Babak Belurs

Senin, 10 Agustus 2020

Universities told to keep places open for A-level appeals - BBC News

Universities in England are being told to keep places open for students if they appeal against A-level results.

Amid uncertainty about replacement exam grades, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan has urged university heads to be as "flexible as possible".

It means if students miss the required grades but successfully appeal, they could still start next term.

"Nobody should have to put their future on hold because of the virus," said Ms Donelan.

With A-levels cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, students will receive estimated results on Thursday, which will be used to decide university places.

But if students get disappointing results that they think are unfair, universities are being told to leave the door open for places until appeals have been considered by exam boards.

Appeals, which have to be submitted through schools, should be completed by 7 September, allowing students who get improved grades to take up places this autumn.

The biggest factors determining the replacement exam grades will be how students are ranked in ability and the previous exam results of their school or college.

As the row over Scottish exam results has shown, this can mean that high-achieving youngsters in schools with poor results can be marked down.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon apologised on Monday after accepting her government "did not get it right" over exam results.

Education Secretary John Swinney will set out the Scottish government's plan to fix the issue later.

Ms Donelan said she recognised the need for universities to be fair towards "students who are highly talented in schools or colleges that have not in the past had strong results".

She said the "vast majority of grades" were expected to be accurate, but added it was "essential" to have the appeals "safety net" for "young people who may otherwise be held back from moving on to their chosen route".

Calling on universities to show "flexibility" in admissions decisions, she called on them to hold the places of students whose "grade may change as the result of an appeal".

But despite these concerns - and the change of heart in Scotland - there are no signs of any change in using a similar approach to moderating results in England.

This is still expected to be a good year for applicants, with an expected reduction in overseas students meaning that universities will have more places to fill.

The exam regulator Ofqual has already said there will be a more lenient approach to grades this year, with a two-percentage-points increase expected in top grades at A-level.

But results will not be as generous as teachers' predictions, which would have pushed up results by 12 percentage points - with these predictions able to be shared with pupils after the results are published.

The results to be issued this week are designed to maintain continuity with previous years, but there have been concerns about whether individual students could be treated unfairly.

A survey of 500 A-level students in England, carried out by the University of Birmingham and the University of Nottingham, suggested almost twice as many students would have preferred to have taken their exams, rather than rely on estimated grades.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson defended the system for calculating grades this year as "fundamentally a fair one".

"We know that, without exams, even the best system is not perfect," he said.

"That is why I welcome the fact that Ofqual has introduced a robust appeal system, so every single student can be treated fairly - and today we are asking universities to do their part to ensure every young person can progress to the destination they deserve."

But Larissa Kennedy, president of the National Union of Students, said there was "absolutely no merit" in looking at schools' prior overall performance to judge students' results this year, criticising it as "baking inequality into the system".

She told BBC Newsnight: "They're just trying to fit students' attainment against a prior year, which means you're just assuming and reproducing the fact that students from low socio-economic backgrounds are - as this system would say - due to get lower grades."

She described the algorithm being used to determine grades as a "lazy move", leading to "individuals being let down by an unjust system", which she said was "completely wrong".

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2020-08-11 01:32:02Z
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UK migrant crisis: Priti Patel's ultimatum to French officials - Daily Mail

Help us blockade the Channel: Priti Patel issues ultimatum to French officials and threatens to withhold cash if they refuse to help UK battle migrant crisis

Home Secretary Priti Patel puts pressure on French officials over migrant crisis
UK to set out how it hopes migrant boats can be barred from crossing the strait
Royal Navy vessels and Border Force boats to be used to block migrant boat path
French patrol ships will be expected to take part in returning migrants to France

By David Barrett and Larisa Brown for the Daily Mail

Published: 22:00 BST, 10 August 2020 | Updated: 22:19 BST, 10 August 2020

Priti Patel will today demand French co-operation in a massive new ‘blockade’ of the Channel to crack down on the migrant crisis.

The Home Secretary will refuse to hand over any more taxpayers’ money to fund operations on French soil unless Emmanuel Macron’s government steps up action on illegal crossings.

The French will also be expected to accept deportations of larger numbers of migrants who cross illegally, as well as failed asylum seekers, as part of a potential £30million deal.

The tide is high: One of the men uses a tub to empty water. The UK will also urge the French to fingerprint migrants in the Calais camps

In proposals being outlined at a summit in Paris with Home Office minister Chris Philp this morning, it is understood the UK will set out how it hopes migrant boats can be barred from crossing the strait.

Royal Navy vessels and Border Force patrol boats will be used to block their path, even deploying nets to entangle propellers and floating ‘booms’, it is understood.

