To think it’s time to cancel the 2021 exams

[Exams2021]

It just seems impossible with so much disruption and no end to that in sight and also the massive discrepancy between regions. Aibu to think we need to pack in the exams, use teacher asses grades and spend the rest of the year trying to fill gaps so year 11s have the full range of knowledge to allow them to move forward?

Year 13 here. My kids aren’t keen on the scrapping of exams. Their school provision in year 12 was appallingly poor, and it’s no surprise they need to work twice as hard now to make up for lost time...their grades have slipped and they need to be given time to make up.

My ds is in yr 11 and I'm furious at this situation. He was a really promising student in yr 10, set for good grades. He logged in everyday in lockdown has followed everything he's been able to but online learning is no match for the classroom. He says nothing he 'learned' in lockdown stuck and now he'll be lucky to scrape passes. An entire year of schooling lost, all the emotional disruption, mental health issues, no completed mock exams and now they're expected to sit exams?! I'm honestly so so angry at the handling of it all.

I wish they'd have frozen all the year groups last year. It's just so incredibly unfair.

We are in Scotland and i have mixed emotions about our exams being cancelled.

Dd sat her national 5 exams in 4th year, last year her 5th year highers were cancelled and again in 6th year they are cancelled again, which means along with her peers who are intending to go to university they are now unprepared for exams, eg, how to study, how they study best etc. So 1st year exams at uni are going to be a testing time.

I have a YR 13 - they have dropped an A level subject already as they missed so much last year that it was impossible to catch up in all subjects. Luckily they only need 2 Es to meet their first choice offer for higher education but they are the really lucky ones - many others in their circumstances would be screwed.

@Shitonthebloodything

My ds is in yr 11 and I'm furious at this situation. He was a really promising student in yr 10, set for good grades. He logged in everyday in lockdown has followed everything he's been able to but online learning is no match for the classroom. He says nothing he 'learned' in lockdown stuck and now he'll be lucky to scrape passes. An entire year of schooling lost, all the emotional disruption, mental health issues, no completed mock exams and now they're expected to sit exams?! I'm honestly so so angry at the handling of it all.

I wish they'd have frozen all the year groups last year. It's just so incredibly unfair.

So many stories like this sadly. What was the Homelearning like?

Scotland exams are cancelled, but instead of prelims in January and exams in April/May ds is getting an "assessment block" in January and another in May. The May one will, I think, come from SQA guidance and both are currently planned to be sat in exam conditions in the exam hall/pe/canteen etc.

So not much different to him study wise, except there will be some teacher moderation added in, probably to take into account children who have had to isolate and lost class time.

Doesn't mention taking into account children who have struggled more than most with restrictions, or those that have been bereaved in horrible circumstances due to covid etc. How could a teacher possibly be expected to accurately moderate who struggled due to genuine circumstances and who couldn't be arsed.

The whole thing is a mess and whatever happens if will be unfair on many. It is a huge problem for which there is no correct answer, just need to get on with it the best we can.

When I was in year 12 I remember we got end of term report grades based on both efforts and achievement. I’d like to see the same this year- so exam grade, plus the teacher’s recognition of their work/improvement. Eg for GCSEs, a 7 might be accompanied by an A/B/C from the teacher depending on how high the students effort was.

Either alone is unfair. The whole situation is unfair. Hopefully both together could cancel out a bit of unfairness and allow teachers to contribute their own judgements without removing all the valuable elements of sitting exams.

@YardleyX I think you are the naive one to assume students will continue to work with cancelled exams. Even our most motivated y11 students stopped working by May last year once their work became (in their eyes) futile.

There is always inequality in exams. Why are people not shouting about it every year? No form of assessment can take into account every possible inequality. Society isn't equal! This year it is just more obvious due to periods of isolation. Every year people get tutors. Every year kids in mc areas do better.

Exams should go ahead. The parallel with pre options students who have dropped French is exactly what will happen if exams are cancelled. The students switch off!

Otherwise, why are we worrying about Y13s missing school because of self isolation and not saying if they can't motivate themselves to study home they are in the wrong place? The posters on MN were saying that about the Year 12s last year - ie this year’s Year 13 - I was told if my dcs couldn’t do self study for 4 months - they were clearly not A level material. Such a load of crap gets trotted out here.

To be honest there's no way they can award this years cohorts grades without checking what they know. What they need is to repeat the year. Might be unpopular and logistically crazy but an extra year in school will provide them with the education they need and deserve, saying you have an A when in reality your knowledge is not even an E in a normal year isn't doing anyone any good. If repeating isn't possible then from June to September all those entering university should have catch up lessons for what they have missed ditto year 11 have summer school

If repeating isn't possible then from June to September all those entering university should have catch up lessons for what they have missed ditto year 11 have summer school

Provided by who?

