Plan for exams next summer

[Orangeblossom77777]

Just announced today...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55160374

Extra measures to "boost fairness and support students" will be used for next summer's GCSE and A-level exams in England, ministers have announced.
More generous grading, advance notice of exam topics and additional papers are promised by the Department for Education to make up for the disruption faced by students during the pandemic.
Those who cannot sit exams due to self-isolation rules will still get a grade.
Heads said it was "a reasonable package" of measures for the situation.
The DfE says it has had "extensive engagement" with exams watchdog Ofqual, exam boards and senior leaders across the education sector.
The measures mean:
more generous grading than usual, in line with results from summer 2020, so that this year's cohort is not disadvantaged
students getting advance notice - at the end of January - of some topic areas covered in exams to focus revision
exam aids - such as formula sheets - provided in some exams to cut down on the memorising required
additional "backup" exams - to be held in July - to give students a second chance to sit a paper if they have to miss main exams or assessments due to illness or self-isolation
and a new expert group, which will monitor variation in the impact of the pandemic on students across the country.
In extreme cases, where a student misses all their papers, a teacher-assessed grade will be given.
Those young people taking vocational and technical qualifications will also see adaptations to their exams to ensure fairness.

[MissisBoote]

Watching with interest - mainly because I have a child with extreme school anxiety and has developed into a tic disorder as a result of it - so I'm wondering if by some extreme measure they may fall into the teacher assessed grade category if they're not able to physically sit their exams due to tic attacks etc during the actual exams.

[Orangeblossom77777]

I'm relieved. DS stressing about mocks after Christmas.

[gleegeek]

I'm not seeing that this helps enormously. Dd's college(year 13)are unlikely to cover all of the syllabus, without losing some content, the stress is still there. She is so anxious now that she can't focus on revision, she's just desperately doing all the masses of homework and hoping to cover everything. I really think teacher assessment and exams would be fairer.

[Orangeblossom77777]

Would it not help to then know the topics to focus on instead of doing 'masses of homework and hoping to cover everything'?

[Pipandmum]

My child at a private school that does mostly igcses, so wonder how that will be handled - as well as IB students. It would nit be fair to those international students that will not have these concessions wherever they are sitting them.
I'm not sure about marking them more generously- they are banded anyway, or does that mean lowering the bands? Will future employers look at this years co hort and think they didn't deserve the grades? Ive heard that about last years. How will kids doing maths and sciences cope with A levels in those subjects if they haven't completed the full syllabus (separate issue but related).

[Goldistheanswer]

I read on the dept for education website that students will be given advance notice of “some” topics but not all. How does that help them? The anxiety around exams and needing to succeed, health/Covid worries, challenges of missing school and/or being taught all combine to place this year’s students at a real disadvantage. It isn’t fair to them. This year has been exceptional and they deserve to be supported as much as possible so that they don’t carry this disadvantage through life.

[WeAllHaveWings]

@Orangeblossom77777

Would it not help to then know the topics to focus on instead of doing 'masses of homework and hoping to cover everything'?

If a student is continuing a subject at Uni do they need to know the whole content of a course, not just enough to pass the exam?

Need to be careful cutting back on topics doesn't disadvantage students later.

[Hellohah]

@Orangeblossom77777

Would it not help to then know the topics to focus on instead of doing 'masses of homework and hoping to cover everything'?

DS is hoping to carry on Maths and Physics at A Level ... I think he needs to know all of the curriculum to not struggle at the next stage.

Some subjects, like History (which is his third choice) I don't think it matters so much.

[Orangeblossom77777]

It is a concern if the full content is not covered I agree, in terms of going on to future courses. I was just referring to the PP saying their DC was getting bogged down in homework etc, thinking it may help their focus etc.

[Wynona]

If students know in advance what the topic is going to be then they will get more marks. Grade boundaries will therefore be squeezed. The difference between 7 and 8 might only be five marks. Can that be fair?

[NotDonna]

I don't think a blanket ‘more lenient grading’ is helpful. Everyone will believe this years A levels & GCSEs are easy and undeserved - grade inflation etc etc. Will the govt alter every single marking specification? I doubt it. All that will happen is the usual bell curve for grade boundaries - but they’ve highlighted this and people will believe the exams have been dumbed down.
The notion that students will be told some ‘topics’ in advance is ludicrous. Again, an unhelpful blanket approach. And when will they be told this - the week before?

[TicTacTwo]

In January according to the link.

[NotDonna]

Apparently ‘they’ are going to monitor results across the country and analyse differences. That could be useful.