French patrol boats, which currently ‘escort’ migrant boats across the Channel, will be expected to take part in the operation to return the small ships to French beaches, officials said.

In a further demand, more migrants who reach British shores should be sent straight back to France.

Priti Patel will today demand French co-operation in a massive new ‘blockade’ of the Channel to crack down on the migrant crisis. She is pictured on a visit to Dover

However, it is understood the proposed deal will not set a target for the number of deportations.

The UK will also urge the French to fingerprint migrants in the Calais camps.

Migrants’ ‘biometrics’ will then be uploaded to an existing EU database, known as EURODAC, so that anyone who later claims asylum in the UK can be returned under EU rules.

In the last five years the UK has given France £114million to fund operations against illegal migrants and people traffickers. But numbers are spiralling, with more than 4,300 arriving so far this year compared to 1,850 in all of 2019.

Yesterday British military assets were deployed for the first time to tackle the flow of small boats, with an RAF aircraft carrying out a surveillance flight. Miss Patel also boarded a police launch from Dover to witness operations.

‘The number of illegal small boat crossings we have seen recently is totally unacceptable,’ she said.

‘Our operational partners are dealing with complex challenges associated with them and collectively with the French we need to make this route unviable.

‘Across Government we are absolutely committed to shutting down this route and we will bring down the criminal gangs that facilitate these illegal crossings.’

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has told military chiefs to ‘leave no stone unturned’. As an ‘initial offer of support’, an RAF Airbus A400M Atlas was sent to monitor the coast.

The Home Office has appointed a former Royal Marine to head up operations. Dan O’Mahoney accompanied Miss Patel on her patrol yesterday.

The PM’s official spokesman said: ‘We are currently bound by the [EU’s] Dublin Regulations for returns and they are inflexible and rigid – for example, there is a time limit placed on returns, it’s something which can be abused by both migrants and their lawyers to frustrate the returns of those who have no right to be here.

‘At the end of this year we will no longer be bound by the EU’s laws so can negotiate our own returns agreement.’

It came as a group of 23 Conservative politicians called for tougher action, urging ministers to do ‘whatever it takes’.

Prepare to board: The crew of the Border Force cutter secure the rubber dinghy mid-Channel. In the last five years the UK has given France £114million to fund operations against illegal migrants and people traffickers

But French politicians questioned the feasibility of any plan which would involve Royal Navy vessels turning back migrants.

MP for Calais, Pierre-Henri Dumont told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We are already trying to do whatever we can, but if you’ve got dozens of crossings a day, that’s very difficult for us to stop a boat. It only takes five minutes to have a small boat at sea full with migrants, with a coast of 300km to monitor.’ Asked about the Royal Navy getting involved, he said: ‘Technically speaking that won’t change anything.’

Yesterday an inflatable dinghy carrying around 20 Syrians was met by Border Force patrol boat Hunter at about 7.15am with the White Cliffs of Dover in sight.

It means more than 730 have arrived so far in August, including a daily record of 235 last Thursday. Miss Patel vowed last year that crossings would become an ‘infrequent phenomenon’ by now.

How one tiny dinghy made it all way to UK

Crowded together in a dinghy just inches above the waves, they are the latest of thousands of migrants to make the perilous crossing from northern France this year.

The small rubber vessel sat low in the water as it carried its 20 or so desperate passengers, all wearing orange lifejackets.

It was powered across the narrow Dover Strait by a single outboard engine after the migrants had set off early in the morning from the French coastline.

We’re over here! The young passengers aboard the crowded dinghy smile with relief after being spotted

Sea spray showered them at every buffeting turn, and one man repeatedly bailed out water using a plastic container in an attempt to keep the packed boat afloat.

Eventually they were seen by a UK Border Force cutter, HMC Hunter, about halfway out across the world’s busiest sea route.

When asked where they were from, the migrants shouted back to the cutter’s crew that they were from war-ravaged Syria and heading for Dover.

They were picked up and brought back to Britain, wearing face masks they had been given to protect them and their rescuers from coronavirus.

Boris could toughen up laws on seeking asylum

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent for the Daily Mail

Boris Johnson signalled his support for major reform of the asylum system yesterday.

Boris Johnson signalled his support for major reform of the asylum system yesterday. He called for a fresh look at laws which make it ‘very, very difficult’ to return migrants who have come to Britain ‘blatantly illegally’

He called for a fresh look at laws which make it ‘very, very difficult’ to return migrants who have come to Britain ‘blatantly illegally’.

Escalating his rhetoric, he described the migrants’ Channel crossings as a ‘very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do’.

It comes after the Mail revealed in May that Home Secretary Priti Patel wanted to see new laws which would streamline the asylum process.

