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The inhumanity of Ofqual's algorithm

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 To everyone's relief, the Government eventually caved in over the awarding of grades to A/AS level and GCSE students who had not been able to take their exams. The algorithm that awarded aspiring young people grades they did not expect and did not deserve was discarded in favour of grades set by their schools and colleges. But only if the grades awarded were too low. Those to whom the algorithm awarded over-high grades got to keep them. As a result, the "rampant grade inflation" that the Education Secretary was so desperate to prevent is now even worse than it would be if only the centre-assessed grades were used. What a mess.  But it is not the current mess that bothers me, bad though it is. Nor even the mess there will probably be next year, when universities are faced with cramming next year's cohort into intakes already partially filled by deferrals from this year. No, it is what this algorithm tells us about the way officials at the Department of Education, OfQu