Do you think they will cancel GCSE’s in England ?

This is so stressful. School said from now on they will use as much time as possible to revisit the work missed in lockdown.

With it seeming positive with the vaccine surely it is best to spend the next months working towards the exams rather than depending on work done now?

I think the GCSEs will cancelled but not until much nearer the time. Maybe March?

MNers love dropping casually into convo how “tall and slim” their DC are

DD had some mini mocks recently in maths and English and did very well surprising us and surpassing the teachers predictions at parents evenings the week before Oct half term. She also went up two whole grades from the mock tests in maths and English two weeks after going back in September. So if GCSE’s were to go ahead even though she has missed out on umpteen months teaching and she is very stressed she seems to be getting into her stride and would likely to do better than the CAG grades the teachers would give her. We are not pressurising her and she isn’t busting a gut between now and her mocks starting shortly. We have plenty of her favourite snacks in. She is tall and slim and can eat what she likes.

I think it would be better if, rather than making up GCSE grades ...

You know teachers actually know their students capabilities don’t you? They aren’t just making up a grade and handing them out like sweets! They know who works and who slacks, who studies and those who don’t, etc

Beside knowing historical dates is pointless if you work as a paramedic or you cooking skills won’t help in a supermarket job

Exams only help those who go into further education.

mocks, not kicks sorry!

Yes ours says kicks with me in the exam hall under strict conditions and have GCSE invigilators. Unsure of the content but sounds like nothing is different to usual mocks.

I think it would be better if, rather than making up GCSE grades (which wouldn't necessarily reflect what they actually know, just what they might have been expected to know in a normal year), they were to award everyone a "school-leaving certificate" instead. Keep English and maths, but for the rest, a certificate saying which subjects they studied, and perhaps comments from the school of the likely attainment had things been normal, and the student's commitment to study.

With hindsight, that would have been better this year, too. This way, you wouldn't have to worry about comparability with previous and future years. Everyone would know that GCSEs just didn't happen in 2020 and 2021, and that to apply any sort of requirement for GCSEs other than English and maths to those cohorts would be discriminatory.

You'd need some means of determining entry to post 16 courses, but I'm pretty sure sixth-forms and colleges could manage with teacher recommendations of suitability and/or asking to see some of their work. As it would mostly be on a local level, if a school was thought to be over-inflating their opinions, it would be easy enough for the sixth form/college to seek a meeting and ask to see the evidence.

Universities would have to rely more on predicted grades but also doable.

After that, who actually looks much at GCSE grades?

DCs currently doing GCSE mocks here - they're all taking it very seriously and lots of revision going on as teachers have told them these will count towards CAGs if we end up in that position again.

We have just been given a timetable for mocks in Jan, think they may use some of that in case they don't go ahead. Quite stressful isn't it.

There is no right answer, I don't think, and as it stands in England, there is no uncertainty - the exams are (currently) going ahead, and the children have to work to this. After an initial flurry of uncertainty at the beginning of the school year, I notice DD seems much more in the groove now and is just getting on with it - really she knows no different.

On a personal level, I'd prefer that the children were just taught the full curriculum, I'm uncomfortable with what's happening now which is blatantly teaching to test with no regard for the value of the information they're being taught, or how it should be complete for their future steps, but there you go. So on that basis, I'd prefer exams to be cancelled, but full teaching to the end of the school year to try to cover the whole syllabus. I think Wales seems to have done the worst thing - effectively bringing final exams to January - what will they do for the rest of the year?

I think if exams do go ahead, we’ll end up with most socially unjust set of results the country have ever seen

Even if exams don't go ahead, it's going to be a socially unjust set of results. Kids at independent schools receiving full time on-line teaching vs kids in deprived areas struggling without access to computers / internet / quiet areas to study.

I just think that it would be good to sit an exam to finish school, it’s a rite of passage and a big step in life

This uncertainty is worse imo

My y11 and y13 kids don’t know what to expect

@Itshissister

Knife. Heart.

It will not be fair for anyone

It’s not fair as it exists.

I believe Wales has already cancelled them, but not Scotland ?

Scotland cancelled their equivalent exams over a month before wales. Boris is an idiot.

aaaargh ....dont know the answer was thinking teacher assessed for my dyspraxic ds -as exams not his strong suit would be better with coursework... but the constant pressure of everything maybe being assessed or maybe exams is really stressing him out and hes now knackered! lucky as no bubbles burst yet - but they have just shut the senior school down the road completely for 2 weeks so its going to be unfair either way......

How in good faith can they award results that last a lifetime and are meant to be a mark of a certain level of achievement if the kids haven't actually done the work. Last years cohort had for the most part finished the courses, they missed the actual exams but they had 90% of the teaching whereas this year they have missed the material being taught. Whilst content can be reduced in some subjects, in the core ones like maths and English they need to prove the have reached gcse level surely otherwise it's like giving kids an achievement certificate because we feel sorry for them. I honestly think that assuming that the various vaccines mean school (and life) normalises next year, kids need to be taught through the summer and exams take place in late November, the a levels then run through the summer too to make up time, universities can either start them in January or the government can run a national youth scheme where they receive a modest payment eg youth jsa rate and they do community projects, adventurous stuff, maybe get the military involved, things to boost their confidence, self esteem and give them an opportunity to get away from home etc.

Should say my Dd Is year 11

It will not be fair for anyone

My Dd's school is currently shut for two weeks and we are back to home schooling.

Numbers are rising in our area and we have no idea what will happen on 2nd Dec

Wales and Scotland have cancelled theirs, England will follow.

It is a disaster for ALL the children imo

I hope not, it really throws home-educated kids (like mine) who are due to take exams next year under a bus

Better to just do exams, kids deserve it. They can just lower the grade boundaries to account for Covid.

Unmoderated though that will be unfair. Dd has had live lessons and online alternatives throughout lockdown, they are actually ahead of the syllabus. Her bubble hasn't burst (yet). There is no way that her work could be fairly compared, even with a shift in grade boundaries, to a child whose school suspended the curriculum and has been in 14 day lockdown three or four times since September.

I agree though the pressure and 'every assignment matters' pressure is considerable. It would be good to have more certainty.

we’ll end up with most socially unjust set of results the country have ever seen

Sorry but this is good news for my dyslexic son who won’t pass any exams, yet excels in lessons.

Shoes in the other foot for some.

All those saying exams are the fairest way for testing children are having the realization that those who can pass exams aren’t going to get the chance. Those who fail exams have a chance at passing.

It’s always been unfair.

Yes I think they will be cancelled, be good to let students & families know ASAP either way.