A much-loved adult residential college has announced it will remain standalone and has fought off a £2.4 million funding clawback from the government.
Northern College became locked in a legal dispute with the Education and Skills Funding Agency earlier this year over funding for its residential provision, while it was struggling to meet an adult education performance threshold.
Yet the Barnsley-based college has now revealed it has “retained its independence and is here to stay, with secured funding to support adults to re-enter education and transform their lives”.
‘Challenges remain’ for college
Yultan Mellor
Principal Yultan Mellor told FE Week it has negotiated a clawback worth £2.4 million from the ESFA down to £1 million.
It has also secured three years’ funding for its residential provision from Sheffield City Region and West Yorkshire combined authorities.
In a letter to South Yorkshire MP Miriam Cates, apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan wrote the steering group for a structure and prospects appraisal (SPA) of Northern College had “unanimously agreed” with the FE Commissioner recommending the college remain standalone.
Though she said “challenges remain” for the college, and a discussion between them and the Department for Education over “funding repayments” are ongoing.
Review of residential funding ‘ongoing’
The long-term sustainability of the Ofsted grade one college was put at risk earlier this year, owing to what was called a “perfect storm” of funding issues.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency was demanding repayment of funding it said the college owed for claiming residential uplift support for learners who were not resident.
The uplift multiplies funding for residential courses by nearly five times as much as the normal rate.
But the agency claims the college made “errors” worth £1.2 million across 2018/19 and 2019/20 because it applied an agreed uplift for residential funding to each course rather than to each learner.
Yet this interpretation of the rules for the uplift have been challenged, with another adult education residential provider Fircroft College writing in its accounts it had seen “no evidence that the ESFA’s position is legally valid” – both Fircroft and Northern engaged lawyers to challenge the government.
A national review of residential funding was announced by the Department for Education last year and a departmental spokesperson said today it is still ongoing.
A significant shortfall in enrolments, blamed on Covid-19, meant the college also faced having to pay back £660,000 because it failed to hit the ESFA’s controversial 90 per cent tolerance threshold for national adult education contracts.
Northern given ‘huge stamp of approval’
Then FE Commissioner Richard Atkins was asked by the agency to conduct a diagnostic assessment and SPA of the college, which left some fearing the Barnsley-based provider would be forced to merge after having been open since 1977.
The commissioner’s report said Northern College “faces an increasingly uncertain future due to a combination of factors,” including the clawback and changes to the uplift, “which taken together contribute to a ‘perfect storm’”.
Yet fears of a merger have not come to fruition it seems, with Mellor saying the college had been given a “huge stamp of approval.
“Following the SPA process to review the work of the College and how we are funded, it has been confirmed that we will retain independence and continue to develop and deliver outstanding adult residential education for the communities of South and West Yorkshire, and beyond.”
The pass rates for this summer’s GCSE maths and English resits have risen on 2020, new figures out today have revealed.
The proportion of males and females aged 17 and over passing English has risen by 2.8 per cent compared to 2020.
This year, 42.3 per cent received a grade 4 (equivalent to a C) or higher; whereas in 2020, it was 39.5 per cent.
Men continued to perform worse than women with 38.6 per cent receiving a 4 or higher, compared to 35.2 per cent in 2020.
47.4 per cent of women achieved grade 4 or higher this year, compared to 45.5 per cent last year.
In maths, 38.6 per cent of England’s males and females aged 17 and over passed with at least a grade 4.
This is almost six per cent higher than in 2020 – where 32.9 per cent passed.
As in English, women have performed better than men: 36.8 per cent of the latter passed their maths resit this summer, compared to 30.1 per cent last summer.
Whereas, 40.1 per cent of women passed this summer, compared to 35.4 per cent last year.
The overall number of students taking English and maths resits this year in England dropped by 13 per cent, with 133,982 of those aged 17 and over retaking English, and 165,150 retaking maths. Last year, 164,545 students resat English and 180,782 student resat maths.
Click here to download the JCQ data on GCSE results for those aged 17 and over in England.
See below for the table of results for English and maths exams taken in England by those aged 17 and over (results in brackets are for 2020).
Clear conversations about next year’s exams are needed right away, writes Sharon Witherspoon
The last two years have been a rollercoaster when it comes to exams.
While last year the government abandoned their poorly considered plans to use an algorithm to award individual grades, this year they took a different approach and delegated responsibility to teachers and exam boards.
But then it took them until late February to make the decision about how grades would be assessed.
Instead, earlier guidance about assessment would have helped ensure more consistency in the evidence available for grading, and saved both teachers and students a lot of stress and uncertainty.
As it was, teachers were sometimes scrambling to identify pieces of evidence from each student’s work and there was no way to ensure that students at different colleges and schools were being assessed on the same types of work or in the same way.
Had the government set out in early autumn what would happen if exams had to be cancelled again, they could have encouraged more consistency in the work to be assessed and teachers would have had a wider range of evidence to use.
