GCSEs will be cancelled this summer!

[AKissAndASmile]

So the Scottish equivalent of GCSEs have been cancelled this summer.

I posted in chat about this but barely anybody responded. Seems nobody cares because it's Scotland. I thought we were a united kingdom. Seems not. I can guarantee that if GCSEs were cancelled in England my post would have had numerous posts. Nobody cares because it's Scotland, even though during these corona days Scotland seems to be showing us a sneak preview of what will be happening in England in a few weeks. So my guess is that GCSEs will be cancelled this year soon

There's also the fact that seeing as we don't know what we'll be able to do next week, it seems somewhat premature to be discussing what position we'll be in next year.

Nope don't care about scotland. I doubt scotland cares if they were scrapped in the uk.

GCSEs being cancelled is pure speculation at this point. Until there is an official announcement I am going to continue to teach as if they are happening.

Teenagers aren’t good at social distancing but most schools do have processes in place to reduce the risk of transmission (note reduce not eliminate!). In my school we have masks in corridors, hand sanitising entering and leaving a classroom, all windows and doors open, single year group in dinning hall, paper-free.

Internal assessment is rife with problems, so needs to be very carefully considered (possibility of cheating, bias etc...) even standardised mocks are harder than you think to organise. My school has then after Oct break and then can be all the way up until March. How much of the spec will be on there? Who marks them? Who provides the papers? Who pays for the invigilators (esp if the school has already done mocks)?

Getting into a frenzy about this isn’t going to help anyone. Best you can do is control what you can control - encourage you child to work consistently, build their resilience, don’t over-emphasise how strange this year is. Then wait until official announcements have been made.

OP, I'm sure there's a Scotsnet section on here where people in Scotland discuss things that affect them.

There's enough going on in individual areas of the country, let alone worrying about what's going on in Scotland. Likewise, I wouldn't expect them to be bothered about England either. 🤷‍♀️

@akissandasmile . I'm in England and I'm worried . I have an English granddaughter due to take her GCSEs this summer and also a Welsh granddaughter due to take her GCSEs at the same time . I hope they are not disrupted .

they will cancel and then just give them a lovely fake pass grade

The exams have been cancelled but the children will still be assessed, so the opportunity to be graded for this qualification is still available.

That might change if Scotland has decided it without consulting Bojo. They don't have independence yet.

National 5 exams are cancelled but higher exams will still go ahead. I don't know what that means because I am not in Scotland.

Do people really not care about anything that doesn’t affect them directly? What selfish little lives!

Also I’m not in Scotland but I’d say the education of the next generation in the UK does affect all of us. They’re the workforce of the future - doctors, nurses, carers, politicians and the people who will be paying tax when many of us will hit retirement age. I’d prefer it if they were educated properly.

Why would people in other parts of the UK care about Scottish exams?

Most people living outside of Scotland don't know about Scottish exam systems- and I actually wouldn't expect them to.

I am a Scot living in Scotland- and unless you have a child of school age most Scots doen't have a clue about high school exams either.
My mother and her friends have no idea what a National 5 is either- and they live here!

We are living in difficult times, I think the decision to scrap Nat 5 exams next year is a good one, it is the most failsafe option for the children, as they have the best chance of gaining an accurate qualification.
Qualifications will still be awarded and determined by continuous assessement, and that is good because it means that if exams are set and then cancelled at the last moment due to a virus lockdown they know they will still hopefully get the qualification.

It is the sensible thing to do- and while noteworthy is not big enough news for headline news.
And I wouldn't expect people outside of Scotland to be interested.

If you have a more specific gripe about political power in the UK and Scotland's place in the Union I am not sure this is the best peg to hang your arguments upon.

That might change if Scotland has decided it without consulting Bojo. They don't have independence yet.

