Surely they can't cancel GCSEs and A levels again

[Marcellemouse]

Heard there are calls for it. After what happened with this years cohorts surely it can't happen and it's a terrible idea.

I can't see them being cancelled in England. They won't want it as it they can't figure it out. I just think the government have stuck their head in the sand a d trying to ignore the issue.

A three week delay will have no real benefits. These kids missed potentially 3 months of their course. There will currently be a massive north south divide due to the number of school bubble closures Halle big, particularly in the north.

Admitting this would also mean admitting than maybe relying on an exam system tat has only final exams isn't always such a good idea. Had GCSEs not been changed to be primarily exam only at end of year 2, and similar for a levels, we would be in a much better position for having teacher assessed grades. Under the older systems many students would have already had some modules under their belt and some graded coursework could be being externally moderated and assessed to go with it.

DfE once more ignoring that a hefty number of subjects have coursework
Do they? I can only think of Art and maybe Geog at our school

Teacher assessment wasn't perfect and needs much clearer guidance. Some schools really messed up. In courses with a lot of coursework some schools failed kids massively at gcse and a level.

But these could be given much clearer guidance now to ensure that kind of issue didn't happen again. Coursework elements could still happen and be included properly this time round.

At many schools internal exams and mocks could still happen in order to assist TAGs being a little more accurate - they could make use of last year's unused papers to help with this.

But the government needs to actually want to make it happen rather than be just hoping they can just go ahead.

I don't know why they cancelled last years: the syllabus should have been long finished by mid march,

Under the new curriculum this is simply not the case at all for many subjects. Most not teach right up to the exams - so another month or two to go.

Plus in many coursework elements were not complete, let alone assessed and moderated.

At the point of them being cancelled we still had no idea how bad it was going to get, or not. Scientists were suggesting huge numbers meaning that teenagers and teachers could be hugely affected and not be there to sit exams, and would be likely to be ill in the run up.

The decision had to be made before those questions could be answered.

Hindsight is a great tool.

Janevaljane

There are more.

For a level Dd had NEA elements in all three a levels. In drama it was 60%.

In her GCSEs a number had NEA to varying degrees.

My DD did her first mock exam last Wednesday, an announcement on Monday isn’t going to change how that took place. The rest are next week, like a poster above we had 2 weeks notice.
I see no reason why teacher assessment & a reduced exam timetable can’t be used.
For those saying the kids would slack off if exams were cancelled - I think it’s quite the opposite. Most kids are being told to do every piece of work as if it is their gcse.

Yes, janeespecially at A Level which this article is about .
You ahve all the technology subjects, IT subjects, media, film, geography, history A Level, English Lit A Level, Lang Lit A level, drama, music, etc etc etc

I don't really understand the mocks being 'more rigorous' - I though mock exams were set by schools not be exam boards? How will they ensure they are more rigorous? Like many others I just cannot see how 'A' levels can go ahead, too much missed by many pupils etc. That said I tend to agree with other posters that saying exams will be cancelled at this stage will mean some will slack which won't help them going to uni.

Mocks being more rigorous sounds strange to me too. Are some schools not doing them under exam conditions or something?

When is the tutoring programme starting? Iirc supposed to be November ? Have they announced who gets this help?

Tutoring program? Is there any funding?
My school is expecting teachers to set work for identified students as they have said no funding has materialised.
How is this going to work as they were the students who fell behind in remote learning situation?
I am currently refusing to do it. My students in Y11 who have fallen behind are those that chose not to do the work I set for them nor did they attend any live lessons I did.

@Piggywaspushed

Yes, janeespecially at A Level which this article is about . You ahve all the technology subjects, IT subjects, media, film, geography, history A Level, English Lit A Level, Lang Lit A level, drama, music, etc etc etc

It must depend on the board then. No coursework in Eng Lit here, or History either.

A Level?? You sure??

Irrelevant anyway, since it still exists. And they are still ignoring this issue.

I think so!! I could be wrong! I'll check.

Teacher assessed grades were fine. The farce was the algorithm.

I think they were both a disaster. You really don't want your grades decided by whether your teacher likes you, is sexist, racist etc.

Teacher assessed grades were fine in some schools , in others they were ‘aspirational’ which was probably great for those students but lead to massive grade inflation and was desperately unfair on those schools who submitted more realistic grades. It’s also very damaging for the student - teacher relationship.

The truth is that there is no sensible way to assign grades on an exam only course to people who haven't taken the exam.

If it were up to me, I would be reintroducing assessed coursework and finding every possible method to give partial marks from now until June.

jane every exam board has NEA at A level for English Lit. 30% of total mark.

@JacobReesMogadishu

I think it would be best if they did.

My friends year 11 Ds has like every one missed a term of education. Now the whole year is self isolating for 2 weeks. Who's to know how many times they may have to self isolate, either as individuals or as a year. Some schools could be very affected by this, others less so. So not fair and equitable.

Kids won't step off the gas if they think there's a possibility of no exams. They'll do the opposite and be working their arse off now as they know the alternative is that the teacher ranks them. They need to do their utmost in every class test and bit of homework.

This. If children n know each piece of set work will contribute to their end of year mark. They are less likely to coast. I know that is true of my DS

Which we had up until Govey interfered not….

piggy I stand corrected. Absolutely sure dd said she didn't have any coursework obviously wasn't listening properly

She doesn't have any. CIE English Literature.

Making mocks more rigorous... I once tutored a child who was given a very strange list of revision topics for a mock exam (things more to do with the details of the question than the actual theory behind the question). It took me about 5 minutes to work out which past paper he was going to be given as a mock. Had there been an advantage to him of doing this, I could easily have coached him into doing exceptionally well on that paper!

I'd hope that that sort of thing has been eliminated in a more rigorous mocks system!

CIE is an entirely different beast as an international qualification outwith the main system.

Yes I realise that now!