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Way back in March 2022, prominent figures in the UK academic sector pushed back against the UK government’s proposed changes to the student loan structure. Citing that under the new system, students with dyslexia and other neurodiversities and learning differences will face harder barriers to overcome than ever before as they apply to university, many spoke about the idea that these changes would have a huge impact on the intakes we see in the UK tertiary sector and make them less diverse even as we move towards greater accessibility and inclusivity in our educational futures.
The changes are part of the government’s response to the Augar Review, a report on post-18 education and funding in England that was ordered by then Prime Minister Theresa May. The eligibility changes are part of a package that also alters loan repayment conditions- there have been changes proposed to minimum earning thresholds that commentators believe could see graduates on lower-middle earnings suffering a large proportionate loss compared to their higher-earning peers.
The new student loan results and eligibility system would see any students achieving under a Grade 4 in GCSE mathematics and English barred from securing a higher education loan to attend a UK university. Many charities and advocates have spoken out against the measure, citing that the new system will impact disproportionately on students with neurodiversities and SEND, as well as having a pronounced and long-term negative impact on the life chances of students in these groups too.
Dragon’s Den star and Chancellor of Solent University, Theo Paphitis, has spoken at length about his own experiences with dyslexia and literacy differences, and has commented that the changes are unfounded – branding them ‘frankly ridiculous’.
“Taking those with dyslexia as an example, they might not do so well in their exams on the day – I know I didn’t – and this immediately, and unfairly, puts them at a financial disadvantage to their fellow students.
“Everyone should be given the opportunity to discover what they are passionate about, and in some cases attending higher education is one of the best ways to do this. The world is rapidly changing, and it’s time that the UK’s education system caught up and removed barriers, rather than putting more up for those who already may not be on a level playing field to others. Education isn’t one-track – there are different paths for all. To discriminate against giving a loan, which is to be repaid, and to potentially harm the future of a student with special needs, such as dyslexia, in this present world, is beyond the imagination of anyone with any knowledge of education and skills for the future.”
The move has also seen significant criticism from prominent individuals with dyslexia in the cultural sector. Benjamin Zephaniah- Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University and an internationally recognised writer and poet- has spoken out against the changes in The Observer, citing that the government should find a ‘more open-minded, more accessible’ approach to eligibility for a student loan.
“I’m a professor at Brunel University, and I oversee a whole department of creative writing,” he commented. “I tend to start my term looking at my students and saying to them: ‘On paper, you’re all more educated than me’. I had a completely different life journey from all of my students. Some of it was luck, but a lot of it was just passion for a language I was dyslexic in.
“In school, I was a failure. Now they study my books to pass exams. We have to be a bit more creative and open-minded about the way we get students into university. I’m a huge fan of apprenticeships. But in many things, you can’t have a one-size-fits-all approach. Not everybody should go to university, but not everybody who fails their GCSEs shouldn’t go to university.”
But what has this got to do with GCSE Exam Results 2022?
Grades have dropped since teacher-assessed grading in 2021 - but we expected that.
England’s exams regulator, Ofqual, has termed 2022 a ‘transition year’, with grades being bought down from the highs of the previous two exam seasons which saw teacher-assessed grades form the basis of most student assessment. It’s a move they say is designed to bring grading back in line with pre-pandemic frameworks and ensure an accurate representation of skill in terms of the grades that students receive. Some commentators have suggested that this will lead to a surge in grade appeals from students who haven’t quite made the grades that they need to progress onto the next stage of their educational careers, but the true extent of this isn’t evident yet from the data we have.
Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 73.2% of grades were marked at Grade 4. That’s down from 77.1% last year, when grades were decided by class educators. It’s worth nothing that whilst a slip, 2022’s percentage is still significantly higher than the one we saw in 2019, the last year in which standard in-hall exams were sat, when it was 67.3%.
Looking at the top of the chart for a moment, the proportion of top grades- Grade 7 and above comes in at just over a quarter, 26.3%. Like we can see with the Grade 4 data, it’s still significantly lower than last year (28.9%), but higher than the 20.8% we saw in 2019.
But the slip in the Grade 4 pass rate we’ve seen last week has some fairly important consequences for both learners and those who work in the education sector: in most cases, learners need to achieve a Grade 4 in order to progress onto their chosen A-Level, apprenticeship or T-Level courses. Failing to achieve these means that there is likely to be a surge in the amount of learners who wish to take a resit. As a lot of colleges offer the opportunity to resit a GCSE in-house, it’s likely to put a strain on their internal systems for staffing and budgeting - but it goes deeper, too.
These Grade 4 passes could also have a large impact on learning at a tertiary level. Under a system where students need to achieve at least Grade 4 minimum in Maths and English to progress into college, not getting these passes and forging a pathway into Further Education can create a barrier between learners who struggle with reading and their chosen Higher Education courses and careers. It could also impact them financially. Course fees for most tertiary educational structures that offer degrees in the UK are riding higher than ever before – so without that student loan eligibility, even the learners who don't achieve a Grade 4 and find an alternative way to get into university will find themselves fully responsible for the three years of undergraduate course fees, living and accommodation expenses and study materials that a university course entails.
This means that learners below a Grade 4 pass from lower-income backgrounds won't be able to access university as readily as those below a Grade 4 pass at a higher-income background might. And if a disproportionate amount of these below Grade 4 learners may have dyslexia as Zephaniah and Paphitis predict, that not only means we could end up with less students with dyslexia at university full stop, but we also have the potential to put students who have dyslexia and come from low-income households at a disadvantage, creating a large barrier between them and a university education.
There's no confirmation as to the new Grade 4 eligibility student loan system as of yet, and many in education have outlined that there need to be changes made to it as a proposed system in order to ensure that it's a fair funding landscape for all. We'll bring you more as it happens, and to anybody who did receive their GCSE results last week- a huge, huge well done from all of us here at SWD.
