Woman's Hour

It’s exams season coming up. This summer, students will receive A-level and GCSE results based on their teachers’ predictions, after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. Teachers will be required to compile evidence to substantiate their predicted grades. Ministers have insisted that this year's grading system is the fairest plan, rather than using algorithms. However, there are concerns that ‘pointy elbow’ parents have been pressurising teachers to boost their children’s exam grades. To discuss the issues Anita talks to Emma Irving, who works part time as a private tutor, and Richard Sheriff, Executive headteacher of Harrogate grammar school and president of the Association of School and College Leaders. In Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from the Eastern Mediterranean, food writer, Yasmin Khan explores eastern Mediterranean’s border politics. She travels to the refugee camps of Lesvos, Istanbul and Nicosia