Education is a devolved issue- Scotland doesn't need Westminster to approve changes lke this,

I'm not Scottish. I live in England and believe GCSEs will be cancelled because Scotland has done it and BJ seems to lag behind Scotland during this pandemic. I have skin in the game and so am concerned.

You don't care that Scottish exams have been cancelled. You care that GCSEs might be cancelled BECAUSE Scottish exams have been cancelled.

@TheLetterZ

Well said.

Same measures at our school and thank you for drawing attention to the problems of internal assessment.

And the most ridiculous part of this whole thread is that the OP is making out that she/he is so much better than everyone else because she knows what’s going on in Scotland, (as do many of us btw), and apparently everyone should care about the decisions made in other parts of the UK - yet she hasn’t once mentioned NI. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Just FYI OP - Peter Weir (minister for education in NI) made an announcement on Friday about GCSEs/AS/A-level exams next summer set by CCEA. (The NI exam board) Our exams are NOT cancelled, although there are of course contingency plans being put in place in case they have to be. (just as they are in Scotland for Highers and AHs)

There are adjustments being made to individual courses and these will affect not only those sitting exams this year, but also the new 4th years coming up behind.

But sure you just go ahead and insist that you know best because you are so informed, so knowledgeable, have such a wide outlook, whereas the rest of us are so narrow minded and blinkered.

People know that the exams are cancelled in Scotland, because it's not new news. How are you expecting them to demonstrate that they 'care'? I'm a teacher, so I'm interested in what goes on education-wise in the British Isles, but I can't imagine why you'd expect other people e.g in England to be that interested, as it doesn't affect them in the slightest.

Nobody in England cares apparently

I care, I posted on one of the numerous other threads about it when it actually happened.
You’d vote for independence because some people on MN didn’t comment on your post about their exams?

@daytripper28

I have a dd in year 11 and care very much about her GCSEs.

However, don't appreciate more bad news or virtually gloating over the fact her important exams may be cancelled in England.

So no, your thread is not welcome.

Absolutely. It’s the gloating that gets me too. Some people seem to love the disruption.

Nobody in England cares apparently

Many people in Scotland don't care either.

Unless you have a child directly affected or work in education many people don't rate it as particularlyy newsworthy.

You've not mentioned Wales OP? Not very united of you.

FYI we care what happens in Scotland but not so much England.

I have a son in yr11 and I assume the school are anticipating that the GCSE’s might not go ahead. Therefore I’m assuming that they are continuing to teach the curriculum and continually assessing along the way.
I’m not panicking about it as he will leave school at the normal time and will have GCSE results, whether he sat them or not.

[quote AKissAndASmile]@MountainMert
'Eh' because we're in the UK and supposedly are in it together. You obviously think Scotland is nothing to do with you
If I was in Scotland I'd definitely vote for independence[/quote]
You don’t make sense. You’re absolutely outraged that whatever standard grades are now called in Scotland have been cancelled - yet if you were Scottish you’d vote for independence. You’d vote for the party who decided to cancel these exams - causing you so much outrage. Aye, makes a whole lot of sense 🤷🏻‍♀️

Are you always this hysterical? Berating people on Mumsnet because they didn't respond to your post about Scottish exams being cancelled because we are meant to be a united kingdom and we should all care. Yet then in your next post you basically admit that you only care because BJ tends to follow NS and you're worried this means your child won't sit their GCSEs. Very disingenuous of you, OP. You couldn't give a shit about the Scottish children, you're just worried your little darling will be affected.

I'm generally not responding to any COVID threads as they're incessantly boring.

[quote AKissAndASmile]@MountainMert
'Eh' because we're in the UK and supposedly are in it together. You obviously think Scotland is nothing to do with you
If I was in Scotland I'd definitely vote for independence[/quote]
If I was in Scotland I'd definitely vote for independence

WTAF?

Nobody in England cares apparently

Or maybe they've already read and posted on one of the numerous other threads about this exact issue and you're just a bit late to the party? Don't let that stop you getting on your high horse though.