GCSE/A Level will be teacher assessed again?

[Lemons1571]

Watching how this is all going, with many 14 day isolations and patchy remote provision, I can’t see next years exams happening. I don’t think the government can either. It’s not a fair playing field. At this rate the year 11/13’s won’t even cover all the content, let alone revision techniques. And this chaotic situation is going to run until at least the spring.

I suspect that’s why primaries are prioritised over secondaries in the current guidance. Keeping primaries open does at least let parents work and help the economy. Keeping secondaries open doesn't (at least short term). Bung them all their predicted grades and say “we tried”. That’s why schools are doing assessments in the next few weeks, to get some data ready.

If nothing has changed with the covid situation come spring, we won’t even be able to get the kids together in a hall to physically sit the exams. They won’t fit while keeping 2m distance. If they hire external halls they’ll need hundreds of trained invigilators (and these are often older people so understandably may not want the job!). What if they have to start a 14 day isolation the day before their first exam? Do they get awarded nothing?

I think Ofqual can’t say this yet, as the affected year groups would just stop working right now. But I am really struggling to see how these exams could fairly happen in 8 months time.

@Nellodee

I am very concerned about this. If some students have received months less teaching than others, how is this possibly fair?

Nellodee are you talking more about last term or the ones coming up?

Did some schools do ‘no new content’ in exam years last term or was that more the younger years

"But teacher assessed grades which are known will not be moderated are a recipe for massive grade inflation."

This won't be a popular opinion - but so what. Let a couple of year cohorts have inflated grades, better than marking them all down - these young people are going to have enough to contend with to make a life post this shit show.

But in any case student grades could be moderated in a more human and nuanced way than this years' catastrophic classist algorhithm (who got paid for designing that?) anyway, as basically all universities managed to do for example.

I'm more thinking about now, and this coming year. If we have local lockdowns, some areas will have way more teaching than others. Cornwall will be at a huge advantage over Manchester, for example.

Whether the schools did new content or not, I don't think is important. For all the complaining about students not getting any work set on Mumsnet, very few students (about a third?) completed any of the work we gave them, so we're having to assume we have to go over it all anyway.

@Nellodee

Whether the schools did new content or not, I don't think is important. For all the complaining about students not getting any work set on Mumsnet, very few students (about a third?) completed any of the work we gave them, so we're having to assume we have to go over it all anyway.

It was a better rate than that at Ds’ secondary, according to info from liaison teacher there. It was pretty good as a school though throughout. (Primary the opposite but not so important).

@Nellodee

Whether the schools did new content or not, I don't think is important. For all the complaining about students not getting any work set on Mumsnet, very few students (about a third?) completed any of the work we gave them, so we're having to assume we have to go over it all anyway.

I would say that’s optimistic.

"It didn’t happen. The teacher assessments and the CAG’s were heavily moderated. No school would do that, knowing they’d be in huge amounts of trouble and audited. Oh and they’d never hit performance related targets again.

I can’t believe that’s a serious question."

It is a serious question. Tell the above to the universities who are now struggling to accommodate vastly over subscribed students due to their unobtainable grades, to the detriment of the current year 13s thanks to deferrals.

Exams should have taken place. Easy to just get 11s and 13s in to take exams, even if the rest of the school is home learning. It should have happened this year and it's absolutely what should happen in the next exam season come hell or high water.

@Nellodee

I'm more thinking about now, and this coming year. If we have local lockdowns, some areas will have way more teaching than others. Cornwall will be at a huge advantage over Manchester, for example.

Although it will probably be areas like Cornwall where a large % of local families especially those living further from the coast are living in poverty and thus have suffered from patchy access to education during lockdown who suffer most.

I read an article saying poorer kids in inner cities did far better than poorer kids in rural areas. Large bustling inner city comprehensives seemed better at ensuring their kids were switched on, IT wise.

But of course, the big difference will be the provision and support across households. My 3 didn’t need to wait to share a device. None had to squint to read work on my phone. They didn’t have both parents still needing to go to work all day earning minimum wage in a supermarket and factory. Lots of teens were left to their own thoughts and actions all day from March to September. Many did not engage at all with school. The exams next year are going to highlight huge differences, I fear,

@MaddieElla

"It didn’t happen. The teacher assessments and the CAG’s were heavily moderated. No school would do that, knowing they’d be in huge amounts of trouble and audited. Oh and they’d never hit performance related targets again.

I can’t believe that’s a serious question."

It is a serious question. Tell the above to the universities who are now struggling to accommodate vastly over subscribed students due to their unobtainable grades, to the detriment of the current year 13s thanks to deferrals.

Exams should have taken place. Easy to just get 11s and 13s in to take exams, even if the rest of the school is home learning. It should have happened this year and it's absolutely what should happen in the next exam season come hell or high water.

I have a Year 13, you have no idea what you’re talking about. If anyone could’ve done exams it was last year. This year, they have missed too much and are still expected to take exams on a full curriculum. When you factor in isolation and everything else, it’s not possible. Unless you want to lobby the exam boards and the government to sort it out.

Wow nelly that sounds full on but maybe all that testing is ok especially for grammars. My DC have heard nothing about mocks. To be fair I’d just assumed situation normal and my yr11 will do some pre xmas and others post, as per usual. My yr13 was due to do mocks in Feb. Having said this they have returned to a fair few tests.

Itisasecret, I also have a year 13 and absolutely do know what I'm talking about. 🙄

And yes, my point was that the year 11s and 13s from this year (2020, not the current year 11 and 13s) should have taken their exams.

My DD has missed nothing. She is ready for mocks in one week and has worked solidly throughout lockdown. She now faces applying for a heavily over subscribed university course that she likely won't receive an offer for because of the promise of deferrals this year.

