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?

Teachers can invigilate in their own schools. I work in AP and we all invigilate, with 2 members of staff "roving". We are trained (ie told the rules) and manage not to cheat. The JCQ inspects us annually. No issues.

Just to add we are taking the same GCSE's as the UK. International school so exactly the same exam boards. Local schools have had their exams postponed but not cancelled. They will step up hygiene measures, maintain a 1.8 metre distance between candidates, supply face masks and carry out temperature checks.

Correction, they are going ahead as planned. Sorry I thought they had been postponed slightly.

The system is bad enough already TWO rounds of mocks - who thought that was a good idea. Kids can’t take exams in the summer. It’s their holiday. Has anyone ever considered the mental health effects. Just give them predicted grades. It’s all ludicrous. 12 years of school work and then it all depends on a few hours of exams. It’s wrong.

Exams are two months away.

We really don't know how bad this will be by then. I'm sure the exam boards/schools/department of Education are considering a range of possibilities - but I don't think there's much point speculating now.

But like i said who is doing it...teachers, invigilators, cleaning staff, caretaking staff, hiring people?

I would have thought cleaning staff (at the end of the day (and students at the end of each exam could do it.

If we were in a scenario where the rest of the school shut then there wouldn't be a need to put everything away at the end of the day. Better to leave the tables and chairs out and this disinfectant properly.

And if I’m honest I’d rather whoever was wiping them was doing a thorough job...otherwise whats the point

Even if the job wasn't as thorough as it should be it would still decrease the chances of passing it on.

Even if the job wasn't as thorough as it should be it would still decrease the chances of passing it on

Thats a fair point

I still want tongs though

Even if schools close I imagine they would still expect pupils to attend for exams, as it would be very low risk as pupils are seated a reasonable distance apart and as long as common sense is used regarding hygiene I dont think they would need to cancel the actual exams unless theres serious outbreaks in specific areas. Even then it may be possible for pupils to attend larger exams in key areas to allow everyone to attend.

The system is bad enough already TWO rounds of mocks - who thought that was a good idea.

Up until fairly recently, Y11 would have sat a large whack of actual GCSE exams already.

In fact, that would have been good as they could have used those results to give grades. Bloody Gove messing things up again by insisting on terminal exams for everything.

Bloody Gove messing things up again by insisting on terminal exams for everything

Absolutely .

Bloody Gove messing things up again by insisting on terminal exams for everything

Gove is to blame for so much that is now wrong in teaching. And where is he now-is he actually accountable for any of it?!

I had to be virtually dragged away from a teacher during a parents evening

We’d stopped talking about ds2 quite early on and we were having a lovely time complaining about Gove

Gove has basically ruined my child’s life. Make him go into schools riddled with coronavirus.

Mocks wouldn't be fair here as they weren't full exams for dd, and didn't take into account her coursework and practical elements. Her predicted grades would be fairer and a better judgement.

I think dd would definitely prefer that to the thought of having to do exams in the summer holidays and having results day and university start delayed.

Though she did just say she'd rather do an extra year at school if need be.

Lovemusic33 - you can easily get your daughter online German lessons with a native speaker. She can just tell the teacher what she needs to practise. They can mark her work, etc. Lots of people in China are spending some of the spare time they've got on their hands taking online lessons.

Both DCs are doing public exams this summer. The older one is doing A'levels, so particularly crucial. If they use the mock results she won't be able to go to university at all, as she had a very bad day!

I some ways for dd it would be better just for the universities to make the decisions even without the a levels or grades. She's had to have interviews for them all and, although none for her course are giving reduced grades or unconditional any more, they did in the past. So maybe just going back to the interview notes and making unconditional offers based on those would work better. Only works for courses with interviews though.

If schools were shut down they wouldn't be busy doing other tasks though so would have time to invigilate and could do it at other schools.

Teachers will still be planning. They'll then be spending time producing learning materials and video lessons, often using unfamiliar systems and technology. They'll be having to upload it and then monitor those platforms for pupil responses. Which they'll then be marking and giving feedback online.
As well as other feedback and communication with pupils and parents.

For many staff it will be using unfamiliar systems and working in ways they've not been done before - and possibly without a laptop etc available to them. So a much slower process.

Teacher aren't going to be sat at home with their feet up if schools close.

They may well also be doing this whilst looking after their own children and supervising their own children's online learning at home too.

I know a teacher who works in China and have been looking at her advice for if we have to close. She's had teachers with little tech knowledge having to self teach themselves to do this, some having only their phone to create materials and videos on. It's not going to be lots of teachers just sat doing nothing.

It's also worth noting that if schools close for a month or whatever but exams go ahead - if those results fall, will said teachers have their appraisals etc affected and potentially their pay?!

The ASCL are calling for SATs to be scrapped along with league table accountability if the virus disrupts schools.

www.tes.com/news/scrap-sats-and-tables-if-virus-spreads-say-heads

Maybe parents could be drafted in to disinfect exam desks - one school is asking them to clean toilets!

schoolsweek.co.uk/coronavirus-school-asks-parents-to-clean-toilets-to-stop-outbreak/

Teachers will still be planning. They'll then be spending time producing learning materials and video lessons, often using unfamiliar systems and technology. They'll be having to upload it and then monitor those platforms for pupil responses. Which they'll then be marking and giving feedback online.

That will very probably not take as much time as teaching in person in front of a class.

It's also worth noting that if schools close for a month or whatever but exams go ahead - if those results fall, will said teachers have their appraisals etc affected and potentially their pay?!

The results won't fall if everyone's in the same position -they can just standardise them.

Woodchuck - the experience from my ex colleague who's been doing this for a China school is that in the first couple f weeks it was taking most staff a long tine as it wasn't something they knew much about. They had to spend time teaching themselves how to do it first.

Plus when supervising their own children too.

@Aragog they wouldn't have had much time to prepare in China. We know what could happen so schools should be preparing for this already. Most people in the UK have computers as well so wouldn't have to use phones. I teach online and it is time-consuming than face-to-face.

Luckily for maths teachers, the online videos teaching concepts are already there, for free.

corbettmaths.com/

I’m not going to be videoing myself sat in my kitchen.