There was no doubt that our government’s plan to synthesise teachers’ predicted A-level grades – by making adjustments predicated on the history of exam results in individual schools and colleges – was going to backfire. Coupled with the mess concerning BTEC results – which have had to be delayed – it does make us question how fit the government is to be in charge of education.

The algorithm the government and Ofqual chose was – according to them – the best one out of the 12 that were considered. Despite the reassurances about fairness, the fiasco has led some people to make the charge of elitism and incompetence – that the government are inept; that they favour rich private schools over state schools; that they’re treating students like statistical entities not as individuals; and that they’re deliberately negating teachers’ professionalism.

The government does appear to be continuing its decades-long battle with teachers in designing the type of education they want for future generations and the mechanisms to measure its quality. To some people in government, it’s about making a mark.

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Attitudes to class and privilege

Gavin Williamson is in a long list of recent education ministers such as Michael Gove, Nicky Morgan, Justine Greening and Nick Gibb who have attempted to redefine education. They have battled with schools unnecessarily while they themselves seem to lack vision and intellectual authority to cement a new model of teaching, learning and assessment.

But power dynamics are bound to be at play as education is a nationally funded project. Schools are expected to be accountable to the government even if the latter has failed to deliver and their leadership is considered as average.

Yet, what is particularly interesting is what the crisis says about British meritocracy, the socially and economically disadvantaged, and our attitude to class and privilege.

How often do teachers sell a narrative about hard work, success and achievement? How many times do they tell students that we’re operating on a level playing field, that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what your social or cultural background is – that what matters is your ability, your own drive and determination to do well. And how many of us actually believe this, that it’s all about perseverance and effort?

In our heart of hearts, we know that class and privilege play important roles in our society. Why else would people spend thousands of pounds on private education? Or why else would they do all they can to get their children into select grammar schools? They know that to be successful, it helps to be from an upper-middle-class background, people who have an allegiance to a private-school tie or have what they call "polish" – the right accent, the mannerisms, style, affiliation with the right clubs, etc? In our democracy, we are free to pay for social/cultural privilege which, in a way, makes a mockery of the idea of egalitarianism.  

We live and navigate our way in a sea of hypocrisy.

'The social bias is startlingly prevalent'

Our government’s chosen algorithm, which downgraded 42 per cent of predicted grades of some 250,000 A-level students while leaving private schools’ grades relatively untampered with, speaks volumes about wealth and entitlement. It says that schools from economically challenged postcodes can’t be trusted. But our acceptance of such disparity also indicates the degree of reverence and respect we have for people with money and cultural capital, the class of people who can get into Oxford and Cambridge if not by grades then by influence.

Just think how difficult it was for working-class students some 30 to 40 years ago to get even an interview at one of the redbrick universities, let alone Oxbridge. Even today, that difficulty exists. Recruitment of students into prestigious universities is still disproportionate, in favour of middle-class pupils from private schools. Prejudice against the working class – especially black and minority-ethnic communities – is still rampant. Despite our government introducing value-added to accompany results for organisations like Ofsted, the social bias is startlingly prevalent.

Why else would Ofqual – in cahoots with a Conservative government – design an algorithm which is clearly inequitable, and which goes against the spirit of social mobility? Why else would a government cause undue stress and anxiety to pupils from underprivileged backgrounds, who – in some instances – are part of the first generation in their families to go to university? Why on earth has our government alienated teachers and their pupils?

The simple answer is that all governments have been suspicious and distrustful of teachers and education management. Boris Johnson and his team believe that schools are likely to take advantage of our current situation by being overly generous with their predicted grades. This, in their view, would have led to grade inflation and so it was important that Ofqual kept schools in check.

Coupled with our government’s desire to curtail teachers’ autonomy – along with their disdain towards teaching unions – you can see why they have pushed for this rather questionable and hurriedly thought-out algorithm.

The ongoing class wars

It’s convenient for our politicians – and indeed some sections of the media – to ignore that most teachers love their subject and want to inspire young people by the way they teach. Most teachers are professional: they exercise diligence and courtesy; they are punctilious, rigorous and show deference to marking standards; and they genuinely care about their pupils, their progress and their exam performance.

Every week, I come across people who believe – and will even argue vehemently – that teachers are lazy, that they are left-wing troublemakers, that they have too many holidays, that they have an easy life, that they don’t care about our young people’s education, etc. The reality, of course, is very different.

What last week’s blunder has brought home is that there are class wars going on, and many of us of a certain age know that they’ve been going on for a while. The very same people whose parents can buy private education, can buy peerages and places on company and corporate boards. It’s about entitlement, and Gavin Williamson is no exception.

Under Theresa May’s administration, he was criticised for being an ineffective and ineffectual defence minister who had little to no knowledge of the armed forces. 

Yet, today he is in charge of education and running it in an arrogant, shambolic way while refusing to accept any culpability for this and last week’s mess. In taking such a stance, he’s letting down a generation of pupils who will never forget. In some ways, I can’t help thinking that it’s people like Williamson who are maintaining an opposition against social mobility and access. They’re flaunting class and privilege and treating working-class people as if they’re scum who should know their place. And that will always remain unforgivable.

Roshan Doug is an educational consultant based in Birmingham