

— Nandini (@_nmtr) August 17, 2020

xyzzzz__, Monday, 17 August 2020 15:22 (three years ago) link

Huge anxiety in non-Russell Group unis about financial implications of a) CAG reversion and b) lifting of the cap (assuming both happen which seems likely). Suddenly they may potentially be left with far fewer students including many 1000s they’ve obtained through clearing.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) August 17, 2020

The gist of this is that if top universities can recruit thousands more learners, lower-ranking ones might go bust.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 15:25 (three years ago) link

It is, and it's very important. Many jobs are now suddenly at risk - even more than they were before.

A lot of local economies will suffer if those places go.

the pinefox, Monday, 17 August 2020 16:39 (three years ago) link

And a lot of dedicated people will have their careers ruined or ended - if this pans out as badly as it looks.

With this government, most things do.

the pinefox, Monday, 17 August 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link

I don't have anything of use to add but this is looking like a disaster on almost every conceivable level.

Can someone explain the lifting of the cap in a little more detail?

Matt DC, Monday, 17 August 2020 16:45 (three years ago) link

75% of Britons - including 69% of Conservative voters - think the UK government have handled the situation regarding pupils’ exam results badly https://t.co/xzSZki0HOI pic.twitter.com/bBtnGsscHd

— YouGov (@YouGov) August 17, 2020

Have to say I have no idea what's going on in the head of the tiny minority who think the government is handling this well, especially the 2% of Labour voters, which might as well be a rounding error.

Matt DC, Monday, 17 August 2020 16:48 (three years ago) link

Universities are only allowed to recruit a certain number of English students - which, i think, is about 105% of the last year's intake. If they recruit more, they get fined heavily. This is partly to stop universities just taking everyone who'd want to go (as the government wants to control figures) and partly to share the students out across the system.

Using a completely made-up set of numbers, if Manchester had 10,000 English students in 2019, they can have 10,500 now. The problem comes if they send out 12,500 offers in the assumption that about 20% won't get their predicted grades. In a normal year, that group of 2000 would go to their second-choice university or into the clearing system. This year, everyone has their predicted grades. Manchester can't legally accept the 2000 but if they turn them away, the thing that everyone has been shouting about for the last week doesn't get fixed.

What the government can potentially do is say 'just go head and let them in, ignore the cap'. Manchester would get 2000 extra students, and the funds that go along with them, but the universities that those students would otherwise have gone to get nothing. A lot of those universities would be in a similar situation, where they've over-offered, and things might balance out a little, but you'd inevitably end up with a set of universities at the bottom that were few learners' first choice who ultimately end up screwed.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 16:57 (three years ago) link

Cap officially lifted now.

Obvs the same people complaining about grades being downgraded are complaining about low-ranking universities facing financial ruin but idk how you square the circle. The government delaying everything by the best part of the week has made things worse but i have no idea what would have made them better.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 17:22 (three years ago) link

good keith shade

Jeremy Corbyn
45m ·
This u-turn from the Government wouldn't have happened without the #Alevelprotests from so many young people, the important work of the teaching unions and everyone who spoke out.

My solidarity to all those who took a stand.

||||||||, Monday, 17 August 2020 17:50 (three years ago) link

kieth shade, that's what they call him

calzino, Monday, 17 August 2020 18:04 (three years ago) link

Lads Corbyn is going to ask us to vote Labour. Ye know that, right?

caută tu singur (gyac), Monday, 17 August 2020 18:14 (three years ago) link

Already? I only just voted

anvil, Monday, 17 August 2020 18:19 (three years ago) link

fluffed it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6-IQAdFU3w

anvil, Monday, 17 August 2020 18:21 (three years ago) link

Has Cronus been replaced with... a riding crop??

Photo du jour: Education Secretary @GavinWilliamson in his office at the Dept for Education today after announcing a change in the way A-Level grades will be awarded. By Stefan Rousseau/PA pic.twitter.com/yI3ICFEMBR

— Stefan Rousseau (@StefanRousseau) August 17, 2020

Piedie Gimbel, Monday, 17 August 2020 19:02 (three years ago) link

i presume nobody thinks williamson is indispensable as they clearly think that creepy guy who works for gove is, wonder if they think keeping him on is worth it for the implicit "fuck u everyone!"

plax (ico), Monday, 17 August 2020 19:34 (three years ago) link

Jenrick is still in position so yeah probably. Difference is that the public actually cares about this.

Matt DC, Monday, 17 August 2020 19:37 (three years ago) link

also firing jenrick might have signalled to potential donors that they weren't completely open to business for favours, not really sure what keeping williamson communicates aside from the obvious

plax (ico), Monday, 17 August 2020 20:06 (three years ago) link

Lads Corbyn is going to ask us to vote Labour. Ye know that, right?

― caută tu singur (gyac), Monday, 17 August 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Take a #chillPill

xyzzzz__, Monday, 17 August 2020 20:10 (three years ago) link

Dido Harding to run agency replacing Public Health England https://t.co/bVobVZmECe

— The Guardian (@guardian) August 17, 2020

Disaster at Talk Talk, disaster as head of the track and trace system, put in charge of the successor to Public Health England.

Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 17 August 2020 20:46 (three years ago) link

apparently the whip under the book in that gavin williamson pic ^^^ is some *very subtle* symbolic menace that he's got plenty of dirt from when he was chief whip and he ain't afraid to use it if he gets pumped.

calzino, Monday, 17 August 2020 21:00 (three years ago) link


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