Having a “plan B” would also have meant there were more “data points” for teachers to use in their assessments, and there might have been more consistency between colleges and between schools.
This would have created more of a level playing field in assessment.
‘Attainment gap has widened’
The importance of consistency is highlighted by the fact that this year the attainment gap has widened for students on free school meals, from areas of high deprivation and Black candidates.
Some of this will reflect real differences in learning loss, but in the absence of consistency in assessment processes and evidence between colleges and between schools, we cannot be sure.
This underlines the real need to start a proper conversation about next year’s exams now.
There are contentious statistical and wider issues to consider. It is important that there is broad agreement about how best to proceed.
I see two clear priorities for the future.
‘Full transparency from exam boards’
First, there should be a full and transparent account of what statistical evidence was used by exam boards to select which colleges and schools would be subject to further scrutiny.
Though Ofqual has provided some information on this, further details are promised for “later this year”.
There were also several news stories in the run-up to results day about parents – especially at private schools – pressurising teachers over grades.
So it is important to understand how results were queried at private, and state schools and colleges to understand the extent to which the scrutiny process tackled this issue.
‘Open discussion needed for next year’
Second – and even more important – there needs to be open discussion about how exams and assessment will work next year.
The return to exams will help ensure consistency of grading between colleges and between schools, but it will not address the hours of education lost due to the pandemic, and how this varies between students and different education institutions.
The government has announced steps to ensure exams take some account of learning loss (for instance by giving a choice of topics to answer).
These steps are welcome. But exams are statistically ‘norm referenced’, which means the cut-offs between different grades are partly set by prior decisions about what grading results should look like.
Is the plan to revert in one fell swoop to 2019 grade profiles, or to adjust them more slowly? Public debate about this should start now.
The cohort of 18-year-olds is growing. That, combined with aspirations for more students to attend university (particularly given the small number of available degree-level apprenticeships), means that decisions will need to be taken that intersect statistics and policy.
The public – including teachers – needs to be part of that conversation.
A college has appointed a sector veteran as interim principal for the second time after its permanent principal left last week.
Previously the principal of Dudley College, Lowell Williams ran Hull College on a temporary basis from January until Bradford College’s former deputy chief executive Chris Malish started in April.
However, after the college announced Malish, the first permanent principal since 2019, had resigned owing to difficulty working away from his family, it has been announced Williams will be taking up the reins from next Monday.
College chair Lesley Davies said: “I am pleased that Lowell has once again agreed to support the college as interim principal and CEO. As a board we know well his expertise and professionalism and look forward to working with him to deliver our ambitions for the college.”
Williams was the fourth interim leader of the college appointed since Michelle Swithenbank resigned from the college amid a controversy over the college ‘s finances and management.
He had previously been working as a consultant for Hull.
Williams has worked in colleges for over 30 years and set up his own consultancy firm shortly after leaving Dudley College, which he led to an Ofsted grade one in 2017.
The proportion of top A-level grades handed out this year has increased to more than 44 per cent following the cancellation of exams and switch to teacher assessment grades.
The record-breaking results saw 37 per cent of all A-level students in England get three As or better – more than double the 17.9 per cent in 2019.
And 6.9 per cent of students, more than 12,000, got three A*s, up from 4.3 per cent last year and 1.9 per cent in 2019.
Formal exams were cancelled this year for the second year running following the decision to close schools again in January because of Covid.
Unlike last year, when an algorithm used to standardised centre-assessment grades had to be abandoned at the last minute, this year’s grades were set by teachers and then quality-assured by exam boards via an evidence-checking process.
Data released this morning by Ofqual and the Joint Council for Qualifications shows 44.3 per cent of grades awarded in England were an A or above, compared with 38.1 per cent in 2020 and 25.2 per cent in 2019.
Ofqual said teachers “may have given students some benefit of the doubt across the multiple opportunities many students had to show what they had learned – quite different from end of course exams”.
As well as a boost to the highest grades, results were also higher at grade B and above (69.8 per cent in 2021, up from 65.4 in 2020 and 51.1 per cent in 2019), whereas Ofqual said results were “relatively stable” at lower grades.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL school leaders’ union, congratulated students on their results. But he said it was “invidious to make direct comparisons with other years and vital that we celebrate the achievements of this year’s cohort who have had to endure so much over the past 18 months”.
Ofqual said variation in outcomes between schools this year was “generally lower” than it was in 2019 and “only slightly greater” than in 2020.
This suggests that teacher grades “lessened the impact of the pandemic on centres’ results – otherwise we would expect to see much greater variability in centres’ results this year”, Ofqual said.
Ofqual also said it found “general stability” in the differences in outcomes for students with different protected characteristics, and increases in outcomes for “many groups”. Again, the regulator said this suggested the changes to assessment had “lessened the unevenness in outcomes we may otherwise have seen”.
