GCSE and Alevel exams in England

[SmileEachDay]

Should they go ahead?

Given the wildly fluctuating attendance levels at school at the moment, the continued possibility of whole year groups having to isolate and the very different teaching experience this years Y11 and 13 are having?

YABU - Keep going! Exams! It’ll be fine! Tally ho!
YANBU - Cancel exams and use externally moderated assessment pieces, plus teacher assessment.

Wales currently having this discussion, England isn’t...

@Enoughnowstop

No, not maths. MFL - questions from anywhere on the spec, very cleverly integrated questions from across topics so need to cover as much as possible. The concessions we have been given are fair (if odd, no speaking exam) but we really do need to finish the spec to give them a fair chance.

Don’t you still have to do speaking in some way, but just not record it? I can see you can save some time, but not loads.

@craftygin "We are introducing an early mock in November, and pushing of main mock to February. That will give an opportunity for them to mess up in the first set and take the second set very seriously, should we need to use them in place of the real thing." That is so much fairer, they know where they stand and have a practice as well . I am so upset about it as fear what happened to them will affect predicted grades ( which may well be very important).

There has been a consultation on speaking so I am avoiding looking at what we need to do till it’s finalised. But yes, we are going to have to do something.

Crafty wouldn't it make more sense for your 'second mock that they need to take seriously in case it's needed to replace the real thing' to be a proper, externally marked exam that can legitimately replace the June exam?

That takes away all the inconsistencies between schools and disputes about grade boundaries.

@noblegiraffe

Crafty wouldn't it make more sense for your 'second mock that they need to take seriously in case it's needed to replace the real thing' to be a proper, externally marked exam that can legitimately replace the June exam?

That takes away all the inconsistencies between schools and disputes about grade boundaries.

Then it’s an external exam going through the awarding bodies. Why would this be better than just doing the June exam?

I’m all for an unseen paper, ie one that is padlocked until the day of the exam.

Why would this be better than just doing the June exam?

I explained. Two bites of the cherry is fairer given that children will experience different levels of disruption to their learning, at different points in the year.

@SmileEachDay

I’d be interested to hear from the 13% - genuinely.

Is there a way for the summer exams to be fair?

I'm in the 13% - now 19%! I voted YABU because it shouldn't make any difference, at this point, whether exams will take place or not. All year 11 and year 13 children and teachers should be working to their utmost, whatever their situation, to master the syllabus and prepare as well as possible for exams. This will help the pupils whatever the outcome.

Endless discussions about whether or not exams will take place only sabotage these children's efforts.

Finally, exams are never fair, covid or no covid. Let's encourage kids to take learning seriously and do the best they can rather than undermining them and making them feel that trying is a waste of time as the exams won't count anyway.

Finally, exams are never fair, covid or no covid

I'd guess that people making this argument don't have kids in Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool schools.

@noblegiraffe

Why would this be better than just doing the June exam?

I explained. Two bites of the cherry is fairer given that children will experience different levels of disruption to their learning, at different points in the year.

So three sets of external exams? Who would pay for this?

We’ve had three years of the current spec, so maybe a maximum of 6 sets of papers (the reserve papers from the first two years, as well as both sets from last year and this, assuming they haven’t already recycled the early reserve papers). That would be quite a challenge for the awarding bodies to pull off.

Now 22%

@noblegiraffe

Finally, exams are never fair, covid or no covid

I'd guess that people making this argument don't have kids in Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool schools.

Way to just cherry pick one line from my post

@noblegiraffe

Finally, exams are never fair, covid or no covid

I'd guess that people making this argument don't have kids in Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool schools.

Are schools closed in these areas?

So three sets of external exams? Who would pay for this?

Where did you get three sets from? Are you including November resits?

The exam boards can pay for it with the money they saved not paying their markers last summer.

Are schools closed in these areas?

Do you genuinely not know? The vast majority of schools in those areas are closed or partly closed. Hundreds of thousands of kids weren't in school the week before half term. 13,000 kids in Birmingham quarantining a few weeks ago.

The exam boards can pay for it with the money they saved not paying their markers last summer

I thought they had passed their savings back to schools.

I like the idea of focussing on English/Maths GCSEs and I’d add science. With others either changing to coursework/teacher grades/short exam.

A levels are more complicated as they need (in certain subjects anyway) that knowledge /skills for uni.
Maybe more online teaching for those? To reduce contacts and therefore illness? Practicals ready to go so if there’s a full class swap the plans to ensure they’re done?

Have year 12 working from home more often so less people in school/college?

@CraftyGin

The exam boards can pay for it with the money they saved not paying their markers last summer

I thought they had passed their savings back to schools.

No, they issued credit notes...

AQA gave a refund of 26%. Edexcel didn't say what their refund is but were quick to point out just how much work it had been to NOT hold exams.

They could ask the government for a handout. I'm sure the government would look as kindly on that request as they did on schools who wanted more money for cleaning during a pandemic.

I'd guess that people making this argument don't have kids in Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool schools

I am in a Tier 3 area. We had no sending homes, bubble closures or anything else last half term. One teacher tested positive but he was in isolation for the 12 days prior because his wife had tested positive. One student tested positive - again in isolation at the time because both parents had tested positive.

I guess we got lucky? I would hazard a guess that many Tier 1 schools have faired worse. I think things such as how desperate parents might be (eg single parents needing to work taking a risk and sending in a child who is complaining of a sore throat, type of community (rural schools may fair better than deprived city catchments where a significant portion of pupils live in flats in big buildings or multi-generational households) will impact generally but so much of this is going to be down to luck - as my examples at my school have shown.

I think the bigger question @noblegiraffe is just how easy will it be to recruit examiners half way through the school year? I mark and am happy to do so with additional time as things wind down at the end of the year....but January?! Nope. No way.

There is already an exam series for Maths in January for IGCSE so there will be some markers. I know markers who mark international exams at that time too.

The thing with exams in January, results in August would mean there wouldn't be such a tight turnaround on marking them. Fewer markers would be needed as they could take longer.

Do you genuinely not know? The vast majority of schools in those areas are closed or partly closed. Hundreds of thousands of kids weren't in school the week before half term. 13,000 kids in Birmingham quarantining a few weeks ago

Is there a breakdown by year group? If it is mostly Year 7's and 8's, this stat is largely irrelevant. Not to minimise, but say 95% of all Year 11's and 13's are not impacted, then that is a completely different ballgame.

Older year groups are more affected than younger, so it seems unlikely that it’s mostly Y7 and 8 in those areas.

@TheDrsDocMartins ,I think for GCSEs having exams for English language, maths and science , centre assessed grades etc for other subjects might be the way to go.

However for A-levels, although students maybe capable of working from home and it may be a practical solution if all the right things are in place, like on line learning and other support... I don’t think it takes into account the impact that being away from school has on a lot of young people’s mental health, who feel isolated and unsupported and really miss the real world interaction with their teachers and peers. That’s a concern I have and have heard expressed.

@Baaaahhhhh the Welsh Government has said that Y7 and 8 can be in after half term in the second week of our mini lockdown as the figures they have show they are much less affected/likely to spread Covid. I’m not entirely sure I agree that ‘less’ is good enough, but that’s a different argument. Y11, 12 and 13 seem to be the worst affected.

Thanks noble. Still quite a small percentage of the total student number though....