Ofqual’s Algorithm and A’level results

JAAG and its members have been following the UK’s A’level exam results. The exam regulator Ofqual built an algorithm to determine the final result awarded to pupils. This has led to a lot confusion as it appears that the algorithm has let down about 40% of pupils who saw their results downgraded, with disadvantaged pupils worst affected.

One of our members has brought to our attention an article published by the Guardian on how a father predicted this fiasco and tried to alert Ofqual:

<Click here to read the article>

Could this fiasco have been avoided if the algorithm had been built from the point of view of the pupil?

Another member has written to us to say that there is emerging evidence that the Education department wasn’t even aware of how the algorithm worked.

“There is a great need to question these algorithms and to understand how they calculate these automated outcomes”, he says.