Andy Burnham has officially confirmed his intentions to write to England’s exams regulator Ofqual to initiate legal action over the “deeply flawed” system for A-Level results in Greater Manchester.
He confirmed his intent to do so on social media this morning.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester said last week that he had met with college leaders from across Greater Manchester on A-Level results day on Thursday and had hearda “consistent account of colleges not receiving the grades that they had submitted for their students and experiencing a significant downgrading of marks compared to previous years”.
He then publicly expressed that this “cannot go unchallenged”.
I have today discussed the A Level situation with colleges in GM.
I am in no doubt: 1000s of our young people have been victims of an unfair & discriminatory system.
His challenging follows the widespread criticism after it was confirmed that 280,000 A-Level results in England – almost 40% of the total – were downgraded from teacher assessments and 42% of A-Level results in Wales predicted by teachers were lowered by the exam watchdog on Thursday.
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The system used to award results took into account institutions’ historic performances.
Separate Ofqual data also went on to reveal that private schools increased the proportion of students being awarded top grades (A*/A) by more than double that of comprehensive schools and sixth form colleges.
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In a statement addressing the system yesterday, a Department for Eduction spokesperson said: “Hundreds of thousands of students have received a calculated grade that will enable them to progress to the next stage of their education or into work. We have been clear that we want to build as much fairness into the appeals as possible to help young people in the most difficult cases and have been working with Ofqual to achieve that.
“Ofqual continues to consider how best to deliver the appeals process to give schools and pupils the clarity they need.”
Responding to the statement via Twitter today, Mr Burnham said: “So it looks like the government ARE digging in and standing by their deeply flawed system. In that case, I will be taking legal advice this morning and have instructed leading Counsel.
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“I expect to be writing to Ofqual later today to initiate action.”
So it looks like the Government ARE digging in and standing by their deeply flawed system.
In that case, I will be taking legal advice this morning and have instructed leading Counsel. I expect to be writing to @ofqual later today to initiate action. https://t.co/PJp3PW9Hyi
The confirmation of Mr Burnham’s intent to take legal action comes after his official statement and his live appearance discussing matters on BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning.
He declared the situation as “the single biggest act of levelling down that this country has ever seen”.
“Given that a higher proportion of students from Greater Manchester attend such institutions than in other parts of the country, I am concerned that the marking system has been unfairly discriminatory against young people here, in part due to the institutions they attend,” he added.
“This seems to be backed up by the official Ofqual figures that indicate that the North West has been the region most affected, reflecting the higher number of large educational institutions in our area.”
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“As mayor, I cannot hear stories of young people in Greater Manchester having their futures so unfairly damaged without taking a stand on their behalf.”
Yes, I am furious and I don’t mind admitting it. I cannot bear to see young people from working class backgrounds shafted on an industrial scale by an elitist education system more concerned with grade inflation than fairness and social mobility. #LevellingDownhttps://t.co/XoXAKCqKSm
Mr Burnham said he will look to challenge the algorithm used by the government in the courts for a potential breach of the Equality Act 2010.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt, he said: “One of our most successful inner-city sixth form colleges had 1,654 results downgraded and then we hear some private schools have had no downgrades at all.
“The system is straightforwardly discriminatory against larger institutions, against students who go to those sixth form colleges, or FE colleges. The weighting has been applied against those institutions and not against some of the smaller institutions. For that reason I just think this cannot go unchallenged and I am considering taking legal action and looking at all options as to how we might do that.
“It just can’t be allowed to stand.
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“The government’s remedy of saying the appeals can be free [but] I am afraid that doesn’t help young people who have lost their university place.
“This is not just a few young people, this is thousands of young people in Greater Manchester.
“Here, we have a tradition of young people going to sixth form colleges. We have more sixth form colleges than other parts of the country so this has hit us very, very hard indeed and I cannot stand by and see thousands of lives ruined across Greater Manchester.”
Ofqual has stated that there was no evidence “bias” had been introduced into the moderation system set up following the cancellation of exams due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
On Sunday, hundreds of students held a demonstration in central London to protest against grades they believe were unfairly awarded.
Similar demonstrations are expected to take place in Manchester city centre this weekend.
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A Manchester-based runner has broken an ultramarathon record by running across the desert
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has a growing obsession with running and endurance events, in particular, did you hear about a locally based runner who’s set the record for legging it across a literal desert?
That’s some ‘Hardest Geezer’ stuff right there.