@Hercwasonasnowball

Obviously it will cost money, teachers will need to be paid overtime but there's capacity in late June/July when exams have finished then we would need to pay teachers on a voluntary basis to teach through the holidays or universities to provide foundation courses. With funding it's possible and our kids deserve to learn

I'm worried my year 11 will /has already started coasting (after mock results she feels like it's job done) and will go into A Levels without the revision and study skills or embedded subject knowledge she needs. I have already suggested that if exams gets cancelled she will need some focused subject based and other goals to replace it. She agrees. But will she actually?

but there's capacity in late June/July when exams have finished

Exam dates have moved, there's only one clear week in July.

Goodwill from teachers has fucked off and left. Good luck finding anyone willing.

I have one in Y7 and one in Y10. It’s my Y10 child I’m most worried about as this is the year they get taught the majority of the course content for GCSE and she already lost the summer term of Y9. In her case it’s Maths we’re particularly worried about as she doesn’t really grasp a lot of the concepts and without a teacher to teach her she’s not taken a lot of it in even though she did all her remote learning during lockdown.

As for 16yo being responsible for their own learning - a lot of that cohort may still only be 15yo by time exams are taken. My eldest two were summer babies. Ime lots of children that age are far more focused on social stuff that worrying about exams and it’ll seem even less motivating for them now with the question mark over getting into colleges etc if things remain closed or remote.

I agree with noblegiraffe's view on cancelling exams. There is no right answer here. For me, the worst thing about all of this is the effect it's having on the children who don't know what's going to happen. At my school, they are pretty much divided 70/30 between those who want the exams to be cancelled and those who want to sit them. Our y13 cohort kids are so unhappy. They worry that they won't have done enough to sit and pass an exam in June, yet that if exams are cancelled, their classroom performance and in house assessments won't judge them fairly either. They've been exhausted and feel like they have to be on top form at all times 'just in case' we need to do CAGs. I feel so sorry for them.

@Tumbleweed101

I have one in Y7 and one in Y10. It’s my Y10 child I’m most worried about as this is the year they get taught the majority of the course content for GCSE and she already lost the summer term of Y9. In her case it’s Maths we’re particularly worried about as she doesn’t really grasp a lot of the concepts and without a teacher to teach her she’s not taken a lot of it in even though she did all her remote learning during lockdown.

As for 16yo being responsible for their own learning - a lot of that cohort may still only be 15yo by time exams are taken. My eldest two were summer babies. Ime lots of children that age are far more focused on social stuff that worrying about exams and it’ll seem even less motivating for them now with the question mark over getting into colleges etc if things remain closed or remote.

I have a y7 and y10 as well and have exactly the same concerns with regard to the maths. It's so difficult. I feel y10 experience really needs to be taken into account.

Isn't the Scottish plan now to let the teachers decide what the kids grades will be? I'd heard that was the case, but not sure. If it is, that's pretty awful to be honest. Some teachers, despite their protests against this, are highly biased and may not be fair. The majority won't be like this, but the reason for exams is to remove any bias. They should cancel the exams in England though to be the same as the rest of the UK.

I made some comment about students not being able to self study, I think I'd been on glue at the same

My DS is year 13, taking two BTECs and one A-level. He was due to sit BTEC exams on 6th and 8th January - presumably that now can't happen. The ones he was supposed to sit in June also didn't happen. He hasn't been in the classroom since the last Thursday in November due to self isolating and then the school closing. How on earth is he meant to take exams with so much time lost this year and last year? I would far rather he was learning than continued revising for more cancelled exams.

The online schooling was pretty woeful. Lack of communication, lessons going up at irregular times, no marking of work, very limited opportunity to ask questions, receive feedback and no group discussions which us how he says he learns best.
It was a case of here's the work, get on with it. He was completely lost. Working on a tiny screen tablet which was all we had available. Calls to the school didn't resolve it.
He was completely unable to even attempt design work as the instructions were incomprehensible and the teacher couldn't even make it clear to me over the phone. That subject is now a complete write off. He won't pass it.

He was even given an award for most effort/engagement with home learning in his year group so god only knows how the rest of them are coping if this was the gold standard.
It's pretty heartbreaking for them tbh.

@shufflestep

My DS is year 13, taking two BTECs and one A-level. He was due to sit BTEC exams on 6th and 8th January - presumably that now can't happen. The ones he was supposed to sit in June also didn't happen. He hasn't been in the classroom since the last Thursday in November due to self isolating and then the school closing. How on earth is he meant to take exams with so much time lost this year and last year? I would far rather he was learning than continued revising for more cancelled exams.

@shufflestep I think they've said the January vocational exams will go ahead but don't quote me on that.

Yes ! Our DC is year 10. Missed a lot of GCSE content