Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
You are aware that the entire reason that the last peak wasn't the size of the previous one was Northampton?
Referring to the gradual increase which doesn't seem to be stopping.
Without Northampton, it is levelling off.
It`s worth knowing that the Northampton outbreak is largely a result of one company`s staff, Greencore, and 73% of those that that tested positive had no symptoms and were found positive via private company testing. If Northampton goes into lockdown because of this many residents will be mighty angry with Greencore.
Because this applies to GCSE grades as well, one side effect that could come back to bite is that over-generous teacher predictions (by some, not all) could lead to many more students reaching the threshold to do A-level courses. It's likely that some of those who scrape the required GCSE grades could struggle on A levels. Expect retention and results to decline on A-level courses by 2022.
10 out of 10 for the Government performing the U-Turn. Absolutely the right thing to do. 0 out of 10 for the politics of their performance and for getting into this mess in the first place. They left it far far too late to do this and there are no valid excuses for that.
Bollocks to that. This just makes A Level grades meaningless. What’s the point in them because you can’t tell in a few years time when hiring a graduate if the person was really 3As or not? And this one off inflation disadvantages the 2018/2019/2021/2022 graduates in the first years of their career when employers still look at A Level grades. The government seems incapable of thinking further ahead than tonight’s twitter trends. I’d love to know if there are people in Cabinet calling these things out or if ministers are wary of stepping on toes outside their brief. I’ve seen it before in the private sector. Most of the room knowing that a committee is sleep walking into disaster but no one having the guts to speak up and say what everyone’s thinking. Which here is “no exam, no grade. Fix the consequence not the other way round”.
You are making the almost universal mistake of those outside education of thinking that A-levels are themselves a reliable measure of anything other than the ability to do A-levels. They are correlated with ability and understanding of a subject, but I’ve seen enough candidates underperform on the day (and some with an ability to cram for a test having done little or no work all year) to know that the difference between an A and a B is largely illusory. And that isbefore you get to the inevitable foul-ups of the exam boards in a normal year.
That’s life. You underperform when it matters then deal with it. In the big wide world it’s not unusual for hiring managers to delegate selection of interview candidates to a junior, who’s given 3 hours to read 100 CVs, to invite 6 to interview for 1 job.
Then if you don’t mind missing out on lots of good people that is your prerogative. But if you are hiring graduates why not look at their degrees? That should give you a much better and more recent measure of their ability and knowledge.
What if they all have a 2-1 from an equivalent Russell Group in the same subject? Or what if you are hiring for a non graduate role?
If you have applicants with a good degree from a respectable university, Mr Moonshine, applying for a non-graduate role, then I would suggest that you have fouled up the system - with the help of others, of course.
And if you have several applicants with the same class degree from respectable universities, then you do what you have always done - appoint the one with the shortest mini-skirt - provided of course that the legs justify the shortness.
If the outcome was intended to be no grade inflation to maintain the integrity of the system, the big mistake was allowing the schools` CAGs to become public knowledge. As soon as it was known that Ofqual moderated significantly downwards all was lost.
The U-turn couldn't have happened without a green light from the Treasury. Sunak has tossed Williamson a lifeline, and will call in the favour when he needs it.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
The one thing that has become ever so obvious that in many ways the UK is now four nations through devolution, and that this chaos by Ofqual actually manifested itself across all four nations, each one adopting it, then each one reverse ferreting when it became untenable
As much as it may suit some agendas this is Ofquals responsibility
Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
Negative feedback with a delay. Like the first time a driver (used to instant response) tries to pilot a boat.
Because this applies to GCSE grades as well, one side effect that could come back to bite is that over-generous teacher predictions (by some, not all) could lead to many more students reaching the threshold to do A-level courses. It's likely that some of those who scrape the required GCSE grades could struggle on A levels. Expect retention and results to decline on A-level courses by 2022.
10 out of 10 for the Government performing the U-Turn. Absolutely the right thing to do. 0 out of 10 for the politics of their performance and for getting into this mess in the first place. They left it far far too late to do this and there are no valid excuses for that.
Bollocks to that. This just makes A Level grades meaningless. What’s the point in them because you can’t tell in a few years time when hiring a graduate if the person was really 3As or not? And this one off inflation disadvantages the 2018/2019/2021/2022 graduates in the first years of their career when employers still look at A Level grades. The government seems incapable of thinking further ahead than tonight’s twitter trends. I’d love to know if there are people in Cabinet calling these things out or if ministers are wary of stepping on toes outside their brief. I’ve seen it before in the private sector. Most of the room knowing that a committee is sleep walking into disaster but no one having the guts to speak up and say what everyone’s thinking. Which here is “no exam, no grade. Fix the consequence not the other way round”.