Under the proposed changes, failed asylum seekers would be required to lodge all their arguments at the beginning of an appeal.

The move would stop them delaying their deportation by making a series of claims in the courts under different elements of human rights laws.

At present, it is thought only around 1 in 40 of the migrants who come to Britain illegally are being sent back.

The PM’s backing means such legislation is now highly likely to go ahead.

Mr Johnson said: ‘Be in no doubt what’s going on is the activity of cruel and criminal gangs who are risking the lives of these people taking them across the Channel, a pretty dangerous stretch of water in potentially unseaworthy vessels.

‘We want to stop that working with the French, make sure that they understand that this isn’t a good idea, this is a very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do. But then there’s a second thing we’ve got to do and that is to look at the legal framework that we have that means that when people do get here, it is very, very difficult to then send them away again even though blatantly they’ve come here illegally.’

Mission accomplished: Wrapped in towels and wearing covid face masks, they arrive in the UK

He added: ‘We’ve got a problem which is that there are people who want to come from around the world to this country because obviously it’s a great place to be. There’s no doubt that it would be helpful if we could work with our French friends to stop them getting over the Channel.’

Lisa Doyle, of the Refugee Council, said last night: ‘It’s incredibly disappointing to hear the Prime Minister using such inaccurate and inflammatory language to describe men, women and children who are desperate enough to make perilous journeys across the busiest shipping channel in the world. Seeking asylum is not a crime and it is legitimate that people have to cross borders to do so.’

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2020-08-10 21:00:06Z
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Pupil who led SQA exam protest says Nicola Sturgeon must now sort out mess after her apology - Daily Record

A schoolgirl who led the campaign against the SQA results scandal says Nicola Sturgeon's apology will only mean anything when young people get the grades they deserve.

Erin Bleakley, 17, said the First Minister’s apology was “nice to hear” but now her words must be followed with solutions.

Speaking at Monday's coronavirus press briefing, Sturgeon said her government “did not get this right” following a week of outrage over the way marks were decided by the SQA exam board.

She said: “Our concern, which was to ensure the grades pupils got were as valid as the ones they would have received in any other year, perhaps led us to think too much about the overall system, and not enough about individual pupils.

“That has meant too many students have felt they have lost out on grades they should have had.

“Despite our best intentions, I do acknowledge we did not get this right, and I am sorry for that.”

We previously told how Erin, of St Andrew’s High School in Carntyne near Glasgow, organised a rally in the city’s George Square.

Anger erupted after the SQA’s downgrading system left thousands with marks lower than those submitted by their teachers.

Those from schools in less affluent areas were found to be disproportionately affected by the system as the historical performance of individual schools was used as one of the main criterias for deciding grades.

Erin spoke at the protest and called for young people to be judged by their work “not their postcode”.

Pupils with protest signs during the demo in George Square (Image: Ross Turpie/Daily Record)

After hearing the First Minister’s announcement, she told the Daily Record: “Nicola Sturgeon’s response was nice to hear, they admitted that there was a fault in the system but now it’s a case of following through with this and seeing how effective they will be in fixing the fault.”

Sturgeon has added that the government “will not expect every student who has been downgraded to appeal.”

Erin criticised the appeals process but said if things are sorted correctly young people would be relieved.

She said: “It's shocking to think we would have had to wait that long to fix something that wasn't our fault in the first place.

“I feel if it is sorted in the correct manner it will be perfect for young people.”

Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to Scots pupils over the exam fiasco

Erin would have been affected by the appeal process, after she was downgraded to a D for Maths and Chemistry

She said: “I'm going into S6 and it's going to be really hard for me to try to take Advanced Higher Chemistry when I don't even know if my appeal for higher has been accepted.”

Pupils had called for marks to be reverted back to those initially predicted by teachers on the basis of coursework, class performance and prelim results.

The controversy began after the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of exams in all schools, with teachers asked to assess the grades to be awarded to their pupils.

But the Higher pass rate for pupils from more deprived backgrounds was reduced by 15.2 per cent from estimates after the exam board’s moderation.

Conversely the pass rate for pupils from the wealthiest backgrounds dropped by just 6.9 per cent.

Erin said pupils will be listening closely to announcements made by education secretary John Swinney on Tuesday.

She said: “It is hard to say at this moment how positive we feel about the future as nothing has been followed through as of yet.”

Reflecting on the success of the protests and the subsequent response from those in the highest levels of Government, Erin said: “I feel ecstatic about how I have helped play a part in the changing of this situation and hope it teaches younger people that anything is possible and standing up for what you believe in, even though it may be daunting, could help in the changing of the future.”