However, Ofqual did find that the gap between girls and boys had grown, with girls receiving higher grades on average than boys. The average change was a fifth of a grade, the regulator said.
And whereas Ofqual’s model suggested that students with special educational needs and disabilities received slightly higher grades than non-SEND students in 2019, this reversed in 2021, with a change of a tenth of a grade.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service has also reported a record 395,770 students had confirmed places on their first-choice of undergraduate course as of this morning, up 8 per cent on 2020.
Students and teachers are increasingly saying written exams aren’t the best way to assess, writes Alice Barnard
Thousands of young people have been waiting anxiously for their results. Finally, results week is upon us and the wait is over.
Today, more than 340,000 students received vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs). Meanwhile around 200,000 students received their A-level results.
Unlike A-levels which relied solely on teacher assessed grades (TAGs), VTQs have been awarded via broader assessments.
Some learners carried forward centre assessment grades from 2020, some results were determined through adapted assessments, and others were determined using TAGs.
Following a similar trend to 2020, this year saw an increase in the volume of level 3 entries for VTQs, from approximately 250,000 in 2020 to 340,000 in 2021 – particularly in applied general qualifications (AGQs) such as BTECs.
While the proportion of top grades was mixed, overall, results showed an increase in the awarding of distinction grades, from 26 per cent in 2019 to 32 per cent in 2021.
Bigger attainment gap
But we can also see there is a worsening attainment gap.
For AGQs in 2019, 2.7 per cent of learners assigned to the “very low” prior attainment group were less likely to achieve top grades compared to middle ability peers.
Now that gap has increased to 8.6 per cent in 2021.
Despite students and teachers working tirelessly, this shows the ongoing disruption from Covid to learning and assessment – with struggling students the most likely to miss out.
Further analysis will be needed over the next few months to understand the full impact of the pandemic on this cohort.
What change is needed?
Despite the increase in applications to VTQs, the government continues to over-simplify the post-16 qualifications landscape, and recently confirmed that apprenticeships, A-levels and the new T levels will become the main progression options after GCSEs.
Meanwhile, qualifications such as tech levels, technical certificates and AGQs (including BTECs) are due to be scrapped.
This will lead to a restriction of choice and the removal of well-known qualifications that have worked for many learners, and are trusted by employers.
Reform should not be about restrictions, or about a binary choice between academic vs vocational.
All qualifications should instead be held to the principles of purpose, necessity, quality, progression. They should draw on labour market relevance and employer demand to remove funding on a case-by-case basis.
Students should also be supported with better information, advice and guidance to fully understand their options.
They should be encouraged to blend academic and vocational skills as is currently the case with the combination of BTECs and A levels.
The fiasco of the last two years has also thrown our assessment system under the spotlight and we are hearing from multiple voices that the assessment system is no longer fit for purpose.
Employers increasingly value a mix of academic and technical qualifications, alongside problem-solving, communication and team working skills.
Teachers argue that assessments should recognise a broader range of capabilities, through more than just written exams. And young people are finding exams increasingly stressful and not a true reflection of their potential.
Our curriculum and assessment system should blend knowledge as well as technical and transferrable skills.
Great examples such as School 21 integrate project based learning into their curriculum, so students develop essential skills such as problem solving, communication, and creativity.
Teachers argue that assessments should recognise a broader range of capabilities
We also need more models such as our Edge teacher externships which support teachers to develop cross-curricular lessons alongside employers.
We should also move from ‘age’ to ‘stage’ so that young people undergo assessments when they are ready.
At Edge, we are working closely with the Rethinking Assessment movement to explore how to better evidence the full breadth of young peoples’ strengths, building on examples from across the world.
We also support the National Education Union who are calling for an equitable reform of exams through the Independent Assessment Commission.
Our learners deserve breadth, depth and choice. We now have a window of opportunity to build a better future and make education truly relevant for all.
Welcome to FE Week‘s liveblog of A-level and level 3 results day 2021!
UPDATE: The live blog is now closed. Sorry if your pictures didn’t make it in – we’ve been inundated with stories and there simply hasn’t been time to add them all. We really appreciate you sending them so thank you. Congratulations to all the learners who got their results today and best of luck for the future.
Hundreds of thousands of students who have been studying qualifications up and down the country will today find out whether all their hard work has paid off, and what their next step in life will be.
More than 200,000 students will collect AS and A level results today, alongside learners on level 3 vocational qualifications, such as certain BTECs.
We’ll be sharing some of the success stories from colleges, sixth form colleges and providers from across England on this live blog, so stay tuned!
Twin brothers achieve same BTEC result
Twin brothers and fellow Sunderland College students Keanu and Kenu Bell are both looking to progress to higher education after achieving distinctions in their level 3 engineering BTECs.
Sunderland College students celebrating their results
Keanu said they are “both happy with our results,” while Kenu said: “Remote learning from home was difficult at first, but we had lots of resources available, and the tutors were so helpful.”
