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

OP you a very unreasonable to post such a misleading title.
You nearly gave me a heart attack.
I am very cross.

Announced where @chomalungma?

She has worked her little socks off. She has demonstrated consistently good grades for her teachers. Although she desperately wants to sit them, if she doesn't then her effort has already been noticed by teachers

That's fantastic. I have been telling DS similar but apparently 'he knows'. I am not sure if an exam or class assessment is better for him. I think that in general, reliable teacher assessment with effective moderation and evidence is much better than a few high stakes exams.

But I don't trust this Government on this.

UK should care the exams are cancelled. PP is correct in saying BJ follows suit. NS wouldn’t want to be responsible for the CV spread and out young lives in big halls for exams.

Our teens will get their grades.

Exams boards are businesses the same as any other business. They create exam papers that schools purchase. They buy the materials, books and exam entries. It’s not ‘free’.

Teachers are more than capable of knowing their students capabilities.

Some will do better some will do worse - but exams aren’t the be all and end all of their education or futures.

@chomalungma Poetry not dropped, that is board dependent.

@ineedaholidaynow

Announced where *@chomalungma*?

It's been heavily trailed in the media - so there's probably been trial balloons

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-gcse-and-level-exam-delay-decision-next-2-weeks

GCSE and A-level exams will go ahead next year but could be delayed, the Department for Education has indicated today.
According to Whitehall and education insiders, the A-level exam timetable will be extended by around three weeks to mid, reports the Daily Telegraph.
However, the DfE refused to confirm that timeframe, and said education secretary Gavin Williamson would make an announcement “in the next couple of weeks”.

And the consulation on exams

schoolsweek.co.uk/exams-2021-all-the-gcse-changes-subject-by-subject/

Poetry hasn’t been dropped for everyone. DS is doing poetry with his board

Mocks and expected 3 week delay reported here yesterday: www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/10/plan-b-for-rigorous-mock-exams-to-avoid-rerun-of-a-level-fiasco

@ineedaholidaynow

Poetry hasn’t been dropped for everyone. DS is doing poetry with his board

Fair enough.

Schools will be given a choice of topics on which students have to answer questions in exams.
A Shakespeare play will make up a “minimum common core”, which all pupils will be assessed on, and schools will be able to choose two more options from poetry, 19th century novel and fiction/drama from the British Isles from 1914.
However, the document states that exam boards can add to the core “if they wish”.

How do they ensure mocks are the same quality for every school?

Nobody in England cares apparently

This is truly a pathetic and childish statement

Ive read the other ‘highers cancelled* thread but didn’t realise i had to post so i could prove to some random that i cared

If we do cancel the exams for 2021, where will it end? People will say that year 10s are facing disruption too and immediately start pushing for 2022 exams to be cancelled. Then that will have knock on effects for the year group behind them, and parents will complain that it wasn't fair that the year group before their child didn't have to sit exams etc etc.

“Gavin Williamson is expected to announce a three-week delay in the start of next summer’s A-level exams, and possibly GCSEs, alongside a requirement for schools to hold mock exams in controlled conditions earlier in the year, with exam-style invigilation, marking and grading.”

My gcse child has been told he is sitting mocks end of November and mocks again in January. These mocks will produce his CAGs. So schools are preparing.

@ineedaholidaynow

How do they ensure mocks are the same quality for every school?

I suppose they carry them out under the same exam conditions that they normally do for exams.

I do wonder where they will get the papers from though. There are lots of mock papers out there. Unless they have produced some already.

The raw results will be interesting. Where are the grade boundaries set? What if a school suddenly has different grades to what it normally gets (a reversal of what was said in summer), what if the results don't correlate with teacher assessments?

Will it be fair?

This is a very odd thread indeed.

All those saying they're not in Scotland so don't care, how far does this spread?

Did you not care about the 9-11 bombings?
Are people in Scotland allowed to say they don't care about the London bombings?
How about if all southerners came in a thread saying they don't care about covid rates in the North, or the Manchester bombing?

If you don't care about something which is affecting a neighbouring country, or even a far off country, if on a thread started by someone who does care about it, how about you take a look at yourself and realise you're a selfish dickhead, rather than putting your selfishness out there for everyone to see and others to get upset by?

They say you get the government you deserve...

@Purpledaisychain

If we do cancel the exams for 2021, where will it end? People will say that year 10s are facing disruption too and immediately start pushing for 2022 exams to be cancelled. Then that will have knock on effects for the year group behind them, and parents will complain that it wasn't fair that the year group before their child didn't have to sit exams etc etc.

Maybe an opportunity to relook at GCSEs and high stake exams?

I think it's about time we moved away from examination based learning anyway. There are so many other ways. Research based assignments, vocational training etc. I remember my last 3 years of school I learned how to pass an exam, not my subjects. I actually wish I had been one of the disruptive kids because they were packed off to learn a trade and all have good buisnesses now.
I got good grades and progressed to the next level but I was pushed in the wrong direction because I was seen as an achiever and the school wanted my grades for the league tables. I couldn't handle the next level because there was too many gaps. I could pass an exam because questions were repetitive and I'd practiced the exams daily for months before. Very unfair.
Education reform is necessary and I think covid will actually push it forward, and it will be for the better.
I also don't see why more distance learning can't be implemented with the technology available today, especially for events like this, but even for times of severe weather or unforseen circumstance.

Maybe an opportunity to relook at GCSEs and high stake exams?

I hope so

DS has just done assessments (as they didn’t do end of year exams in the summer). They are now planning mocks in November and after Christmas.

It is all very well sitting them in exam conditions but what about the standard of the paper and marking. Will some of them be moderated if they become necessary to be used?

If they use a past paper and they haven’t finished the syllabus (which I assume they won’t) how does that work?

If they use a past paper and they haven’t finished the syllabus (which I assume they won’t) how does that work

THIS.

Exactly. And 3 extra weeks, with who knows how many schools and classes being sent home before then is just going to add to it.

The Government silence is deafening. At least Nicola Sturgeon is thinking ahead.

Will they? Have you a crystal Ball? I’m sure you mean well but stop being hysterical!!

I don't understand why exams would be cancelled when a whole year group is in a bubble anyway.

The Government silence is deafening. At least Nicola Sturgeon is thinking ahead

Absolutely

It was published in the Guardian, Times and Telegraph last week - link above. Consultations have now been completed. The exams are going ahead with a slight delay.

As choma points out the changes to the actual exam content has barely changed, they are considering making the exams multiple choice questions so students are able to answer the topics they have covered.

My best advice for anyone taking mocks this year is to take them very seriously.

Nicola Sturgeon is not being 'decisive' she is using the perfect excuse to take Scotland out next year due to their falling grades and abysmal track record. Scotland now feature nowhere on any international league tables at all - and anyone in Scotland with school age children will tell you that the education provision in Scotland now is at all time low, I am sure covid in this respect was greatly welcomed by the SG as an excuse/distraction.

Announcement will be made next week