To wonder what will happen if exams are impacted by Corona

[B1gbluehouse]

Starting to think they aren’t going to want halls filled with 100s of kids if it spreads more.

What will happen to GCSE and A level students if they can’t take their exams?

The exams may go ahead but for children who have lost weeks of lessons, either through their own illness or that of teaching staff or classmates, the situation is worrying.
What will stop people feigning coronavirus to avoid sitting their exams, or get some marking credits?

Most things (teacher absence, student illness etc) happen to a number of students every year. Those who are disproportionately affected get adjustments to the final mark, provided there is proper evidence. There is likely to be more students who are affected this year, but I imagine to procedure will remain the same.

By disproportionately affected by illness I mean if they have tonsillitis during their actual exams, not a couple of weeks off in March / April time. And nobody gets adjustment due to teachers being off. Unless actually ill I'd expect students to be studying from home during any school closures.

However, I think it is unlikely schools will be asked to close for any significant period (how would the economy cope with parents being unable to work due to having no childcare?!), and exams are a long way off yet. At our school we have already been asked to start to consider how we could continue to support learning of exam classes on the off chance that the school was closed.

But as far as I know, schools have to provide the exam boards with predicted grades based on mocks, tests, and general teacher evaluation, so the predictions could be used for GCSEs too.

We don’t provide exam boards with predictions for GCSEs at all any more and it’s widely known that predicted grades for A-level are massively over predicted.

We may end up with scenarios like in Norwich during November resits where students take their exams in massive marquees instead of school halls.

I'm a teacher and I think they would go on predicted grades rather then mocks. Both teachers and exam boards now there is a huge improvement from mocks. When we have to use predicted grades usually (for example when the student is ill) they take the predicted grades and we provide evidence if required, for example the standard of work in books/mocks etc. They wouldn't just go on a mock grade.

What currently happens when a student misses an exam is if they have sat 25% of the assessment for GCSE or A-level (for example if they sit 1 out of 3 maths papers), then the grade will be awarded based on their performance on that paper.

Missing all the papers would mean an awfully long period of disruption.

They will properly no more then about how it spreads. At the moment they are saying that if people are 2 m apart from an infected person they are unlikely to catch it so maybe the exams will happen but with children more spaced out. It would be possible if the other years aren't at school.

-properly no more-- probably know more! dictation software errors!

It would be possible if the other years aren't at school.

Provided there are sufficient staff, as it would mean more exam rooms and therefore more invigilators. Are teachers even allowed to invigilate exams in their own schools? Or perhaps we'd end up with local schools swapping staff for invigilation purposes.

Except that before and after the exams students always huddle together in tight groups! And invigilators have to move around the exam room so will necessarily be close to students.

This gives an insight to Ofquals considerations in 2010 after swine flu had threatened the exams the previous year and snow and ash had disrupted events that year:
dera.ioe.ac.uk/1071/1/2010-05-ensuring-the-successful-delivery-of-national-examinations.pdf

And this is current planning which always exists, but was updated yesterday:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/exam-system-contingency-plan-england-wales-and-northern-ireland/what-schools-and-colleges-should-do-if-exams-or-other-assessments-are-seriously-disrupted

That report says anyone missing an exam either had their results extrapolated from other papers they had sat (through the special consideration process, which now needs only 25% of the assessment to have been taken) or that candidates take the exam next time it’s on.

Disruption then was minimal!

I think predicted grades are the best solution, even though there is evidence that they are generally too optimistic! I think something like 75% of predicted grades are too high?

If they give out predicted grades for A-levels, then a lot of university courses will end up over capacity (I realise this is already happening in some universites). E.g. Cambridge gives out more offers than they have places, because they know from experience that not all offer-holders will achieve the grades.

I think predicted grades are the best solution

Predicted grades are the worst solution imo. Completely unfair for all students. A level UCAS grades are always optimistic and are set in Sept / Oct in most schools. They take no account of how a student performs through year 13. They are also variable depending on the individual teacher. Some are more persuadable to higher grades than others. Some just don't like the student very much. It would be better to use GCSE grade for uni entry - at least they are externally marked and standardised.

Predicted grades are a terrible solution!

Or perhaps we'd end up with local schools swapping staff for invigilation purposes

Teachers aren’t invigilators, so I doubt we’d be allowed to just swap and go to a different school. Exams officers have their own invigilator teams who are properly trained.

Surely they would just resit at a later date. Would be really unfair to go on mock results. My son's teacher said they tend to go up a grade at GCSE level in comparison to mocks!

Surely they would just resit at a later date

But when?! It would have to be well before September when sixth form and university terms began.

Imagine trying to reschedule hundreds of GCSE and A level exams. You’d need buildings, teachers, invigilators-all of whom probably aren’t around in August.

Mine informed me they would all receive 9's, her teacher told them. I had to laugh.

Mocks just wouldn’t work. Sat at different times of year, diff content, diff conditions. Would be ludicrous.

My GCSE aged son just told me that his school have told him they will do them in the summer holidays.

Oh god, all that exam stress for even longer.😩

Wonder if they’ll close early for Easter.

My GCSE aged son just told me that his school have told him they will do them in the summer holidays.

There's no way anyone knows that. Whoever told them is talking rubbish.

I don't see how they can just do them in the summer holidays. The invigilators may not be around then. Students may have holidays booked. Also, if schools are shut down in June/July due to coronavirus it may not be a good idea to reopen them in the summer anyway.

Ofqual is working with the government to update their emergency contingency processes. This was from a new report earlier today

"According to Ofqual:
In the absence of any instruction from the relevant awarding organisation, schools should make sure that any exam or timetabled assessment takes place if it is possible to hold it. This may mean relocating to alternative premises.
Schools should discuss alternative arrangements with their awarding organisation if:
• the exam or assessment cannot take place
• a student misses an exam or loses their assessment due to an emergency, or other event, outside of the student’s control
The Ofqual plan adds: "In the event of widespread sustained national disruption, the government departments will communicate with regulators, awarding organisations and centres prior to a public announcement.
"Regulators will provide advice to government departments on implications for exam timetables."
The current advice is that schools should try to continue teaching as normal, making alternative arrangements where necessary, and should try to hold the exams as timetabled if they can.
Under current rules students can get special dispensation if their exams or revision are disrupted - which can include increasing their score or using an alternative method to determine the results."