A-level student Tia Anderson, who the college says is among one of the top ten runners under 20 in the country, has crossed the finishing line with a distinction*, A* and A in BTEC sports science, A-level law and criminology, alongside her talented athlete scholarship.
She is “over the moon,” she said, and will be studying forensic psychology and criminal justice at Liverpool John Moores University.
Teachers took A-level student ‘under their wing’ while family was hospitalised with Covid
A Capital City College Group student has spoken about how his teachers helped him through his A-levels after several family members ended up “seriously ill” in hospital with Covid.
Muhsin Mahmud is going to study broadcasting and journalism at City, University of London after securing three As in politics, media studies and English literature and language.
City and Islington College students after receiving their results
He called it a “privilege” to be taken under his teachers’ wings while he was having a “difficult time” during the pandemic, adding that: “The assurances I received from them during that period of deep uncertainty really helped me through it.”
His is one of a number of success stories from the group today.
Another involves City and Islington College student Lily Burge-Thomas, who is going to study architecture at Cambridge University where her mum studied classics.
Lily said she was “totally ecstatic” after a “difficult two years,” and paid tribute to the “amazing, really supportive” teachers.
“I came from a school where they really pushed you very hard, to the college where you had to push yourself and be a lot more self-driven.
“I don’t know if it was the tough love of my old school or the kindness and support at the college, but I got the results.”
National scheme guides college’s disadvantaged students through A-levels
Several students at West Nottinghamshire College have succeeded in their A-levels with help from a national scheme to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds progress to the UK’s top universities.
Phoebe Beardall was one of those who received mentoring and personalised tuition from The Access Project.
Phoebe Beardall
“My mentor was really helpful and the project provided me with an English tutor, so when we went into lockdown it was like having an extra lesson each week. It was invaluable.”
She achieved the top grades in English literature, history and media studies and is now going to study literature at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Connor Davis was another student who received help from The Access Project, and said it “helped me make sure I was working on all the right skills and knowledge with my history studies and heading in the right direction”.
With an A* in sociology and A grades in history and law under his belt, he is now set to study history at Durham.
But his celebrations will have to wait a little though as: “I’ve got to do a shift at work tonight, but I’ll definitely be celebrating later on!”
NHS hopeful gets top marks despite only moving to England in 2019
A student who only moved to England in 2019 has achieved top marks in her A-levels, and is now going to study medicine at Leeds, with an aim to have a career in the NHS.
Aanam Munawwar had only passed her qualifications in India when she attended an open day at Leeds Sixth Form College two years ago.
Aanam Munawwar
“All my subjects were equivalent to GCSEs except English so I had to take the winter exam for that, which I passed,” she said.
She chose the college “because it provides a diverse and inclusive learning environment where I knew I could meet new people and make amazing friends”.
The decision has paid off for her, as she is now well on her way to have a career in medicine.
“I made the decision to study medicine after attending taster sessions and completing my work experience, which allowed me to reflect on the challenges that the healthcare workers face.
“I also enjoy teamwork and want to become a part of a multidisciplinary team to help in patients’ management and treatment.
“I wish to make my family proud of me. Looking ahead, I am determined to pursue a career in medicine and contribute towards our NHS.”
Sixth form student takes degree apprenticeship over university
A sixth form student is taking up a degree apprenticeship as a trainee scientist after receiving her results today.
Hayley Jones
Hayley Jones has taken up employment with sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey after achieving an A in chemistry, an A in maths and a B in physics.
She says she had presumed she would go to university, but once she heard about apprenticeship opportunities during an online visit to Johnson Matthey, she thought “it sounded like too good an opportunity to miss”.
So Hayley will be learning on the job, while also studying a chemistry degree at Nottingham University.
“This way I still get to go to university but I also work alongside it.”
Halfon pays tribute to local college on results day
Education select committee chair Robert Halfon has paid tribute to Harlow College, which is based in his constituency.
One of its students, Amir Schultschik, is hoping to get an offer from the University of Cambridge after achieving A* in maths, further maths, and physics. Other students have won places at Kings College London, University College London and the University of Exeter.
Robert Halfon
“I would like to thank every teacher and member of support staff who has worked so hard to keep our young people learning and I would like to congratulate every student for their brilliant results,” Halfon said.
“As MP for Harlow, I am so proud to say that we have one of the very best colleges in England in our town and that has been proven true again today.
“I would like to wish every student the very best in their future endeavours and I look forward to continuing to work with the college management team to secure further investment into our great college.”
Health and science professionals of tomorrow pick up results from Barrow Sixth Form College
There were hugs and high-fives aplenty for results day at Barrow Sixth Form College today.
A number of their students are going on to study science and health courses, including Darcie Wallace, who achieved As in biology, maths and chemistry and is going to study dentistry.
Darcie Wallace
“I was awake at 5.30am and trying to stay calm,” she said, adding that although she had worked hard, she was still “surprised” by the results.
