A-Level U-turn welcomed but questions still left unanswered say Shropshire students
Students across Shropshire have welcomed the Government's U-turn on the controversial A-Levels results algorithm.
Teacher assessment grades will be used instead, but some students say it has come with further complications and many questions are still unanswered.
Samantha Smith from Telford said it was a step in the right direction but students from disadvantaged backgrounds were still hindered by having to pay a lot of money to sit exams in the near future.
She said: "For many students it is welcome. For me, it is better, it's an improvement, but it is still not the grades I was working towards and what I was hoping to get."
The 18-year old, a student at Newport Girls’ High School got a B, C and D in her mocks and had been expected to improve those to A grades.
Instead she opened her results to find a B, E and a U. Now, with teacher assessment grades, she has been given B, D and D. Samantha was left homeless at the age of 16 and had to sofa surf through her A-level studies. She said for students like her who have overcome big struggles, the whole experience was devastating.
"Individual students are being charged to sit exams," she said. "I know my friend was expected to pay a total of £400 to sit her exams. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds would not be able to fork out £400. There is still a long way to go and Government action is needed to secure equal opportunities for all students. The most important thing they need to do this year is put people over politics."
See also:
Will Downing from Codsall Wood was hoping to go to University of Liverpool with predicted grades of A, B and B. With the Government algorithm, he was given A, B and E. He said he is pleased with the u-turn which meant he now has A, A and C.
"It has messed up things a lot," he said. "I had an unconditional offer from Manchester Metropolitan University, but I declined that to go to Liverpool so now I just have to wait for a response. The teacher assessment grades are a lot fairer.
"If it doesn't work out, I will have a look through clearing, or maybe take a year out and look at retaking my exam. But you don't want to be behind everyone else. Because of being put on hold there is little to none accommodation left. Literally everyone, all my friends, went through the exact same thing. At least one of their grades was dropped by at least one or two levels."
