Teachers are predicting a battle with parents over GCSE and A Level grades

Students may not be happy with their grades

The Department for Education (DfE) has issued guidance stating grades must be in line with "the expected national outcomes for this year’s students; the prior attainment of students at each school and college; and the results of the school or college in recent years".

Perhaps surprisingly, research by University College Union shows that pupils from a wealthy background are more likely to have their grades underpredicted than disadvantaged students.

Michael Gosling, chief executive of Trinity Multi-Academy Trust, said at Trinity Academy Halifax, grades go through multiple stages before being fixed, including being signed off by two teachers and the head to ensure they are as accurate as possible.

He said: “We have also communicated both our process and the DfE guidance to parents at each update so we hope that students and parents will be able to see that we have endeavoured to be as fair as possible in this unusual process.”

He said the system should not put additional pressure on teachers.

However, one teacher at an independent school in West Yorkshire said she was concerned that predicting students’ grades will bring teachers into conflict with parents.

“When students have coursework and exams their grades are fairly clear cut. A lot of parents are quite involved in their children’s education, which generally is a very good thing, but I’m predicting that, where parents think their children's grades are wrong, this could make things very difficult for teachers,” she said.

Whitby schoolgirl Molly Shewan, who has just finished her GCSEs, is one of those students who is worried that her grades will not be as good as she is anticipating.

“I feel I could do so much more than my predicted grades,” she said.

Ms Shewan wants to go into forensic science, a very competitive field, and is hoping to get mostly 6s and 7s - the equivalent of As and Bs - but anticipates that she may not get these grades.

“In our mocks we were told not to worry as they don’t mean anything but now it’s what our final grade is going off, which is scary.

“If I don’t get the grades I’m hoping for, I’ll be very disappointed as 10 years of work has built up to these.”