Surely, repeating this school year is the only way?

[YardleyX]

In what world would it ever have been thought an option to just finish school for the year in March, and then carry on to the next year as though nothing’s happened?!??

Some schools have worked exceptionally hard to continue educating during the pandemic, but official line from the government is that the “curriculum is suspended”.

Therefore, unless the entire curriculum is being re-written, all the way up to and including A level, how can there possibly be an expectation for every child in the country to just ‘move on’ in September?

Year 11 and Year 13 could move on. Impact would therefore be no schools have a Year 11 this year, and some provision needs to be made in order to accommodate this years Reception intake.

Hardly ideal, but better than an entire generation of children falling so far behind, and in lots of cases probably never catching up.

I also think that references from schools for sixth form colleges and from schools/sixth form colleges for universities should be very honest about the provision that students have received. It has varied so much, even within schools.

As for not teaching options in a particular order, why can't exams have ALL topics on them and then the students can choose the ones they have studied? Easier to do with humanities, not so easy with subjects like Maths where I assume everything builds on everything else, but surely there are a few creative thinkers who can come up with something?

Language exams could concentrate on language and less cultural content (though that will benefit the native speakers even more than they are already benefited).

Here is another point. Kid are going to be at different levels to what they were at before lockdown.

Some might have progressed really well from 121 with a furloughed parent. Some kids might have slipped backwards. Some will have progressed a bit but not a lot.

But ultimately whether kids repeat the year or not they will be at different levels to what they were at before lockdown.

You can't have kids bored senseless in school so repeating the year in nonsense. Are some parents concerned that their top of the class off-spring will suddenly be bottom ?

Curriculum adjustments will have to be made, surely. We should really be thinking about whether we even need SATs and GCSEs. They only seem to exist to make children miserable.

I've just seen a campaign back by both private and TES to drop GCSE'S and the man who introduced them is doubting their usefulness too since kids are in school to 18.

Not all kids are in school until age 18

It's only just over 1 term, nothing happens in the last couple of weeks of term anyway, so effectively 1 term - and they're all in the same boat so why would a whole year be repeated? Better to do Saturday boosters if anything extra is needed.

I think they could maybe stay in their current classes until October half term just for this year.

@Tatum1234

I think they could maybe stay in their current classes until October half term just for this year.

What difference does it make if they learn the stuff they missed with their previous teachers or new teachers?

These "exams could just be changed by doing XYZ" comments are extraordinarily frustrating - honestly, no, they can't. There are defined criteria examinations for every subject, at every level, have to meet. Assessment design is massively complicated. Changing the structure of an assessment would render the existing process of awarding absolutely meaningless and create an entire cohort with results that aren't comparable to others. You would also have a cohort entering for examinations with no sample materials, comparable practise papers, mark schemes or examiners reports to use in preparation.

This is one tiny point among many, I know but I have a particular bee in my bonnet about it. I'm bloody fed up with people suggesting "simple" solutions to complex problems they don't fully understand.

I quite agree Alittleodd. I don't know anything about the technicalities of exam setting and marking but don't believe that education should be reduced to exam results, or that this problem can be solved by changing grade boundaries or making exams easier. I am not worried about my son's exam results, I am worried about his education. I am worried about him have the knowledge and skills he needs to go into higher education and then pursue his chosen career. Massaging the A level results could ensure that he still gets the grades necessary for University entry but not that he is as well equipped to start his degree as students have been in previous years. I suppose the difference could be made up at the beginning of University, but the gaps won't necessarily be the same for all students so I imagine that could be very difficult. Either way, assuming the level at the end of a degree course still needs to be the same as previously, the knowledge defecit is going to have to be made up at some point. I don't suppose it is going to be easy for anyone, but for younger children there are many years ahead to try to smooth things out. Children in older year groups, especially 10 and 12 are disproportionately affected and I would really like to know what, if any plans there are to help them. We have just found out that my DS is going to get one half day in school for each of his A level subjects this term. It is better than nothing, and I do understand the difficulties the school faces, but it isn't great. I don't want his exams changing, I want him to be able to learn more effectively and I don't know how to do that. And before anyone says "homeschool, like everyone else", he is studying subjects that I didn't do myself, and even if I had, it is over 40 years since I did my A levels and things have changed a bit! I am happily supporting my younger son with his work but I can no sooner teach A level Computer Science than I could swim the Channel. I have found a tutor who is giving him one to one lessons over Zoom for one subject but had no joy for the others and it is breaking my heart to see my previously hard working, engaged and highly motivated child becoming so despondent. I don't know what the answer is, but glib comments about knocking a bit off the syllabi don't help.

For all those who say they will catch up, what about kids like my ds who is already a year behind due to ill health and crap sub teachers that dont understand him as he has speech problems, as does over half his class. I do around 3 hours speech work a day with him, he is 7 and still cant read so just leave him behind I think all kids should get the months they missed no new starter until January it give them a chance and then it won't have as much knock on effect

Next year's exams will have already been written. They can't just be changed. The principal examiner I know is currently working on 2022's exam papers.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

Next year's exams will have already been written. They can't just be changed. The principal examiner I know is currently working on 2022's exam papers.

Yep, we're on Jan 22 as well.

