Are Levels my Crutch?

I read in this month's copy of "Education in Science" that levels are unlikely to feature in the new re-write of the national curriculum.

There are so many issues with levels and grades. Firstly that students think that they are a failure if they don't get a certain level or grade. Parents too get hung up on grades. Secondly there are teachers who don't know what it means for a student to be at a certain level and what that level looks like. This knowledge gets even less confident at GCSE.

I have already written a blog post about using APP to help students to engage in their learning. Moreover, levels have helped me to understand the progression of students, the subtleties of what I am teaching and how I am teaching it.

I can't imagine teaching without levels; it will be a big shift, but not necessarily for the worse.