You are making the almost universal mistake of those outside education of thinking that A-levels are themselves a reliable measure of anything other than the ability to do A-levels. They are correlated with ability and understanding of a subject, but I’ve seen enough candidates underperform on the day (and some with an ability to cram for a test having done little or no work all year) to know that the difference between an A and a B is largely illusory. And that isbefore you get to the inevitable foul-ups of the exam boards in a normal year.
That’s life. You underperform when it matters then deal with it. In the big wide world it’s not unusual for hiring managers to delegate selection of interview candidates to a junior, who’s given 3 hours to read 100 CVs, to invite 6 to interview for 1 job.
Then if you don’t mind missing out on lots of good people that is your prerogative. But if you are hiring graduates why not look at their degrees? That should give you a much better and more recent measure of their ability and knowledge.
What if they all have a 2-1 from an equivalent Russell Group in the same subject? Or what if you are hiring for a non graduate role?
If you have applicants with a good degree from a respectable university, Mr Moonshine, then I would suggest that you have fouled up the system - with the help of others, of course.
And if you have several applicants with the same class degree from respectable universities, then you do what you have always done - appoint the one with the shortest mini-skirt - provided of course that the legs justify the shortness.
I used to recruit nurses. After discussions with the nurse managers on the panel who explained to me which ones were talking bullshit, I decided that skirt length and leg curvature were, indeed, a factor.
If the outcome was intended to be no grade inflation to maintain the integrity of the system, the big mistake was allowing the schools` CAGs to become public knowledge. As soon as it was known that Ofqual moderated significantly downwards all was lost.
With hindsight a better strategy would have been to require each school to maintain the same average grade as the last three years. Push the decisions as far away from the centre as possible, make them own the result. Their righteous indignation would have been incomprehensible to most onlookers.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
That is rather flippant and does not alter the fact the announcement has been made
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Agreed, it was clearly going to be the second biggest issue for DfE after getting schools open, and it wouldnt take much thought to realise that 1) any solution was going to be contentious and 2) it may not be possible to be fair both between different years and within this year.
If we rule out keeping schools open for those taking A levels, and possibly GCSEs, then I would have gone for giving results in a different format to traditional grades, to avoid needing to be fair between different years. So a scale of 1-10 instead of U-A* or maybe just copy the university grading of 3rd, 2:2, 2:1, 1st.
Because this applies to GCSE grades as well, one side effect that could come back to bite is that over-generous teacher predictions (by some, not all) could lead to many more students reaching the threshold to do A-level courses. It's likely that some of those who scrape the required GCSE grades could struggle on A levels. Expect retention and results to decline on A-level courses by 2022.
10 out of 10 for the Government performing the U-Turn. Absolutely the right thing to do. 0 out of 10 for the politics of their performance and for getting into this mess in the first place. They left it far far too late to do this and there are no valid excuses for that.
Bollocks to that. This just makes A Level grades meaningless. What’s the point in them because you can’t tell in a few years time when hiring a graduate if the person was really 3As or not? And this one off inflation disadvantages the 2018/2019/2021/2022 graduates in the first years of their career when employers still look at A Level grades. The government seems incapable of thinking further ahead than tonight’s twitter trends. I’d love to know if there are people in Cabinet calling these things out or if ministers are wary of stepping on toes outside their brief. I’ve seen it before in the private sector. Most of the room knowing that a committee is sleep walking into disaster but no one having the guts to speak up and say what everyone’s thinking. Which here is “no exam, no grade. Fix the consequence not the other way round”.
You are making the almost universal mistake of those outside education of thinking that A-levels are themselves a reliable measure of anything other than the ability to do A-levels. They are correlated with ability and understanding of a subject, but I’ve seen enough candidates underperform on the day (and some with an ability to cram for a test having done little or no work all year) to know that the difference between an A and a B is largely illusory. And that isbefore you get to the inevitable foul-ups of the exam boards in a normal year.
That’s life. You underperform when it matters then deal with it. In the big wide world it’s not unusual for hiring managers to delegate selection of interview candidates to a junior, who’s given 3 hours to read 100 CVs, to invite 6 to interview for 1 job.
Then if you don’t mind missing out on lots of good people that is your prerogative. But if you are hiring graduates why not look at their degrees? That should give you a much better and more recent measure of their ability and knowledge.
What if they all have a 2-1 from an equivalent Russell Group in the same subject? Or what if you are hiring for a non graduate role?
If you have applicants with a good degree from a respectable university, Mr Moonshine, then I would suggest that you have fouled up the system - with the help of others, of course.
And if you have several applicants with the same class degree from respectable universities, then you do what you have always done - appoint the one with the shortest mini-skirt - provided of course that the legs justify the shortness.
I used to recruit nurses. After discussions with the nurse managers on the panel who explained to me which ones were talking bullshit, I decided that skirt length and leg curvature were, indeed, a factor.
If the outcome was intended to be no grade inflation to maintain the integrity of the system, the big mistake was allowing the schools` CAGs to become public knowledge. As soon as it was known that Ofqual moderated significantly downwards all was lost.