There is no guarantee they'll be back in September anyway. My daughter's school are introducing a,new way of home schooling from next week. I can't believe they'd bother change it just for couple of weeks so I think this will go on longer than September.
So when do they repeat the year? Tbh where the older children are concerned it's too late. The government have made sure they are screwed. I.I'm not convinced they need to repeat a year but wish they could go back to school. Am I alone in wondering why everywhere else is opening and people are going back to work but schools aren't?

@MrsAvocet I wouldn't worry too much about university. Most courses accept a range of A levels, and even with each subject there might be differences in content. I guess an extreme example would be History where students might have covered very different options even within the same exam board. For other subjects there might be more uniformity in the subject but some subjects might be new to some (e.g. engineering/psychology/philosophy) but others will have studied them at A level or even younger. Universities are used to students coming with different skill sets. Level 1 is generally a pass/fail year so it doesn't count towards final degree grade, it gives everyone a chance to get to the same level and develop key practical and study skills. There will be time to catch up but the learning curve might be steeper.

I actually wonder (hope) that a silver lining might be that students enter university with a more independent approach to their learning. This is one of the key skills for that first year, learning that there won't always be teachers chasing you for homework or dishing out a detention. Those who make it to university will have had to motivate themselves, manage their own study timetable, email teachers rather than just asking questions in class. They will have possibly experienced a more lecture style lesson with recorded lessons rather than the smaller tutorial style approach of A levels. Any deficits in knowledge can be made up but the skills learned will be invaluable at university.

I am frustrated as the next parent about the situation but I do think that those aiming for university will not be as badly affected as those already struggling to pass GCSE maths and English who could be resitting without the benefit of covering it the first time whilst also trying to gain vocational skills.

I actually wonder (hope) that a silver lining might be that students enter university with a more independent approach to their learning. This is one of the key skills for that first year, learning that there won't always be teachers chasing you for homework or dishing out a detention. Those who make it to university will have had to motivate themselves, manage their own study timetable, email teachers rather than just asking questions in class.

That depends on how low they have to reduce entry requirements to fill their courses. Approx half of my son's friends (who should have just finished their A level exams) are deferring going to Uni until next year or applying for jobs instead, so Uni's are going to be desperate to fill their courses (and their accommodation), not to mention the lack of the usual overseas students who usually come to study. Clearing is going to be "interesting" with unis probably accepting far lower A level grades than in normal times, so standards are likely to be far lower rather than higher.

Homeschooling my child has highlighted the downside of our education system. If we didn't have such large class sizes with such varying degrees I'm sure it could all be managed without repeating a year. I've been lucky that I can homeschool and did a fair bit in the beginning. I understand some haven't had the luxury with work demands or other issues.

We’re really lucky in that we can afford private, our business took a massive hit but we will scrape though and manage to pay fees. We have ten kids per class.

I don’t know how the fuck state schools with 30 kids in a class are going to pull these kids through. The government need to claw back money from somewhere and pay teachers to work through the summer to help them.

Yes the effects of the independent learning are less likely to be seen in the current yr11 and yr13 but at an individual level those students like MrsAvocet's son who have had to work (yr12 and yr10/9 etc) will have some advantages.

Loverofoldfilms Actually most of Germany are going abck to the G9, the sped up Abi turned out to be a bad idea.

magazin.sofatutor.com/lehrer/turbo-abi-ade-kehrtwende-lander-zum-g9/

It's not comparable though, children haven't missed a year of school or had the curriculum condensed.

The only years who will be disadvantaged by missing 9 or 10 weeks of school are those with external exams next year. In the long run it won't impact children in year 8 and below at all unless they've been seriously neglaected or come from very deprived homes.

@Kazzyhoward, can I ask what is the reasoning with deferring Uni by a year?

I think it’s because nobody knows if or how universities will be opening in September.

Year 13 students of 2020 have no idea what they’re applying for. Do they get to go to uni? Are they essentially paying thousands for an online course? Do they apply for accommodation? If so, will they end up paying for it and not being able to use it?

Choosing and paying for a university is a massive decision at the best of times. How anyone can make those choices this year, if anyone’s guess

I wonder what proportion of countries completely cancelled school leaving exams as the UK has?

A lot of countries only postponed exams, some held them under different arrangements. Cancelling exams wasn't inevitable even with school shut downs.

Both of my. Daughters were ill for long periods during Y10 & 11 (40% and 85%), both managed to catch up independently. The first just scraped her 6 GCSE's at grade C, struggled with A Levels but achieved BSc Hons Grade 7 the younger 13 GCSE's at Grades B,A,A*, went on to do a degree through Open University

Whilst obviously very proud, what I'm saying is that catch up is possible, and to a degree, shouldn't be overly difficult, especially if children are keeping up with their core skins at home (not necessarily with formal lessons)

Universities are opening and the vast majority (if not all) will be offering some face to face on campus teaching. If you don't know what your university is offering then ask them! All our applicants and returning students got an email last week outlining our plans.

If the social distancing reduced to 1m then it will be pretty much back to normal teaching wise.

All universities WILL open next academic year. We are all still functioning at the moment, just remotely.
Delaying entry for a year for an entire year group would mean there wouldn't be a university sector the year after.