She added: “I am so thankful for everyone who helped and supported this cause and that the cause that brought us together helped in the process of fixing what was wrongfully done.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon apologises to pupils over controversial exam results - Sky News

Scotland's first minister has apologised to pupils affected by the controversial downgrading of exam results.

"Despite our best intentions, I do acknowledge we did not get this right and I'm sorry for that," Nicola Sturgeon said.

Pupils in the most deprived areas of Scotland had their exam pass rate downgraded by more than twice that of students from the wealthiest parts of the country.

'Deep concerns' as pass rate cut hits poorest pupils hardest

Exams for nationals, highers and advanced higher courses were scrapped this year due to the coronavirus lockdown, with teachers instead submitting estimated grades based on students' previous results, predicted attainment and evidence of their past work.

The grades were then looked at by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which has moderated 26.2% of them, while leaving the rest unchanged.

Of those grades that were moderated, 93.1% were downgraded, affecting 124,564 pupils.

The pass rate of pupils in the most deprived data zones was reduced by 15.2% from teacher estimates after the exam board's moderation.

In contrast, the pass rate for pupils from the most affluent backgrounds dropped by 6.9%.

The first minister said: "We will be taking steps to ensure that every young person gets a grade that recognises the work they have done.

"Our concern - which was to make sure that the grades young people got were as valid as those they would have got in any other year - perhaps led us to think too much about the overall system and not enough about the individual pupil.

"That has meant that too many have lost out on grades that they think they should have had and also that that has happened as a result of not of anything they've done but because of a statistical model or an algorithm, and in addition that burden has not fallen equally across our society."

She added: "Despite our best intentions, I do acknowledge we did not get this right and I'm sorry for that.

"The most immediate challenge is to resolve the grades awarded to pupils this year.

"We will not expect every student who has been downgraded to appeal."

Ms Sturgeon said Education Secretary John Swinney would set out a plan to deal with the controversy in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

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Opposition parties have been calling for the education secretary's resignation, with Scottish Labour poised to mount a no-confidence vote against him in Holyrood - something the Conservatives have said they will support.

Ms Sturgeon reiterated her support for her deputy, saying: "When we get things wrong, I want to be able to stand here and acknowledge that and put it right, because I think fundamentally that's better than simply digging our heels in and trying to defend a position we think in our hearts we didn't get right.

"That's the approach I will take, it's the approach the deputy first minister is going to take and I hope that's the one that young people affected and their families will see as the right approach to take."

The first minister said she "absolved" the qualifications authority of responsibility for the controversy, because it developed the system at the behest of ministers.

She said: "Ministers asked the SQA to apply an approach that delivered a set of results that are comparable in terms of quality to last year's.

"This is a view that ministers are taking now that it didn't take enough account of the individual circumstances."

'I thought I was going to get an A - but I got a D, this is not fair'

Ruaridh Hall, 17, from Edinburgh, had the result in his best subject downgraded by two marks and was given a B in a subject he was predicted to fail in.

He told Sky News: "We did prelims in January and for my design and manufacture I got a B, then last week I got predicted a D.

"How does that make sense?

"I thought I'd get an A, that was the one I thought I'd get an A in and I got a D - that's disgraceful.

"Apparently my school thought I'd get a B, which is fair enough, but SQA gave me a D - doesn't seem very fair.

"I want Nicola Sturgeon to fix it, if I can get even what the school predicted me I'd be happy with that, but a D?

"That's terrible.

"It's crazy because in my English I was predicted a fail and I got a B, so how is this a fair system?

"If the government says they're going to fix this for some students and not others then that's unfair, how is that just?

"I think if anybody gets their grades changed back to what the school said then I should, otherwise I will not be happy."

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2020-08-10 16:52:30Z
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Boris Johnson considers law change amid rising migrant crossings - BBC News

The UK needs to consider changes to asylum laws to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel, Boris Johnson has said.

The prime minister said it was currently "very, very difficult" to legally return people who arrive in the UK from France using small boats.

More than 4,000 people have successfully crossed English Channel this way so far this year.

It comes as a group of Tory MPs has called for tougher action on crossings.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Johnson pledged to work with the French authorities to discourage people from making the "dangerous" journey across the channel.

But he added the UK also needed to look at "the panoply of laws that an illegal immigrant has at his or her disposal that allow them to stay here".

'Range of options'

On Monday, the Ministry of Defence said it had sent an RAF Atlas transport aircraft to help Border Force spot small boats trying to cross the Channel.

The Home Office had asked defence chiefs for help to make crossings in small boats "unviable".

Downing Street said Border Force was looking at a "range of options," including new measures, to stop boats entering British waters.