With hindsight a better strategy would have been to require each school to maintain the same average grade as the last three years. Push the decisions as far away from the centre as possible, make them own the result. Their righteous indignation would have been incomprehensible to most onlookers.
Really? Do you know how much improvement some schools are capable of in the State sector? Private schools tend to be pretty consistent in their results, but a good headteacher leading a motivated staff group can lead to massive improvements.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
If the outcome was intended to be no grade inflation to maintain the integrity of the system, the big mistake was allowing the schools` CAGs to become public knowledge. As soon as it was known that Ofqual moderated significantly downwards all was lost.
With hindsight a better strategy would have been to require each school to maintain the same average grade as the last three years. Push the decisions as far away from the centre as possible, make them own the result. Their righteous indignation would have been incomprehensible to most onlookers.
That would really motivate teachers and pupils at a school that had improved from special measures to a good school over that 3 year period!
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
If the outcome was intended to be no grade inflation to maintain the integrity of the system, the big mistake was allowing the schools` CAGs to become public knowledge. As soon as it was known that Ofqual moderated significantly downwards all was lost.
With hindsight a better strategy would have been to require each school to maintain the same average grade as the last three years. Push the decisions as far away from the centre as possible, make them own the result. Their righteous indignation would have been incomprehensible to most onlookers.
Really? Do you know how much improvement some schools are capable of in the State sector? Private schools tend to be pretty consistent in their results, but a good headteacher leading a motivated staff group can lead to massive improvements.
That's exactly what a few schools would have argued back in April and it would all be forgotten by now. Even if correct it would have much less political cut-through than the current brouhaha.
Edit: and schools on a declining trend would welcome it.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Agreed, it was clearly going to be the second biggest issue for DfE after getting schools open, and it wouldnt take much thought to realise that 1) any solution was going to be contentious and 2) it may not be possible to be fair both between different years and within this year.
If we rule out keeping schools open for those taking A levels, and possibly GCSEs, then I would have gone for giving results in a different format to traditional grades, to avoid needing to be fair between different years. So a scale of 1-10 instead of U-A* or maybe just copy the university grading of 3rd, 2:2, 2:1, 1st.
There have been plenty of sensible suggestions put forward, but all of them would have required a bit of work and detailed communication with schools. Teacher assessments could have worked, but it needed quality control. It needed detailed criteria for assessments. It needed the potential for challenge where grades seemed out of step with the norm for the schools. It needed some flexibility around allowing some level of variance from previous years. And it needed liaison with Universities to plan for some flexibility on places and a potentially slightly higher intake over the next couple of years.
All a lot of work. But it's not like a lot of people in the education system haven't had a fair bit of time on their hands.
There's lots that could have been done. But no. There was an algorithm.
And even with the use of the algorithm they could have done things differently. Take advantage of time saved by not having to mark millions of exam papers and moderate them all. Run the algorithm earlier. Analyse the results. Discretely give the results to Head teachers many weeks in advance to allow them to challenge results in advance and remove the worst of the anomalies.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
That is rather flippant and does not alter the fact the announcement has been made
Well actually, it's not flippant. This government is increasingly prone to making announcements via its favoured outlets, particularly the Telegraph. It has also been pulled up by the Speaker on more than one occasion for making policy announcements public before they have been made in their rightful place, the House of Commons. It's part of a populist pattern to avoid scrutiny and accountability. As is refusing to make government ministers available for interview to those media channels that the government doesn't like. It's becoming increasingly based on something like the Belarusian model.
It is not school closures that caused the problem but cancellation of A-levels. It would have been easy to hold them. Most exams run with appropriate social distancing already, to prevent copying. The school buildings were open and staffed for the children of key workers anyway.
Rather, it is an issue that directly affects a comparatively small number of people - pupils, parents and teachers, and now universities. So it is less salient than Cummings’ shenanigans, where he stuck two fingers up to the lot of us.
It’s not surprising therefore that it has cut through rather less.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
Depends whether enough people are prepared to let their guard down. If a sufficient percentage of the population remains terrified, or at least cautious, and/or is greatly reducing its overall exposure to others due to WFH, then there may not be enough of those chains of transmission for R to ramp up in any generalised, widespread fashion.
The UK has an especially large service economy, an exceptionally high take-up of WFH, and did a very good job of terrifying people and guilt tripping them into not doing anything to burden the health service early in the pandemic. That could be enough to keep a lid on the virus. We just don't know.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
That is rather flippant and does not alter the fact the announcement has been made
Well actually, it's not flippant. This government is increasingly prone to making announcements via its favoured outlets, particularly the Telegraph. It has also been pulled up by the Speaker on more than one occasion for making policy announcements public before they have been made in their rightful place, the House of Commons. It's part of a populist pattern to avoid scrutiny and accountability. As is refusing to make government ministers available for interview to those media channels that the government doesn't like. It's becoming increasingly based on something like the Belarusian model.
