- Exams Archived Message
Posted by Mary
on August 13, 2020, 10:01 am
|
From Foxglove: 'We’ve got another case in the pipeline! Surprise surprise, the UK government seems to have built another unfair algorithm. Today, thousands of A-level students across England are getting their “results”. Covid-19 meant exams were cancelled. So, instead, many students’ grades have been generated by an algorithm. Foxglove is very concerned about this algorithm. We’re supporting an A-level student from Ealing called Curtis, who is challenging the unfairness of the system and has set up a petition. We’re hoping to support him to take the government to court. There’s a worrying lack of information about exactly how the algorithm works. Like with the racist visa algorithm we helped get rid of last week, yet again the government has been very reluctant to open its system up to proper scrutiny. From the limited information we have seen, it appears that the algorithm grades schools rather than students. If a school had poor results in previous years, this year’s students could get marked down regardless of their own aptitude. It looks like this could discriminate against high performing students in historically underperforming schools. Teachers’ assessments of how an individual student was likely to perform seem in many cases to be ignored entirely. Ofqual, the government body in charge, has said, “Where a subject has more than 15 entries in a school, teachers’ predicted grades will not be used”. In practice, all this could mean an excellent student who was on track to get their school’s first A, now almost certainly won’t—the algorithm will mark her or him down without looking at their individual performance at all. At Foxglove we also think there’s also a broader question about whether it’s right, or lawful, to “automate” such a big decision affecting so many young people’s life chances. Is this the direction we want to be going in as a country? Why has the government decided to trust this computer programme more than the judgement of teachers? With Foxglove’s support, Curtis has sent a legal letter to the government urgently requesting more information and laying out his concerns. Because so much about the algorithm has so far been kept secret, we don’t yet know enough to say for sure whether Curtis will be able to take the government to court. We’ll send you another update as soon as we can, including with how you can help support this case if it happens. In the meantime, please help Curtis by signing his petition. And please also share this email with anyone else who you think might be interested. Here’s a link to the petition. https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-boris-johnson-we-need-a-fairer-system-for-this-year-s-a-level-and-gcse-students Best wishes, Martha Dark Director Foxglove PS: This particular system only affects students in England. The system in Scotland, which First Minister Nicola Sturgeon binned this week appeared to have similar issues – Nicola Sturgeon has now acknowledged it wasn’t fair and pledged a reform that will take greater account of pupils’ individual circumstances. Wales and Northern Ireland also have distinct systems and we will be monitoring what happens there.' |
| Message Thread:
|