Calling teachers, head teachers, education people - do you think GCSEs and A-level exams will have to be adapted for 2021 because some students have effectively missed a term?

[wonderwhatnext]

Hi, I’ve heard this idea mooted by someone you could say is “in the know”, so wondering what others think?

To address the obvious inequalities caused by the fact that, this term, some students are receiving a full curriculum online whereas others are receiving next to nothing, next summer”s exams may need to reflect this by offering one less module (or topic) on the papers?

I realise this may be difficult as schools don’t teach the syllabus in the same order, but it could be something similar to when my DC sat history IGCSE, for instance. As IGCSE is international, not all students would have taken say, WW2 in Europe as a topic. So out of 20 options, they chose the ones they had studied. Papers could be set out like this and students would answer questions on the topics they had covered?

What do people think may happen and when do we think schools will go back?

This Progress 8 is simply a school accountability measure. It’s provides data for tracking pupils performance across secondary school in 8 subjects, to assess which schools are providing greater “value added.”

I suspect the appeal of the IGCSE for independents is the greater flexibility and freedom involved in not having to conform to govt regulations and jump through the various hoops with providing EBacc data and SATs etc.

But this does not necessarily translate into “standards must be lower because they don’t comply with Progress 8.” In the schools I’m talking about which do IGCSE, nobody does 8 subjects. The minimum is 10 subjects and many do 11. And they all must be sitting higher papers in all the subjects because something like 95% of all grades across the school are 7/8/9 every year. So qualifying for the EBACC and Progress 8 is irrelevant and not something they want to be restricted by because these requirements are a given.

They all go on to do exactly the same A-levels as everyone else and are hardly disadvantaged by having done IGCSE. The results speak for themselves if a school are getting 95% of IGCSEs at 7/8/9 and then 80% of A-levels at A*-A.

When they go in to uni, here or abroad, they are competing with students from across the globe, so they might as well get used to it Progress 8 is no doubt a useful initiative in relation to many UK schools, but it’s hardly the be-all-and-end all. Nor is it seen as the “gold standard” beyond its own remit in the UK.

I've never claimed any of those things about progress 8 or the UK education system.

Fact remains IGCSE has historically been used at foundation level to secure students a C grade in Maths.

I don't think IGCSES aren't as rigorous etc they are just an alternative GCSE for a different purpose. They also have slightly different content and tend to be less wordy.

Yes, maybe your perception of IGCSE v GCSE is more influenced by the level of maths paper you’ve had the experience of pupils sitting, rather than the overall qualification itself. I think this is true for myself as well because I’ve only seen what they do at IGCSE at the higher levels and it’s seems a hell of a lot more in-depth than the curriculum being followed by my one who is doing AQA. However, this is probably more to do with the fact this school has certain teachers who are dubious to say the least and also this DC will probably not be entered for higher levels due to dyslexia. The course seems a lot more “spoon fed” eg. he was doing coastal erosion the other day and it was two pages in the AQA textbook and that’s it it seems to be like that for most topics. The IGCSE seemed more dynamic and less textbook based and just had more depth somehow. But that was hopefully because the other ones were working at a higher level and doing higher papers, rather than differences between the exam boards themselves.

"but the exam boards would have several months to train up whomever does marking"

We only get our training after the paper is sat in order to ensure security of the paper.

It's not just GCSE/A levels that are of concern but also vocational e.g. BTECs - the Ofqual consultation suggests that given the amount of time lost to complete coursework that we can verify as being students' own work that there will be (at least in part) some teacher input into final grades

My Y10 goes to an Academy in a deprived area.
I spoke to the Senco today.
NO idea when they are going back and she said 40% of entire cohort had not 'logged on' once in 5 weeks - they are trying to call around to see if 'they are safe'. They are really struggling to cope.
My child has ASD and SEN and we've had 1 call - today.
I have emailed twice and left 2 answerphone messages to say that my child is struggling to access his work.
Due to seizure like activity he was sent home by School a week before they closed to most students (his EHCp was rejected so he is not one) as they 'didnt have the staff to keep him safe'. So, he has none of his planners, jotters, books with him. He cannot access the work put up online as it is across a number of platforms and most of it doesnt load. There is no facility to 'hand in' anything. There is no interaction with staff or other students. No emails. 1 phone call in 5 weeks and when I said he was stressed about falling behind I was told to 'prioritize his mental health'. Yes. But he knows he has public exams next year (19% of kids in this school get 5 GCSE's) and he is scared silly about his work.

I am interested to hear that there is such a thing as 'mitigating circumstances'. As the Senco explained that she couldn't even 'ask anyone about it until next Friday at the earliest', and he already has 2 learning difficulties, then I think that counts.

If schools are to reopen soon have any of them decided how to make up the missed learning, particularly for years 10 and 12 who have missed out on so much exam learning?

If schools are to reopen soon have any of them decided how to make up the missed learning, particularly for years 10 and 12 who have missed out on so much exam learning?

No, because they don’t know when they’ll be reopening, what restrictions will be in place, how many staff they will have, what the exam board will do about missed content...

While this is Australia, Victoria in particular, the exam board, the VCAA acted very quickly and changed aspects of the Year 12 syllabuses (i)? (13 in UK) to take account of this. There is only one set of exams in VIC, and it's in the last two years of schooling. The equivalent of GCSEs does not exist.

It helps that there is only one exam board but the principle is the same. The decision is taken out of the hands of the schools and apples to everyone.