And - it may seem like a basic point - but if announcements are made through 'favoured' media outlets, as opposed to through official channels (whether to Parliament or in official Government statements/press releases) then how is anyone supposed to know which announcements are actually correct?
Because, frankly, there's plenty of "announcements" appearing in newspapers that then turn out not to be correct and/or are denied subsequently.
You can't subsequently deny an announcement made to Parliament.
The grade inflation teeth suckers seem to have missed out that some students would have outperformed both their teacher estimated and their mock grades (as both myself and Mrs Rata did at A level, for different reasons). And that the people getting into university with their average-of-half-a-grade inflated A level results, will not be those for whom university was clearly going to be inappropriate - I suspect the effect of A levels on dropout rates will be small, but that drop out rates from ongoing COVID disruption may be a factor the teeth suckers seek to seize upon later.
I expect the decision will take the heat from Williamson resigning.
Certainly on of the students on Sky this pm when prompted to seek Williamson's resignation was just happy to have had an apology and that the issue was resolved.
Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
Depends whether enough people are prepared to let their guard down. If a sufficient percentage of the population remains terrified, or at least cautious, and/or is greatly reducing its overall exposure to others due to WFH, then there may not be enough of those chains of transmission for R to ramp up in any generalised, widespread fashion.
The UK has an especially large service economy, an exceptionally high take-up of WFH, and did a very good job of terrifying people and guilt tripping them into not doing anything to burden the health service early in the pandemic. That could be enough to keep a lid on the virus. We just don't know.
I think we will see a slow, steady increase - see Germany for example. Then again, it may still go ballistic.
If the outcome was intended to be no grade inflation to maintain the integrity of the system, the big mistake was allowing the schools` CAGs to become public knowledge. As soon as it was known that Ofqual moderated significantly downwards all was lost.
With hindsight a better strategy would have been to require each school to maintain the same average grade as the last three years. Push the decisions as far away from the centre as possible, make them own the result. Their righteous indignation would have been incomprehensible to most onlookers.
Really? Do you know how much improvement some schools are capable of in the State sector? Private schools tend to be pretty consistent in their results, but a good headteacher leading a motivated staff group can lead to massive improvements.
That's exactly what a few schools would have argued back in April and it would all be forgotten by now. Even if correct it would have much less political cut-through than the current brouhaha.
Edit: and schools on a declining trend would welcome it.
Rewarding failing schools and penalising improving schools is a strange approach!
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
That is rather flippant and does not alter the fact the announcement has been made
Well actually, it's not flippant. This government is increasingly prone to making announcements via its favoured outlets, particularly the Telegraph. It has also been pulled up by the Speaker on more than one occasion for making policy announcements public before they have been made in their rightful place, the House of Commons. It's part of a populist pattern to avoid scrutiny and accountability. As is refusing to make government ministers available for interview to those media channels that the government doesn't like. It's becoming increasingly based on something like the Belarusian model.
I do not think so.
Indeed Williamson has been on the media himself apologising and are you applying this to Wales where I have not seen or heard from the Welsh First Minister on his about face
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
You are very harsh on the DfE and its quangos. Some staff are useless. But some are very able. The latter have been worn down by a combination of unmanageable workloads, constant firefighting/crisis management, and a culture from the top (i.e. ministers) that does not encourage any questioning whatsoever of decisions or policy directions. The education 'blob' is not a healthy place to work these days, but some good people still try to do the right thing.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
You are very harsh on the DfE and its quangos. Some staff are useless. But some are very able.
Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
Depends whether enough people are prepared to let their guard down. If a sufficient percentage of the population remains terrified, or at least cautious, and/or is greatly reducing its overall exposure to others due to WFH, then there may not be enough of those chains of transmission for R to ramp up in any generalised, widespread fashion.
The UK has an especially large service economy, an exceptionally high take-up of WFH, and did a very good job of terrifying people and guilt tripping them into not doing anything to burden the health service early in the pandemic. That could be enough to keep a lid on the virus. We just don't know.
I think we will see a slow, steady increase - see Germany for example. Then again, it may still go ballistic.
I do not expect a fall in cases.
Presumably Scottish numbers are now going through the roof after the schools all opened...
Can somebody explain why this guy has so many followers. As far as I can see, he just posts info that's already out.
Also sounds like bollocks as they don't have competence (no laughing in the back) over grades in Scotland, Wales, NI.
Ha Ha Ha are they planning a union jack on Scottish version.
Actually on a serious note, it is surprising how so few ,even on here, do not realise that NHS and Education come under each devolved government and attacking HMG for issues on these matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland highlights the lack of knowledge
There is a simple solution. Withdraw all of the grades incorrectly issued last week by a deficient Ofqual. All university place offers null and void. Reissue corrected grades. Tell everyone that its all Nicola Sturgeon's fault.
I can't help thinking that the 4 governments could perhaps have held the line if they'd all worked together. When Sturgeon folded, it was inevitable the others would have to as well.
Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
Depends whether enough people are prepared to let their guard down. If a sufficient percentage of the population remains terrified, or at least cautious, and/or is greatly reducing its overall exposure to others due to WFH, then there may not be enough of those chains of transmission for R to ramp up in any generalised, widespread fashion.
The UK has an especially large service economy, an exceptionally high take-up of WFH, and did a very good job of terrifying people and guilt tripping them into not doing anything to burden the health service early in the pandemic. That could be enough to keep a lid on the virus. We just don't know.
I think we will see a slow, steady increase - see Germany for example. Then again, it may still go ballistic.
I do not expect a fall in cases.
We are not really aiming for a fall in cases. If cases fall further, more of the economy will be opened up, bringing cases back to the current level. If cases rise too much, parts of the economy will be closed bringing cases back to the current level.
I would think case numbers are very likely to be stay in a band from around the current level, to maybe 3-5x higher as a worst case, with the volatility coming in what is open rather than case numbers.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
You are very harsh on the DfE and its quangos. Some staff are useless. But some are very able.
Really? Name three.
Not one of your most noble responses to a comment I made in good faith and which you then chose to edit down to a sentence. Oh well.
The one thing that has become ever so obvious that in many ways the UK is now four nations through devolution, and that this chaos by Ofqual actually manifested itself across all four nations, each one adopting it, then each one reverse ferreting when it became untenable
As much as it may suit some agendas this is Ofquals responsibility
The one thing that has become ever so obvious that in many ways the UK is now four nations through devolution, and that this chaos by Ofqual actually manifested itself across all four nations, each one adopting it, then each one reverse ferreting when it became untenable
As much as it may suit some agendas this is Ofquals responsibility
Does Ofquals order SQA what to do.
As I understand it SQA take their lead from Ofqual
Using the reported case number is a bad idea, since the weekend shadow is very strong.
Sure, so the numbers tomorrow or Weds might show an increase. Nevertheless, the UK has (so far) avoided the big jump in case numbers so many other places saw.
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
Depends whether enough people are prepared to let their guard down. If a sufficient percentage of the population remains terrified, or at least cautious, and/or is greatly reducing its overall exposure to others due to WFH, then there may not be enough of those chains of transmission for R to ramp up in any generalised, widespread fashion.
The UK has an especially large service economy, an exceptionally high take-up of WFH, and did a very good job of terrifying people and guilt tripping them into not doing anything to burden the health service early in the pandemic. That could be enough to keep a lid on the virus. We just don't know.
I think we will see a slow, steady increase - see Germany for example. Then again, it may still go ballistic.
I do not expect a fall in cases.
Presumably Scottish numbers are now going through the roof after the schools all opened...
we have proper controls in place and grown ups running the country so you cannot compare with rUK.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
You are very harsh on the DfE and its quangos. Some staff are useless. But some are very able.
Really? Name three.
Not one of your most noble responses to a comment I made in good faith and which you then chose to edit down to a sentence. Oh well.
Truthful though.
I am afraid the elephant in the room at Education is that for forty years it has not attracted talented civil servants. It is seen as a backwater by the powers that be and therefore anyone earmarked for promotion is kept away from it, while anyway being quietly sidelined has been sent there. Sometimes, they force their way out - Wormald springs to mind - but are not noticeably successful elsewhere either.
This doesn’t stop them being incredibly arrogant, but it does stop them knowing anything about the subject they are meant to be administering.
Coupled with how few politicians or special advisers have any sort of link to education other than having had one, and unfortunately that means most education policy is made from a position of ignorance.
Gove and Cummings made this worse. You would be surprised at how many ex Civil Servants now run academy chains. Heck, there’s even one in charge of OFSTED who embarrassed herself by admitting she did not understand the concept of safeguarding. But since at least the time of Mark Carlisle, education has been a shambolic department.
Can somebody explain why this guy has so many followers. As far as I can see, he just posts info that's already out.
Also sounds like bollocks as they don't have competence (no laughing in the back) over grades in Scotland, Wales, NI.
Ha Ha Ha are they planning a union jack on Scottish version.
Actually on a serious note, it is surprising how so few ,even on here, do not realise that NHS and Education come under each devolved government and attacking HMG for issues on these matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland highlights the lack of knowledge
It is shocking, those and other matters. They have 4000 asylum seekers bussed up from down south staying in hotels in Glasgow , sent by the home office via a private company with no Scottish government or council involvement and most morons do not realise the Scottish government have no say in the matter. Just one of many examples for sure.
Downloading Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (you can if you set your region to New Zealand otherwise it's tomorrow). You may want to start downloading it now if you want to play it on the weekend - it needs a 91Gb download and it needs to register all the bits separately so it's taking hours and I have a 400mb connection.
The one thing that has become ever so obvious that in many ways the UK is now four nations through devolution, and that this chaos by Ofqual actually manifested itself across all four nations, each one adopting it, then each one reverse ferreting when it became untenable
As much as it may suit some agendas this is Ofquals responsibility
Does Ofquals order SQA what to do.
