Thousands of students and teachers held protest rallies outside the Department for Education in London demanding a U-turn in the Ofqual grading system.
The biased algorithm of the Ofqual exam regulator has led to a downgrade of results of over one- third A-level candidates this year. Hundreds of thousands of pupils felt betrayed by the new grading system that has the potential to hamper their future employment prospects.
Now with the GCSE results a week away from being released, following the same grading model, massive protests are being held by the students who oppose this system.
According to the former Tory educational secretary, Kenneth Baker, The Ofqual’s grading model discriminates class and is racially biased. The grading models help the smaller private schools to get better grades and at the same time hit the brighter students in poor-performing state schools.
Private schools with more privileged ties have seen a rise in the proportion of students getting A’s and A* grades which is more than double than those who study in state schools. Because a majority of the black and other minority groups studies in the state schools, the Ofqual model had a negative impact on their results.
The Labour party and the education unions have put up immediate demands for a teacher-assessed grading system instead. The Ofqual grading puts the already disadvantaged into more disadvantages. It crudely bares injustices and perpetuates class exploitation in the UK’s education system.
