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Your support makes all the difference.Hundreds of thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving their GCSE results on Thursday morning.
Teenagers across those countries will be awarded their final results, the higher of either their teachers' estimated grade or the moderated grade, after exams were cancelled.
It follows a government U-turn, with the announcement that GCSE and A-level students would be able to receive grades based on assessments by schools or colleges, rather than an algorithm, after thousands of A-level results were downgraded last week.
Meanwhile, Btec pupils will have to wait for their grades amid last-minute changes.
Btec grades were not included in the original government U-turn, but on Wednesday - with just hours to go until results day - Pearson said it would regrade Btecs to "address concerns about unfairness".
The exam board told schools and colleges not to publish level 1 and 2 results in the vocational qualifications on Thursday to give them more time to recalculate the grades.
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Proportion of top GCSE grades surge to record high after U-turn
The proportion of GCSE entries in England awarded top grades has surged to a record high after the government’s U-turn meant results could be based on teachers’ estimated grades instead of the moderated system that caused chaos last week.
More than one in four (25.9 per cent) GCSE entries in England scored one of the three top grades this year, up from just over a fifth (20.7 per cent) last summer.
Figures from exams regulator Ofqual show the proportion receiving at least a 7 or an A grade is at a record high.
More than three in four (76 per cent) entries were awarded at least a 4 of a C grade in England, up by 8.9 percentage points from last year when 67.1 per cent achieved the grades.
The higher number of top grades means colleges are expecting to be overwhelmed by students vying for places. Staff are also bracing for “challenging” conversations with GCSE students who are unhappy with their results, said Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
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Government has no ‘contingency plan’ in event of further disruption
The general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders has said the Government remains without a contingency plan in the event of further disruption next year.
Geoff Barton said in a statement on Thursday: "This year more students will receive higher grades because of the decision to revert to centre-assessed grades.
"But this is by accident rather than by design. In the longer term, we have to think again about our statistics-fixated system. We have to do better.
"Another lesson for the longer term, is that we must surely reduce our reliance on a massive national bout of terminal exams each summer.
"There was nothing to fall back on in this crisis, unprecedented though it was, and the Government still doesn't have a contingency plan in the event of disruption next year."
Mr Barton said he was "hugely impressed" by the "painstaking care" that leaders and teachers had taken over centre-assessed grades.
He added: "The profession rose to the challenge admirably. It was events beyond our control that sunk the standardisation model. Schools and colleges have once again been left to clear up the mess."
Gavin Williamson congratulates GCSE students
The Education Secretary has said those receiving their GCSE results today should feel "incredibly proud" of what they have achieved "in the face of immense challenge and uncertainty".
Gavin Williamson said: "This is an exciting day and young people now can look forward to taking their next steps, whether that is returning to schools and colleges in September to do A-levels or our brand new T-levels, or taking one of the many other routes available like starting an apprenticeship.
"I also want to pay a special tribute to teachers and school leaders this year who have shown dedication, resilience and ingenuity to support their students to get to this moment."
Nick Gibb gave ‘a lot of thought’ to resigning over results furore
When asked if he had offered his resignation over the A-level results controversy, the Schools Minister told LBC he had “given it a lot of thought”.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, he said: “I’m a human being. When I saw those young people who had worked solidly for two years, expecting As and Bs, going to pick up their grades and find three Ds and losing their place at veterinary college… of course, it’s heartbreaking.
But Mr Gibb said offering his resignation would have been “the wrong thing to do” when asked again.
“There will be inquiries into these issues and my focus has to be on making sure we put these issues right - that young people get the grades that are fair and they can move onto the next stage of their careers.”
Anger over delayed Btec results
Education experts have called exam board Pearson’s last-minute delay on releasing Btec results “unfair” and “chaotic” for students.
Hundreds of thousands of Btec students are still waiting for their final grades after the exam board told schools and colleges not to release the results to pupils on Thursday.
The National Education Union's co-general secretary said the Government now "must put an end" to the "incompetence" around the issuing of the Btec results.
Dr Mary Bousted said: "Teachers know their students better than any model or algorithm and it will be a relief to many that the grades they receive are now a fairer reflection of their achievements.
"To add to the GCSE and A-level fiasco, the decision by (examiner) Pearson not to issue Btec results at the eleventh hour compounds the upsetting and chaotic experience for students.