As I understand it SQA take their lead from Ofqual
Can somebody explain why this guy has so many followers. As far as I can see, he just posts info that's already out.
Also sounds like bollocks as they don't have competence (no laughing in the back) over grades in Scotland, Wales, NI.
Ha Ha Ha are they planning a union jack on Scottish version.
Actually on a serious note, it is surprising how so few ,even on here, do not realise that NHS and Education come under each devolved government and attacking HMG for issues on these matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland highlights the lack of knowledge
It is shocking, those and other matters. They have 4000 asylum seekers bussed up from down south staying in hotels in Glasgow , sent by the home office via a private company with no Scottish government or council involvement and most morons do not realise the Scottish government have no say in the matter. Just one of many examples for sure.
I thought Scotland welcomes all asylum seekers to be honest
As 70% of Covidians are asymptomatic, is a rise in cases a good thing as long as the vulnerable are properly shielded?
Might it be better for the young, slim and fit to get it?
That's the Swedish approach. Essentially stay home if you're above 60 or have existing co-morbidities.
The idea is that herd immunity is reached among the group most able to avoid dying.
The problem with it is that you can't order 35 year olds out, especially those who have to see older people (parents, etc.) for one reason or another. Sweden has therefore ended up with a de facto lockdown, where people aren't going out. This has been economically a big issue - whether you look at PMIs, consumer spending or unemployment, Sweden has performed worse than its neighbours because people still don't feel safe.
That being said, it's clearly better from a liberty perspective. It just sucks if you're 65.
The buck has stopped there, the issue has been dealt with. Well done Boris and Gavin I'm sure you'll agree. 😈
Nope still problems to fix regarding student number restrictions given that clearing has allowed people to swap courses and some people who didn't have the grades on Thursday or 15:59 today now have them..
But I've been highlighting that issue all day and you still haven't grasped that its an issue that needs to be fixed and hasn't been.
Student number restrictions have already been lifted. Next issue?
Have they - where is that flagged as that isn't what the Russell comment says?
It was announced by Sky this afternoon
Announced by Sky - I didn't know Boris was using them as his new press secretary?
That is rather flippant and does not alter the fact the announcement has been made
Not really when I can't find the information on a government website and one of the main representatives of the universities involved are still calling it a problem.
Can somebody explain why this guy has so many followers. As far as I can see, he just posts info that's already out.
Also sounds like bollocks as they don't have competence (no laughing in the back) over grades in Scotland, Wales, NI.
Ha Ha Ha are they planning a union jack on Scottish version.
Actually on a serious note, it is surprising how so few ,even on here, do not realise that NHS and Education come under each devolved government and attacking HMG for issues on these matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland highlights the lack of knowledge
It is shocking, those and other matters. They have 4000 asylum seekers bussed up from down south staying in hotels in Glasgow , sent by the home office via a private company with no Scottish government or council involvement and most morons do not realise the Scottish government have no say in the matter. Just one of many examples for sure.
On one hand that really doesn't surprise me, on another I'm surprised given the mental health issues that those asylum seekers have exhibited I'm surprise the shipping in didn't get more attention.
The one thing that has become ever so obvious that in many ways the UK is now four nations through devolution, and that this chaos by Ofqual actually manifested itself across all four nations, each one adopting it, then each one reverse ferreting when it became untenable
As much as it may suit some agendas this is Ofquals responsibility
Does Ofquals order SQA what to do.
As I understand it SQA take their lead from Ofqual
Pathetic
Well they both applied the same process hence the hand brake turns across the UK
As 70% of Covidians are asymptomatic, is a rise in cases a good thing as long as the vulnerable are properly shielded?
Might it be better for the young, slim and fit to get it?
I think if you could somehow arrange for every person for whom covid would be a non-event to get covid and nobody else then this would be a great thing. But god knows how you do it in practice. This government has proven incapable of meeting far less complex and difficult challenges than that one.
Can somebody explain why this guy has so many followers. As far as I can see, he just posts info that's already out.
Also sounds like bollocks as they don't have competence (no laughing in the back) over grades in Scotland, Wales, NI.
Ha Ha Ha are they planning a union jack on Scottish version.
Actually on a serious note, it is surprising how so few ,even on here, do not realise that NHS and Education come under each devolved government and attacking HMG for issues on these matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland highlights the lack of knowledge
It is shocking, those and other matters. They have 4000 asylum seekers bussed up from down south staying in hotels in Glasgow , sent by the home office via a private company with no Scottish government or council involvement and most morons do not realise the Scottish government have no say in the matter. Just one of many examples for sure.
I thought Scotland welcomes all asylum seekers to be honest
They are not allowed to G, it is decided by Priti and her henchmen, Scottish government have ZERO say in it and despite lobbying are ignored as usual by Home Office. When they get permission they do take them.