Art and design student Adam Smith has got the results he needed to study biology at Newcastle University.
“I want a career as a research scientist, I wasn’t expecting to get such good results. I definitely think I’ve gained new skills in lockdown that I wouldn’t have in college and I’d like to thank everyone who helped me along the way,” he said.
Halesowen student opting for gap year before university
As students decide their next steps after receiving their A-level results, Halesowen College’s new alumni are taking a variety of options.
Lucy Davis
Having achieved two A*s and an A, Lucy Davis is planning to take a gap year to travel before attending university in 2022.
This is after she said she had a “phenomenal” time at the west midlands college.
Fellow student Lauren Woodall, who is going to the University of Exeter is “absolutely elated” with her one A* and 2 As, and “can’t thank the staff at Halesowen College enough for all the support I’ve received”.
First family member to attend university among Middlesbrough’s successes
A Middlesbrough College student is set to become the first in his family to attend university after achieving A*s in maths, chemistry and physics.
Sam Young
Sam Young, from Stockton, will be going to Durham University to study physics and astronomy but “was so nervous waiting for my results.
“Every aspect of my time at the college has been incredible and my tutors in particular, Linda, Tom and Janet, have been brilliant. I couldn’t have imagined anyone better and my grades are a reflection of them if anything,” said Sam, who is aiming to become a doctor of science.
Sports star wins university place to study condition which robbed her of footballing future
A student who was on track for a professional football career before being paralysed with a mystery condition has won a place at Leeds to study her problem.
Lydia Shale went from being a hopeful for Darlington and County Durham football team when she suddenly found herself unable to walk, lying in a hospital bed with a paralysed arm, aged just 14.
Lydia Shale
Despite her thinking she should be “the last person to be ill as I was ridiculously fit and healthy,” the now 18-year-old was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND) – a condition where the brain struggles to send messages to the muscles.
The lifelong condition meant she could not walk for seven months and missed the whole of year 10.
She had to complete her GCSEs in one year, but has now gained the highest grades of distinction* in her BTECs in sport and human biology, as well as a B in her maths A-level at Carmel College.
Lydia will now go on to read a sport and exercise science degree at Leeds University, and has four research projects lined up to look into FND.
As there is “not much research” into the condition, she wants to: “raise awareness and research the causes of FND to help others particularly as it seems to be on the increase because of long-Covid and reactions to the vaccine.”
Student achieves top grades after finishing year 11 in India
A South Gloucestershire and Stroud College student, originally from Mozambique, is well on her way to achieving her dream of owning her own business after securing top grades in her A-levels.
Sharmin Seco, aged 19, finished year 11 in India before she studied her GCSE maths and English at the college prior to completing her A-levels.
Sharmin Seco
Today she found she had achieved an A in accounting, an A* in business, an A in economics and an A in her extended project and will be going on to study business at Bath University.
“I am very happy to achieve my dream of studying at the University of Bath and this couldn’t be possible without the support I received from my teachers at SGS College,” she said.
“They have been absolutely exceptional and brilliant and even more during Covid times. SGS will always be a part of me, and I cannot wait to start my next chapter.”
Fellow student Corey Gibbons received an A* in maths, an A* in physics, an A* in physical education and an A in AS further maths and will also be studying at Bath, for a degree in sports and exercise science.
He hopes to become a sports scientist, a physio therapist or a sports and conditioning coach, and says he is “ecstatic with my results. I couldn’t have hoped for any better.”
South Devon students ‘over the moon’ with their results
Students at South Devon College have paid tribute to their “absolutely amazing” tutors after being “over the moon” with their results.
Over half of the college’s cohort achieved between an A* and a B.
Amy Barber
Student Amy Barber received an A* in business, A* in English language, A* in her extended project qualification and an A in history and will be going on to study history and international relations at Kings College London.
She said she was “over the moon with my results,” as it showed “the hard work really has paid off”.
On the lockdown, she said it “gave me time and the opportunity to focus, especially so I could complete my business A-level in one year.
“But, on the other hand our learning has been affected and it was easy to lack motivation.
“Inevitably there is a lot of scrutiny about this year’s grades. And I don’t think it any of it can be helped – the pandemic meant that our education this year wasn’t ideal, but we have to make the most of what we’ve got – we have to move forward.”
College highlights ‘outstanding’ pass rates across range of subjects
Blackburn College has highlighted its 100 per cent pass rate across a range of A-level subjects today.
Students celebrating with principal Fazal Dad
Every student in further maths, computer science and fine art have achieved between an A* and a C.
Principal Fazal Dad said: “These are outstanding results that pay testimony to the efforts everyone at Blackburn College makes, which of course includes our students, in order to achieve these results.”
Overall, the college saw that 41.4 per cent of its A-Levels have been graded A* to B.
A number of students are now progressing onto university, including Jessica Thomas, who is going to study civil engineering at the University of Leeds.
