Official figures show that the proportion of GCSEs at grade 7 to 9 in private schools fell from 61.2% last year to 53% this year when pupils were due to sit the exams – a drop of 8.2 percentage points. The difference was three times that of the total, which fell 2.7 percentage points, from 26% last year to 23.3% this year. The pattern was repeated with A-levels, where private schools saw a more dramatic drop in A*/A grades than other school types after public exams were reintroduced after three years. The percentage of A*/A enrollments in private schools fell from 70% in 2021 to 58% this summer. Across all grammar schools, A*/A grades fell from 57% to 50%. In some private grammar schools and sixth-form colleges, where up to 90% of results were given an A* by teachers last summer, the grade level collapsed by 25-30 percentage points. Robert Halfon, the Conservative chairman of the select education committee, said this year’s results showed the private sector had “milked the system for what it deserved” in the pandemic. “These differences show how vital the tests are. The decision to try to stamp out grade inflation and protect the currency of these qualifications is the right one. We need to return to the integrity of the grade profiles of 2019. It appears that the independent sector milked the school-assessed grade system for all it was worth. That’s why Ofqual’s plan to tackle grade inflation is the right thing to do.” In an effort to avoid exposing grade inflation last year, some schools that would normally release student achievement are keeping their full results secret. The Heads and Heads’ Conference (HMC), which represents leading independent schools, has advised its members not to publish aggregate cohort results to “prevent unhelpful comparisons between GCSE and A-level results this year and previous years, which or have used different assessment methods or different standards’. Critics said schools that rigged the system with teacher-assessed grades had widened the gap in educational attainment between working-class students and those from more affluent backgrounds. They accused the government of allowing scores to rise unchecked in some schools last year. This summer, Ofqual set national pass exams to limit grade inflation towards 2019 levels. Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “Some private schools are gaming the system and there is no transparency. Labor called for an inquiry into last year’s grades, but ministers were happy to let the disparities grow. “It’s important to have a level playing field for all students, but the Conservatives have presided over a yawning gap in achievement between state and private school pupils, which has increased since 2019. Labor would end tax breaks for private schools to fund a brilliant public education for every child.” An analysis of A-level results by Education Datalab concluded that the claim that private schools “gamed” the results was “a bit harsh”. He said that while the absolute difference in percentages of A*/A grades in 2022 compared to 2021 showed one of the biggest declines in independent schools in relative terms, private school pupils were around 20% more likely to get an A/A * grade in 2021 than in 2022, but the same was true for students in academies, comprehensive schools and modern secondary schools. Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said: “Last year’s teacher-assessed grades were subjected to rigorous quality checks. The review boards found no evidence to suggest that any type of school or college was more likely to have given grades that did not reflect the level of work of their students.’ HMC declined to comment.