Yes, whether it’s the likes of the Great MCR Run and October Half, the fully fledged Manchester Marathon, or dare we say it, an extra hard ultra, the region seems to be absolutely chock-full of runners and events these days.
That being said, despite being inspired by countless individuals over the past few years, the feat that has impressed us most this year is the incredible achievement by one man: Alex Welch from Wilmslow.
We’re pretty sure this is the bloke The Pretenders must have been talking about.
Based right here in 0161, by day Alex Welch is employed as a senior cyber security sales specialist at a major European IT services company, SCC, over in Stretford.
However, by both day and night for a full working week late last month, the 29-year-old swapped his computers for a very sturdy pair of running trainers; trail shoes, to be specific, as he trekked across the Namib Desert in Africa.
Stretching more than 2,000 kilometres in total, spanning the reaches of Angola, Namibia and parts of South Africa, the talented distance runner ran approximately 12.5% of that entire landmass over the course of five days.
Broken up into five stages – 50km, 50k, 42k and 22k, as well as a truly brutal 92k day to finish – not only did the indefinable Cheshire-born bloke reach the finish line, but he did so in record time.
Let’s be honest, anyone challenging themselves with the course is clearly an absolute machine, but as seen above and now fully verified, Alex here did so in 24 hours and 27 minutes.
Taking just over a day to complete the entire thing, Alex led every beating everyone else in every single stage and ended up surpassing legendary American ultra runner and now race director Adam Kimble’s time from 2018 by almost 40 whole minutes. Utterly staggering stuff.
Signing up as an official OOSH-sponsored athlete for the event, having only just podiumed at the Ice Ultra round the Arctic Circle back in February, AND the Mountain Ultra across Kyrgyzstan this past June, he’s quite literally ‘endured blistering cold and scorching desert’ (one for Shrek 2 fans, there).
Commenting on the unbelievable achievement, the local lad said: “Namibia was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The heat was on another level, and every stage demanded absolute focus. To come away with the win – and a course record – is overwhelming.
“After the Arctic and Kyrgyzstan, this was the challenge I had been building towards all season. I’m grateful for everyone who has supported me, particularly my colleagues at SCC who have backed me every step of the way.”
Well done, Alex – we’re off to have a lie down because we’re tired just thinking about what you’ve just done, so hope you’ve at least got a few weeks of relaxation and victory pints lined up. That’s how we toasted our taste of an ultra, anyway…
8 million Brits are predicted to write their Christmas cards using AI this year, new research finds
Emily Sergeant
Millions of Brits are predicted to use AI to help them write their Christmas cards this year.
According to some new Royal Mail research, AI is most likely to be used for researching gifts (19%), festive party ideas (13%), and decoration inspiration (13%) throughout this festive season, but in what is a revelation many will find surprising – and even alarming – it’ll even be used for the timeless tradition of sending Christmas cards.
2,000 UK adults who celebrate Christmas were surveyed by the postal service early last month on how they plan to make use of technology this festive season.
The new research found that 11% of respondents will be using AI to help write the messages for their Christmas cards, which works out to be around eight million people.
It’s the under-55s who are driving the trend, as you can probably imagine – with 57% of this age group planning to lean on AI for guidance, compared to just 14% of those over 55.
Oh, and you’ll want to keep an extra eye on the Christmas cards that come from the men in your life too, as men are 67% more likely than women to use AI to help them.
Eight million Brits are predicted to write their Christmas cards using AI this year / Credit: KoolShooters
Although it may be largely frowned upon, it’s fairly easy to see why people are turning to tech to find the right words, as the Royal Mail’s research found that nearly one in five (19%) Brits say they don’t know what to write in cards, and this figure rises even further to 31% when it comes to 18-24-year-olds.
Despite the use of AI as a helping hand, three quarters of Brits (74%) do still think it’s important to keep the tradition of sending handwritten Christmas cards alive.
“AI is becoming part of everyday life for many people,” says technology journalist and broadcaster, Georgie Barrat. “So it’s natural we’ll see it used during the festive season. When it comes to writing cards, it can help you go beyond a simple ‘Merry Christmas’ and choose words that feel more unique.
“Often, people know what they want to say – they just need a little help expressing it.”
Richard Travers, who is the Managing Director of Letters at Royal Mail, concluded: “No matter what you include in your card, or how you choose to write your message, cards are truly a way of spreading festive cheer.”
The Manc -
17th August 2020 