She achieved an A* in fine art, A in physics and a B in her extended project, and said: “I choose to study at Blackburn College after attending a Saturday art class where I had a great time with the tutor and experiencing the facilities.
“This was definitely a big part of me deciding that Blackburn College was where I would continue my studies.”
Student studied through ‘pain and discomfort’ from back problem to secure top grades
A Derby College Group student has “breathed a sigh of relief” as the A*, A and C grades in her A-levels means she can now turn her attention to upcoming surgery for scoliosis.
Joanne Grzelka was diagnosed with the condition, which is a curvature of the spine, during her GCSEs.
Yet the 19-year-old “powered through” those qualifications and then her A-levels and is planning to use her recuperation time from the operation to plan her future options.
“Although I have been in some pain and discomfort over the past few years,” she said, “I have tried not to think about it and to focus on my work”.
She said deciding on her next steps will be difficult as: “I I love all the subjects that I have taken at college.”
A number of the group’s other students are going on to study law, sciences and linguistics after receiving their results.
Assistant principal Matt Ridgill said staff had “worked hard to ensure the teacher assessment grades have been supported by evidence gathered through mock examinations, in-class tests and coursework and are therefore robust and realistic.
“This has meant that the vast majority of our students are celebrating the results they deserve and are now able to progress onto the next stage of their lives.”
College leaving A-level provision on a high
A college set to replace its A-level provision with the government’s new flagship qualifications T Levels is leaving the general qualification on a high.
The Manchester College has said 99.3 per cent of A-level students have secured pass grades in this year’s examinations.
The same proportion of its students on technical subjects (BTECs, UAL) have received a pass grade this year.
Lisa O’Loughlin
Principal Lisa O’Loughlin said: “With these fantastic results under their belts students in the class of 2021 are now in an excellent position to go on and take their next steps towards securing a role in their dream career.
“We know it is a challenging economic environment currently but, regardless of whether the students are moving on to further study or employment, I have every confidence that they will go on to become the next generation of industry excellence and have a rewarding career.”
Two of their students have won places at Oxbridge: Jeneve Hines-Braham will study English at the University of Cambridge after passing her Access to HE in English, Writing and Media course.
Jamie-Louise Lucas is off to study law at the University of Oxford after achieving an A* in English literature, A* in psychology and A in history.
Jamie said she “absolutely loved my time here.
“I really enjoyed my courses but it’s all the other things as well. Even when we were learning from home because of Covid-19, I still felt like part of a community. There is no rulebook on teaching during a pandemic but the college did it really well.”
Nearly a quarter of a million level 3 BTEC students receive results
More than 230,000 students have received the results for their level 3 BTECs, awarding body Pearson has announced.
Many of them have completed qualifications in areas the education giant says are “suffering from a huge, and growing, skills gap”.
Thirty thousand and three hundred students will have completed a level 3 BTEC in applied science, 33,700 in health and social care, 23,500 in IT and computing, 16,500 in engineering, and 4,200 in construction.
Pearson’s senior vice president for BTEC and apprenticeship Cindy Rampersaud has paid “a heartfelt thank you to every teacher, tutor, lecturer, school and college leader and parent for the incredible effort they have made to support students achieving the grades they have worked so hard for this year”.
“Congratulations to the class of 2021! We wish each and every one of you all the very best on your next steps.”
Pearson has said BTEC results data will be published in full in the autumn.
Sector groups respond to results
Sector representatives have been commenting on today’s results, with Sixth Form Colleges Association chief executive Bill Watkin saying: “Teachers’ dedication and relentless focus on high standards, and students’ determination and resilience have been the bedrock of this year’s results.”
He says talk of grade inflation is “wide of the mark” as: “This years’ results cannot be compared to the pre-Covid era as students have been assessed in a very different way and have had a very different educational experience.”
Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes has said, as well as congratulating students who have won university places, people should also “celebrate the many students moving onto great apprenticeships, further training and work”.
“Every single result has been earned by the student and is a fair reflection of their performance and abilities,” he insisted.
The AoC will be studying the equalities impact of this year’s results closely, but Hughes called it “reassuring that today’s grade distribution suggests that there is no significant worsening of these achievement gaps this year”.
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ research director Paul Warner has called on the government to extend employer incentives to hire apprentices, which were first introduced in August 2020 and are due to expire next year.
“For students considering their options, now is the time for the government to extend these incentives, specifically targeting them to increase opportunities for young people,” Warner said.
Federation of Awarding Bodies chief executive Tom Bewick has highlighted how vocational students have been receiving results throughout the year.
“While the spotlight isn’t always on achievement outside of results days, we must celebrate the accomplishments of every learner who has completed a qualification or apprenticeship this year – overcoming national lockdowns and closures to schools, colleges, training providers and workplaces.”
City and Guilds chief executive Kirstie Donnelly has warned students picking up results today: “A university degree might not be the golden ticket to a job that many had hoped.