There is a simple solution. Withdraw all of the grades incorrectly issued last week by a deficient Ofqual. All university place offers null and void. Reissue corrected grades. Tell everyone that its all Nicola Sturgeon's fault.
I can't help thinking that the 4 governments could perhaps have held the line if they'd all worked together. When Sturgeon folded, it was inevitable the others would have to as well.
Ha Ha Ha, usual fanny trying pin it on Scotland.
Funny how all the sub branches of the UK parties were gung ho for Sturgeon 'folding'. Shome mishtake shirly.
Can somebody explain why this guy has so many followers. As far as I can see, he just posts info that's already out.
Also sounds like bollocks as they don't have competence (no laughing in the back) over grades in Scotland, Wales, NI.
Ha Ha Ha are they planning a union jack on Scottish version.
Actually on a serious note, it is surprising how so few ,even on here, do not realise that NHS and Education come under each devolved government and attacking HMG for issues on these matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland highlights the lack of knowledge
It is shocking, those and other matters. They have 4000 asylum seekers bussed up from down south staying in hotels in Glasgow , sent by the home office via a private company with no Scottish government or council involvement and most morons do not realise the Scottish government have no say in the matter. Just one of many examples for sure.
I thought Scotland welcomes all asylum seekers to be honest
So did I. But clearly not when they come via the British Govt.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
You are very harsh on the DfE and its quangos. Some staff are useless. But some are very able.
Really? Name three.
Not one of your most noble responses to a comment I made in good faith and which you then chose to edit down to a sentence. Oh well.
Truthful though.
I am afraid the elephant in the room at Education is that for forty years it has not attracted talented civil servants. It is seen as a backwater by the powers that be and therefore anyone earmarked for promotion is kept away from it, while anyway being quietly sidelined has been sent there. Sometimes, they force their way out - Wormald springs to mind - but are not noticeably successful elsewhere either.
This doesn’t stop them being incredibly arrogant, but it does stop them knowing anything about the subject they are meant to be administering.
Coupled with how few politicians or special advisers have any sort of link to education other than having had one, and unfortunately that means most education policy is made from a position of ignorance.
Gove and Cummings made this worse. You would be surprised at how many ex Civil Servants now run academy chains. Heck, there’s even one in charge of OFSTED who embarrassed herself by admitting she did not understand the concept of safeguarding. But since at least the time of Mark Carlisle, education has been a shambolic department.
Who was the last education secretary you thought did a good job ?
There is a simple solution. Withdraw all of the grades incorrectly issued last week by a deficient Ofqual. All university place offers null and void. Reissue corrected grades. Tell everyone that its all Nicola Sturgeon's fault.
I can't help thinking that the 4 governments could perhaps have held the line if they'd all worked together. When Sturgeon folded, it was inevitable the others would have to as well.
Ha Ha Ha, usual fanny trying pin it on Scotland.
Funny how all the sub branches of the UK parties were gung ho for Sturgeon 'folding'. Shome mishtake shirly.
Lot of finger work to delete their handiwork. What a bunch of losers.
Frankly if the criticism of the Government is that they should have seen this coming a week or so ago, and acted to head it off, then i can only conclude that people don't set very high standards for the Government.
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
Hasn´t the DfE been purged of all its competentent and critical elements by the Cummings-Gove-Johnson dictatorship? They just do whatever they are instructed to these days.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
No, because it never had any competentent (sic) or critical elements. It was always filled with useless shits.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
You are very harsh on the DfE and its quangos. Some staff are useless. But some are very able.
Really? Name three.
Not one of your most noble responses to a comment I made in good faith and which you then chose to edit down to a sentence. Oh well.
Truthful though.
I am afraid the elephant in the room at Education is that for forty years it has not attracted talented civil servants. It is seen as a backwater by the powers that be and therefore anyone earmarked for promotion is kept away from it, while anyway being quietly sidelined has been sent there. Sometimes, they force their way out - Wormald springs to mind - but are not noticeably successful elsewhere either.
This doesn’t stop them being incredibly arrogant, but it does stop them knowing anything about the subject they are meant to be administering.
Coupled with how few politicians or special advisers have any sort of link to education other than having had one, and unfortunately that means most education policy is made from a position of ignorance.
Gove and Cummings made this worse. You would be surprised at how many ex Civil Servants now run academy chains. Heck, there’s even one in charge of OFSTED who embarrassed herself by admitting she did not understand the concept of safeguarding. But since at least the time of Mark Carlisle, education has been a shambolic department.
I can remember thinking from the early days under Thatcher that education was not given sufficient priority. You’re right that nothing has fundamentally changed.
Comments
My gut tells me this is temporary, however.
There's a natural cycle at work here. People see case numbers drop and stay low, and they relax their guard. And they see that case numbers still aren't rising, and they assume that everything is OK. The big gap between infection and diagnosis pretty much ensures that there will be "swings" on both the low and the high side.