No, now this is a known issue as opposed to the panic stations in March, there is a lot of work being done to secure the exams/assessments.

It's falling on the schools to be sure they get the content taught, changing around their programmes, flipping the learning and working with remote and online learning to be sure that learners are fully prepared. They are the ones who know the learners the demographics and their expertise to look at the best content and options.

AOs are working on the exam options, mitigation's and back ups.

This all assumes local lockdowns and isolations taking place, if another full lockdown comes in the plans will change again. It's been categorically said so far No CAGs by Ofqual (doesn't mean that won't change but don't plan/assume it will be the case)

'My DD has missed nothing. She is ready for mocks in one week and has worked solidly throughout lockdown. She now faces applying for a heavily over subscribed university course that she likely won't receive an offer for because of the promise of deferrals this year.'

@MaddieElla - If your DD is now in Y11 and has missed nothing, then that is nothing short of a miracle, and is highly unusual. Unless maybe she's at private school?

But if you are in area where they struggled to do adequate remote provision last term, and then suffer numerous 14 day self isolation periods, how will pupils ever catch up. But then how can they say they have covered enough of the syllabus to be given a grade in something eg if a student has consistently got Grade 9 in maths work, so if given teacher assessment would get Grade 9 but had only covered half the syllabus would they be able to do Maths A-level. But if they sat the GCSE they may be lucky to scrape a pass. It's more complicated than last year

Timtims, I wrote that my DD was in Year 13, not 11. Hence the University application.

Not a private school. Just a diligent pupil completing all the work set by the school. No topics missed.

@MaddieElla yr13 is a little simpler with 3 subjects. But I’m still impressed that she’s missed nothing. Good for her.
I’ve both yr13 and yr11 and have no idea if it’ll be exams or CAGs. I’m not sure what would be best as the whole historical data and ranking with CAGs screws it up. As a uni lecturer we moderated to death but it is fairer.

@RigaBalsam
Re 3 year gcse courses and them not being liked, I cannot understand this for most subjects. In maths, the questions build in complexity over the years and work up to gcse. Similar with languages, building grammar and vocab. Same with sciences with many topics being done repeatedly but with greater detail. So for maths, it seems to me as if you could call them 10 year courses as building from reception as far as I can see.
These above are progressive/progressional (?) subjects unlike say geography or history where set gcse topics are learnt.
Am I missing something?

[quote WithIcePlease]@RigaBalsam
Re 3 year gcse courses and them not being liked, I cannot understand this for most subjects. In maths, the questions build in complexity over the years and work up to gcse. Similar with languages, building grammar and vocab. Same with sciences with many topics being done repeatedly but with greater detail. So for maths, it seems to me as if you could call them 10 year courses as building from reception as far as I can see.
These above are progressive/progressional (?) subjects unlike say geography or history where set gcse topics are learnt.
Am I missing something? [/quote]
I agree this is one article that I found.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/schoolsweek.co.uk/three-year-gcse-no-outstanding-for-you/amp/

And this
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/schoolsweek.co.uk/the-ofsted-effect-schools-ditch-three-year-gcses/amp/

my Y11 is at an Academy that has not assessed them since Sept 19.
Provision of work during lockdown poor.
Bubbles off now.
It's hopeless.

I worry for the accuracy of CAGs this year though as it stands. We had a lot of robust data for our leaving year 11s and our CAGs were probably >98% accurate on average to what the kids would have actually got (using several data analysts programs available to schools).

However, for the current year 11s we have very little data as they missed lots last year including their year 10 planned mocks. Sure we can just ram them through some mocks now for the sake of it, but they wont be anything like the data we had available for teacher assessments last year.

People moaned about the bias and errors for this year. As it stands it would be far worse. I personally wouldn't be calling for teacher assessment at this stage.

I guess they have to make the call early next year though. They can’t wait until the end of April and drop the planned exams at that point.

Exams should have taken place. Easy to just get 11s and 13s in to take exams, even if the rest of the school is home learning. It should have happened this year and it's absolutely what should happen in the next exam season come hell or high water

Well if they could have made it work with SD they could have done it this year as they would have only missed a few weeks' teaching, and right at the end when they were probably moving to revision anyway.

But I repeat - this years Y11s and 13s have missed over a term of face to face teaching - which is ONE FIFTH of the course. They cannot have exams in the same way next year. Something has to change, but at the moment very little is planned to change. Oh I know - no poetry for GCSE English Lit - except now it is again.

Mine seems to have a fair few assessments going on but I thing she is one of the ones they are not 100% on grades - they have always in my view underestimated her very unfairly in my view. So I am pleased she is having a few double assessments doing two different levels papers to give them a feel for how she will do and also that she fully understands what they are doing and what rides on these.

A question I would like to ask those in the know is with all this shinanigans how can we keep our kids on an even keel and flexible in their education so that when things are changed up and quickly or at the last minute etc they can cope with this - don't get me wrong I don't have an issue with this more I would like to help her cope better with it and feel confident in her ability to cope - academically she is not a natural top dog - probably runs along in second place BUT with a bit of a push an a bit more confidence would go up a notch or two. For me as long as her grades are decent and she gets through to what she wants to do I am happy as longer term I think they fade into insignificance so long as you have Maths and English.

My DD has missed nothing. She is ready for mocks in one week and has worked solidly throughout lockdown. She now faces applying for a heavily over subscribed university course that she likely won't receive an offer for because of the promise of deferrals this year

Well to be fair my son missed nothing for two subjects either as he had online lessons and they were up to date at the end of the academic year. But that is still not the same as face to face lessons, although some people learn better on their own, so maybe the situation just suited your dd better. However she doesn't need to worry next year - according to the Times good university guide, the deferral rate next year is low, we won't have the EU students coming, so the squeeze on places will be much less than feared. Lets hope so!