“As young people get their results this week, it’s more important than ever that they explore all the options open to them – whether that’s a degree, an apprenticeship, or a degree level apprenticeship – and ensure they are fully informed about career opportunities, so they can make the smartest choices about their futures.”
National Education Union joint general secretary Mary Bousted congratulated students and staff for their “resilience and dedication throughout an extraordinary year”.
But after education secretary Gavin Williamson paid them congratulations yesterday (see below), she said this “praise comes too late – and rings hollow.
“Late and incoherent guidance on how they should submit grades resulted in increased workload and stress for teachers as well as uncertainty for students.
“Government has taken school and college staff for granted and ignored their calls throughout this pandemic, maintaining the silence of a monk for much of it.
“This cannot and must not continue,” she said, which is why NEU is supporting an independent commission on assessment and qualifications, chaired by Professor Louise Hayward of the University of Glasgow, Bousted said.
University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady has said this year’s bumper exam results should lead to a pay rise for staff, after the Association of Colleges recommended principals award a one per cent raise for staff last December.
Grady said colleges “need to think again and demonstrate they value their workforce otherwise we will see sustained strike action at colleges across England come autumn”.
‘No large changes’ in vocational and technical grade distribution this year, says Ofqual
Ofqual has found there have been no “overall large changes” in the grades awarded for vocational and technical qualifications last spring and this summer.
The qualifications watchdog has published an analysis of applied general qualifications, other VTQ performance table qualifications, and other general qualifications at level 3 to coincide with today’s results day.
More than 340,000 vocational and technical qualifications are being awarded to students today, the Department for Education has revealed.
Yet Ofqual’s analysis reveals that: “The shapes of the distributions in most cases do not seem to have substantially changed this year compared to previous years.
“There does not seem to have been overall large changes in any single direction across the sector this year,” it concludes.
There have been changes in the proportion of top grades being awarded in 2021 compared to previous years, but this varies in direction and size across different qualifications.
The analysis does not suggest any particular regions had a greater degree of change than any other.
While it admits the coronavirus pandemic could explain some of the changes, Ofqual says other explanations are “equally likely,” owing to the variability of VTQs.
“Thus, while we can report the changes that have occurred at an aggregate level, we are not able to make any claims as to the cause of those changes.”
Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes remarked how results had remained “stable” for the level 3 qualifications most similar to A level.
“Students can be confident that college staff have used a fair and robust process to determine grades and worked with awarding organisations and exam boards to ensure consistency and fairness across the board,” he continued. “They should confidently progress to their next steps with the grades they have received.”
Following the cancellation of most of this year’s exams in January, many students have received grades decided by their teachers, though exams and assessments for some VTQs have gone ahead.
North west college group celebrating high pass rate
Nelson and Colne College Group is celebrating this morning after achieving top pass rates.
Nelson and Colne College says it has recorded an A-Level pass rate of 99.9 per cent in 2021.
The college, and its sister college Accrington and Rossendale, has also achieved a 100 per cent pass rate on level 3 vocational courses.
Principal Amanda Melton said she was “absolutely delighted for our students. They have worked so hard in such challenging circumstances and it is great to see them achieve the results they deserve.
“I would also like to thank our phenomenal tutors who have worked tirelessly, in an unprecedented year, to support our students to achieve their very best.”
Grace McWilliam
One Nelson and Colne student, Grace McWilliam, has achieved A, A*, A* in her A Levels in government and politics; philosophy, ethics and religion; and sociology.
She credits the social sciences faculty with “instilling a lifelong love of philosophy, sociology and politics within me. Their endless encouragement and support has contributed to my ever-growing reading list.”
Conservatives and Labour congratulate students for their “resilience” and hard work
Education secretary Gavin Williamson has praised students’ “resilience and ability to overcome adversity” mere hours before they find out results for qualifications including A-levels and BTECs.
His opposite number Kate Green has said students should be “proud” of results received in “extraordinary circumstances”.
Hundreds of thousands of students will find out what grades they have been awarded by their teachers, after this summer’s exams were cancelled in January due to Covid-19.
Gavin Williamson
Williamson said students have “worked very hard” through an “extraordinary and challenging year,” so “each and every one of them should feel incredibly proud of their achievements”.
This comes after the minister earlier thanked teachers for their “hard work” in producing grades for their students this year, which has “earned the trust and admiration of the whole country”.
“I am hugely grateful to teachers and also parents for supporting our young people in progressing to the next stage in their lives with confidence,” Williamson said.
Results for qualifications including A-levels and level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) will be revealed tomorrow, with results for GCSEs and level 1 and 2 VTQs coming out on Thursday.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green has also congratulated students, who she says have “worked incredibly hard in extraordinary circumstances and should be proud of the results they are receiving today”.
