United Kingdom: facing the sling, the government backs down on the baccalaureate rating

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2 min

The British government is bending under pressure from high school students. After calculating the marks of the A Levels, the equivalent of the baccalaureate, with an algorithm, the student community and the teaching community were windward. It is therefore the teachers' estimates that will be taken into account.

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With our correspondent in London, Maxence Peigné

"  I am terribly sorry  ": these are the words of the British Minister of Education, Gavin Williamson, to this year's graduates. Coronavirus obliges , the exams could not be held. The government had therefore announced that it wanted to use an algorithm to calculate the marks of high school students.

But for 40% of them, they were lower than the teachers' predictions. After a weekend of demonstrations, the minister reversed his decision. Too late for Rhianna Perwett who was to enter a prestigious university.

“  We are all very angry and disappointed ,” she explains. I expected excellent marks but they were much lower than expected. So I had to settle for my second choice. I have the impression that the least privileged students are the most impacted. Because even if the government reversed its decision, we have already had to reserve our accommodation and take out our student loans  ”.

"A large number of students did not get the results they deserved"

For the professors, the initial use of an algorithm was incompressible. Kim Wells is an assistant principal and teaches French in a London high school. “  There are 32 variances: the type of school, the size of the school, the teachers' predictions,” he explains. A large number of students did not get the results they deserved . "

The government will therefore ultimately base the baccalaureate grades on teachers' estimates. But some students will still have to postpone their entry to the faculty for a year, if their new choice is already full.

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• United Kingdom
• Coronavirus
• Education

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