EU Laws

The UK is currently following EU asylum law during its 11-month post-Brexit transition period following its departure from the bloc in January.

This includes the so-called Dublin regulation, which states that a person's asylum claim can be transferred to the first member state they entered.

The PM's spokesman said the UK wanted to replace the "inflexible and rigid" regulation with a new agreement on returns after December.

He added that the current Dublin rules, which put a time limit on transfers, could be "abused by both migrants and their lawyers to frustrate the returns of those who have no right to be here".

In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, 23 Tory MPs and two peers said the UK should refuse to sign up to a "similar agreement" to Dublin after December.

They also urged "stronger enforcement efforts" to address a "surge in illegal immigration".

The group says ministers should do "whatever it takes" to address the rising number of people trying to enter the UK via the English Channel.

"It is strikingly clear that, rather than a 'hostile environment', invading migrants have been welcomed," they wrote.

They added that some migrants had been offered "immediate access to regular payments whilst accommodated at taxpayer expense in expensive hotels."

"All this is relayed to people smugglers and potential economic migrants in France, encouraging and emboldening those intent on facilitating further border crossings."

Since the demolition of the infamous 'Jungle' nearly four years ago, French authorities have been successful in stopping other large-scale camps from forming.

But migrants do still arrive in Calais; they are just more scattered.

Greater security measures - including a wall built along the motorway with UK funding - have made it more difficult for migrants to stow away on lorries.

But that's led the people smugglers to increasingly turn to using the equally risky method of small boats.

The UK and France have worked closely on this for close to two decades.

The Treaty of Le Touquet which effectively 'moved' the UK border to Calais (and the French border to Dover) to allow checks to happen before crossings, was signed in 2003.

But they can't change geography.

Calais remains a magnet because it is only 20 miles from the UK - on a clear day in Dover, you can see the headlights of French traffic on the other side of the sea.

No amount of planes, walls or Navy deployments can alter that.

Quite apart from the humanitarian issue here, there is added political pressure for the UK government.

David Cameron was pretty roundly criticised for suggesting in 2016 that Brexit would mean the French would pull out of bilateral agreements and we'd see "Jungles" popping up on the South coast of England.

There's certainly no indication of that, but there's no doubt that the images of dinghies landing on Kent's beaches will be a difficult one for a government that has set huge store by its promise to 'take back control' of immigration.

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee charity, urged politicians not to treat those arriving in the UK as "battering rams" in arguments over immigration.

Speaking on Times Radio, the former Labour foreign secretary said the UK government's appeal to France to do more to stop boats showed the limits of its rhetoric on "taking back control" of borders.

'Cooler heads'

He said asylum claims needed to be processed much more quickly, saying too many cases were taking more than six months when in Germany the standard waiting time was eight to nine weeks.

On reports the Royal Navy could be used to escort boats back, he urged the UK to work with France rather than taking "unilateral" action.

"The law of the sea saying anyone who is in distress needs to be picked up is there for a reason. Cooler heads need to prevail if the UK is to sustain an effective response as well as a humane one".

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2020-08-10 15:57:39Z
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Boris Johnson considers law change amid rising migrant crossings - BBC News

The UK needs to consider changes to asylum laws to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel, Boris Johnson has said.

The prime minister said it was currently "very, very difficult" to legally return people who arrive in the UK from France using small boats.

More than 4,000 people have successfully crossed English Channel this way so far this year.

It comes as a group of Tory MPs has called for tougher action on crossings.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Johnson pledged to work with the French authorities to discourage people from making the "dangerous" journey across the channel.

But he added the UK also needed to look at "the panoply of laws that an illegal immigrant has at his or her disposal that allow them to stay here".

'Range of options'

On Monday, the Ministry of Defence said it had sent an RAF Atlas transport aircraft to help Border Force spot small boats trying to cross the Channel.

The Home Office had asked defence chiefs for help to make crossings in small boats "unviable".

Downing Street said Border Force was looking at a "range of options," including new measures, to stop boats entering British waters.

EU Laws

The UK is currently following EU asylum law during its 11-month post-Brexit transition period following its departure from the bloc in January.

This includes the so-called Dublin regulation, which states that a person's asylum claim can be transferred to the first member state they entered.

The PM's spokesman said the UK wanted to replace the "inflexible and rigid" regulation with a new agreement on returns after December.

He added that the current Dublin rules, which put a time limit on transfers, could be "abused by both migrants and their lawyers to frustrate the returns of those who have no right to be here".

In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, 23 Tory MPs and two peers said the UK should refuse to sign up to a "similar agreement" to Dublin after December.