Kate Green
For this week’s results days, Labour has made several demands of government, including calling for students to get a ‘next step guarantee’ to ensure they can move onto their next steps, for government to ensure providers and exam boards can “swiftly” process appeals, and for support to be provided so staff can advise and help students.
The Department for Education has said students who have not achieved the grades needed to take up conditional offers should speak with their provider, university or prospective employer about their options.
The Exam Results Helpline will also be available for students who want additional advice and admissions service UCAS will be helping students find places through clearing.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson has said teachers’ “hard work” in producing grades for their students this year has “earned the trust and admiration of the whole country”.
In a letter thanking teachers ahead of A-level results day tomorrow, Williamson said teachers have given students “their passports to the future”.
It follows Dr Mary Bousted, National Education Union joint general secretary, saying that “any attempt” to blame teachers for grades “will be met with fire and fury”.
Earlier this year, in an exclusive interview with FE Week, Williamson pledged to back teachers “all the way” in their efforts to award teacher access grades and said he would share responsibility of there is a backlash on results days.
Let me just say this. Any attempt by a government minister, or Ofqual, or anyone else, to blame teachers next week’s GCSE and A level grades will be met with fire and fury. Teachers are the heroes here.
In his letter, Williamson says: “Right at the start of the pandemic I said that people would now have a far greater appreciation of what teachers do and this will only have increased as the months passed.
“Your hard work will have earned the trust and admiration of the whole country. In fact, I think that, as a nation, we have perhaps never valued education as much as we do now.
“In the next few weeks students across the country will be taking up apprenticeships, preparing for university, moving on to A levels and other further qualifications or starting their first job. They can take those next steps because of everything you’ve done to support them.”
Williamson said teacher assessed grades process has taken a “significant amount of work” but teachers “took it on and worked, as you always do, for the greatest benefit for your pupils”.
He added: “For all these ground-breaking achievements I want to say a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the Prime Minister, my department and the ministerial team.”
Both the workload and the level of responsibility staff have shouldered in providing accurate results need to be duly recognised, writes Julie McCulloch
With vocational and technical qualifications and A-level results imminent, let’s just remind ourselves how we got here. Because this is, of course, a results day like no other.
The global pandemic and the educational disruption it has caused have had a massive impact on learning and led to the cancellation of public exams for the second year in succession.
Indeed, it would be fair to say that no cohort of students has had to cope with such educational turbulence since the second world war.
They have experienced two lockdowns in which colleges were closed to most students, and intervening periods in which many students have had to periodically self-isolate because of Covid and the associated safety processes.
Some will have fared better than others because of a wide variety of factors – whether they had access to technology and a suitable space at home in which to study, the severity of the pandemic in their area of the country, and the emotional impact of coronavirus in their own lives such as bereavement and family financial problems.
In short, the learning experience of these students will have differed widely and the system of teacher assessment introduced in lieu of public exams was deliberately designed to be flexible enough to take into account this differential experience.
Teacher assessment was designed to be flexible enough to take into account differential student experiences
In truth, it’s a system that could and should have been put in place a lot earlier than actually happened. We were warning the government about the need for a contingency plan in case exams couldn’t go ahead way back last summer.
Unfortunately, the government failed to act on those warnings and this resulted in an almighty scramble to set up and implement a teacher assessment system once the decision was made in January to cancel public exams.
It is to the enormous credit of teachers and leaders that they implemented this new system from scratch in such a short space of time and that they worked so diligently to give their students grades that are fair and accurate.
They have gone the extra mile and then a few further extra miles.
And it is also to the great credit of students that they have shown such fortitude in applying themselves to their studies and the assessment process as well as coping with the pressures of the ongoing pandemic.
There is, inevitably, speculation about grade inflation this year. It would certainly not be a surprise if the grade distribution is different than in normal years because this is essentially a different approach to assessment.
Crucially, the approach this year is based on teachers’ holistic judgements of a student’s performance across a range of assessments.
But this does not mean that grades are devalued. On the contrary. This cohort of students have experienced an extraordinary level of disruption and pressure and their achievements in such difficult circumstances should be celebrated.
So too should the work of their teachers in turning round these results amidst the chaos of the last few months. It has involved an incredible amount of additional work alongside all the pressures of continuing to operate Covid safety measures in their colleges.
And it is not only the workload involved that has been so demanding but also the level of responsibility involved in providing fair and accurate grades which are so important to young people in our high-stakes system.
Despite the stories about parental pressure, the possible involvement of lawyers in appeals and all the other controversies, what we’re hearing from college leaders across the country is that the process has actually gone as well as it possibly could.
What we’re hearing from across the country is that the process has actually gone as well as it possibly could
That’s testimony to a profession that has stepped up to the plate, and a generation of young people who are remarkably resilient – contrary to the opinion of some commentators.
The signs are good that the pandemic will soon pass. The young people receiving their results this week will move on to the next stage of their lives and they will have every chance of bright futures ahead.
That is certainly what they deserve after such a torrid 18 months. We wish them well.