"Government must put an end to this incompetence and work quickly to ensure every young person gets the grades they deserve to move on to the next stages of their lives."
Laura Rettie, vice president of Global Communications at education consultancy Studee added: “The last couple of weeks has been shocking- the U-turns and last minute decisions have been a poor example to set for our young people.
“The last five months have been incredibly difficult for everyone, and this chaos has added unnecessary stress for pupils and their teachers, which could have been avoided. What an anti-climax for those patiently awaiting their B-Tec results - it’s so unfair to keep them on tenterhooks.
“Students getting their GCSE’s results today are likely to be confused and concerned around the accuracy of their achievements after the A-level result fiasco. It was never going to be an easy task working out the results for the class of Covid, but other countries managed it without this level of drama. “
Factbox: Key figures in today’s GCSE results
Here are the main statistics in this year’s GCSE results for England only. Top grades refer to grades of 7 or above, equivalent to an A or above.
- The proportion of entries receiving the top grades has jumped to 25.9 per cent, up by 5.2 percentage points from 20.7 per cent in 2019 and a record high.
- 76 per cent of entries received a grade 4 or above (equivalent to a C or above), up 8.9 percentage points from 67.1 per cent in 2019. This is also a record high.
- The overall pass rate was 99.6 per cent, up from 98.3 per cent in 2019. Again, this is a record high.
- The most popular subject this year was the science double award with 814,708 entries, followed by mathematics (734,301) and English (733,551). The least popular subject was engineering with 2,818 entries.
- The proportion of entries receiving top grades in mathematics rose from 15.9 per cent to 19 per cent, while in English it jumped from 13.9 per cent to 18.7 per cent.
- In three subjects, over half of entries received the top grades: chemistry (53.2 per cent of entries), physics (53 per cent of entries) and biology (52.8 per cent of entries).
- The biggest jump in percentage points in the proportion of entries receiving the top grade in a single subject was in engineering, where the figure rose from 11.3 per cent in 2019 to 26.4 per cent in 2020. This was an increase in 15.1 percentage points.
- In total there were 5,182,991 entries for the exams, up by 107,316 on last year (a rise of 2 per cent).
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Boris Johnson congratulates GCSE students
The prime minister has sent out his congratulations to students receiving their GCSE results today.
Boris Johnson praised students on Twitter for helping to keep the coronavirus under control despite a “tough” few months.
Nick Gibbs insists algorithm did not disadvantage poorer pupils
The UK schools minister admitted he was warned that the grading model used to determine A-level results last week could disadvantage poorer students, but claimed in the end it did not.
The model, which has been scrapped, downgraded thousands of results and sparked protests by students.
Zoe Tidman reports:
'Nobody really cares about bad GCSE results: Daisy May Cooper offers words of comfort
Actor Daisy May Cooper, of This Country, offered up words of wisdom and comfort to students receiving their GCSE results today.
In a video on Instagram, the two-time Bafta winner said when she was awaiting her own GCSE results in 2002, she was “beside” herself with worry and couldn’t concentrate on being on holiday and her summer fling.
“I bigged up all my revision, which I hadn’t done, to my parents and said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to get really good marks’, and I knew I wasn’t and I felt sick to my stomach,” she recalled.
“I just thought, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get through this’, and I tell you what - it doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t matter.
“I got a lot of Us and in the scale of things… nobody really cares about bad GCSE results,” she added.
Exam results fiasco on par with post-Second World War education system, says headmaster
One headmaster has compared the situation surrounding exam results this year to that of the post-Second World War education system.
Gavin Horgan, headmaster of Millfield School in Somerset, told the PA news agency that whilst students gaining “the best grades possible in the circumstances” was a positive thing, there are “bigger hurdles ahead”.
“They absolutely deserve that, and they never deserved the shameful approach that was taken to get to this point by the Government and exam boards,” he said.
“However, bigger hurdles are ahead. The results received by students and the hiatus in education for many across the country, means that we will have legacy issues which will, in all likelihood, last a generation.
“The pressure on the university system, the threat to post-92 universities, which are a vital element of our further education tapestry, and the knock-on implications of grade inflation for Year 11 students going into A-level studies this year and for those same students next year when they look to apply to university, cannot simply be written off in the same way that results have been this year.
“Sadly, we are just at the very start of the problem,” he added.
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