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/health/coronavirus/greencore-union-carry-out-urgent-thorough-track-and-trace-process-after-300-coronavirus-cases-confirmed-northampton-food-factory-2942196
And if you have several applicants with the same class degree from respectable universities, then you do what you have always done - appoint the one with the shortest mini-skirt - provided of course that the legs justify the shortness.
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/human-2
Young people will bear the brunt of our panicked response to the virus.
Joanna Williams"
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/08/17/we-should-never-have-closed-schools/
Because i do not think it too much to expect that a vaguely competent government (and, frankly, opposition, Scottish Govt, Welsh Executive etc etc) should have seen this coming several months ago and acted to put robust processes in place. Because acting a week or so ago might have headed up the absolute worst of the damage that is now to come as the problems transfer to Universities. But let's not pretend that it would have been an almighty sh*tshow anyway by that time.
There's a reason why we have multiple Government departments and it should be because they should be able to focus on their own specific areas and put in place plans specific to their areas. The DfE and its ministers has failed at every level.
As much as it may suit some agendas this is Ofquals responsibility
Let's see how that goes over.
If we rule out keeping schools open for those taking A levels, and possibly GCSEs, then I would have gone for giving results in a different format to traditional grades, to avoid needing to be fair between different years. So a scale of 1-10 instead of U-A* or maybe just copy the university grading of 3rd, 2:2, 2:1, 1st.
It's a bubble issue.
Johnson has to bear the ultimate responsibility.
Edit: and schools on a declining trend would welcome it.
All a lot of work. But it's not like a lot of people in the education system haven't had a fair bit of time on their hands.
There's lots that could have been done. But no. There was an algorithm.
And even with the use of the algorithm they could have done things differently. Take advantage of time saved by not having to mark millions of exam papers and moderate them all. Run the algorithm earlier. Analyse the results. Discretely give the results to Head teachers many weeks in advance to allow them to challenge results in advance and remove the worst of the anomalies.
It’s not surprising therefore that it has cut through rather less.
That’s not to say those three haven’t made it worse.
The UK has an especially large service economy, an exceptionally high take-up of WFH, and did a very good job of terrifying people and guilt tripping them into not doing anything to burden the health service early in the pandemic. That could be enough to keep a lid on the virus. We just don't know.
Because, frankly, there's plenty of "announcements" appearing in newspapers that then turn out not to be correct and/or are denied subsequently.
You can't subsequently deny an announcement made to Parliament.
BT and Sky having done a deal to show all the football on their platforms must be a bit disappointed none are in the semi finals.
Certainly on of the students on Sky this pm when prompted to seek Williamson's resignation was just happy to have had an apology and that the issue was resolved.
I do not expect a fall in cases.
Indeed Williamson has been on the media himself apologising and are you applying this to Wales where I have not seen or heard from the Welsh First Minister on his about face
You what???
Williamson "hopes BTECs will be Teacher assessed too".
Well why don't you ask you useless piece of Turd? These are BTECs that are now 4 days late in being released...
The fact that they are not really significant compared to the utter shambles that caused them probably struck him as irrelevant.
I would think case numbers are very likely to be stay in a band from around the current level, to maybe 3-5x higher as a worst case, with the volatility coming in what is open rather than case numbers.
When the dust settles I expect he will be replaced
Might it be better for the young, slim and fit to get it?
https://twitter.com/TSEofPB/status/1295276346973851648
I am afraid the elephant in the room at Education is that for forty years it has not attracted talented civil servants. It is seen as a backwater by the powers that be and therefore anyone earmarked for promotion is kept away from it, while anyway being quietly sidelined has been sent there. Sometimes, they force their way out - Wormald springs to mind - but are not noticeably successful elsewhere either.
This doesn’t stop them being incredibly arrogant, but it does stop them knowing anything about the subject they are meant to be administering.
Coupled with how few politicians or special advisers have any sort of link to education other than having had one, and unfortunately that means most education policy is made from a position of ignorance.
Gove and Cummings made this worse. You would be surprised at how many ex Civil Servants now run academy chains. Heck, there’s even one in charge of OFSTED who embarrassed herself by admitting she did not understand the concept of safeguarding. But since at least the time of Mark Carlisle, education has been a shambolic department.
The idea is that herd immunity is reached among the group most able to avoid dying.
The problem with it is that you can't order 35 year olds out, especially those who have to see older people (parents, etc.) for one reason or another. Sweden has therefore ended up with a de facto lockdown, where people aren't going out. This has been economically a big issue - whether you look at PMIs, consumer spending or unemployment, Sweden has performed worse than its neighbours because people still don't feel safe.
That being said, it's clearly better from a liberty perspective. It just sucks if you're 65.
His level of ineptitude makes gavin Williamson look competent,
Man u made into the semis of the Europa league.
Still shit though.
She only learned two years ago she had a step brother and sister on Arran