A LEADING London Assembly member has written to education secretary Gavin Williamson urging him to consider how the recently announced proposed grades system could negatively impact students from BAME and poorer backgrounds.

Last month, in the wake of exams being scrapped due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the government announced that GCSE and A-Level grades would instead be calculated by teachers and exam boards working in partnership to analyse a range of academic data, such as a student’s previous attainment from exam and non-exam settings.

However Jennette Arnold OBE, Labour’s London Assembly education spokesperson has warned that the proposed system  could have “unfair and unintended consequences” for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In her letter to the education secretary Arnold urged the government and exams regulator, Ofqual, to take the necessary steps to avoid the potential pitfalls of the new system.

Educational inequalities

According to Arnold if it is administered without accounting for educational inequalities, this newly adopted awarded grades methodology could further disadvantage pupils from BAME and working-class backgrounds. 

She said: “In these extraordinary circumstances, it has been positive to see the government take steps to ensure there are no delays to GCSE and A-Level students receiving their grades in the wake of exam cancellations.

“The Department for Education and Ofqual must now take urgent action to prevent the potentially unfair and unintended consequences of this new awarding system, if it is not robustly administered.

It is crucial that the hard work of students and teachers is not undermined. This is why I have sought assurances from the education secretary 

Jennette Arnold

“We have seen evidence from government and academic studies that an over-reliance on predicted grades and a school’s previous levels of attainment when calculating final outcomes, could disproportionately damage the prospects of disadvantaged pupils- particularly those from BAME and working-class backgrounds.”

Underpredicted grades

A number of recent studies have highlighted the fact that black students are the most likely to have their grades underpredicted.

There have also been concerns that institutions such as Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), also rarely succeed in giving accurate predicted grades.

A 2016 study from the University College London’s Institute of Education found that only 16% of predicted A-level results are correct; only one in six university applicants will achieve the grades they were predicted.

And research carried out in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills found that BAME applicants to university had the lowest predicted grade accuracy, with only 39.1 per cent of predicted grades accurate, while their white counterparts had the highest, at 53 per cent.

Arnold said: “It is crucial that the hard work of students and teachers is not undermined. This is why I have sought assurances from the education secretary that the necessary efforts will be made to avoid these pitfalls”.

Structural bias

Last month Brent MP Dawn Butler expressed concern about structural bias in the education system. 

She told HuffPost UK: “African-Caribbean kids and working class kids are affected the most by structural inequality. Unconscious bias is unconscious; those who bear the brunt of this must be listened to and given a fair chance to progress in their academic learning.”