Wales, GCSEs and A levels cancelled

[Orangeblossom7777]

Just seen this. Wonder what will happen in England. Scotland cancelled theirs too I think, Nat 5s anyway

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54888376

*Assessments will be done under teacher supervision, and will begin in the second half of the spring term.
They will be externally set and marked but delivered within the classroom.
Today I’m pleased to confirm Wales’ approach for qualifications in 2021.

It is my intention there will be no end of year GCSEs, AS levels or A levels exams*

I hope England follows suit. Seems very unfair otherwise and a very uneven field for applying to university for those leaving sixth form.

How could it be fair across the country if one place is doing something different to the rest? it doesn't make sense really does it.

Oh god. My 17yo in upper 6th right now is going to be devastated. We're not in Wales but I can't believe there wouldn't be parity across the UK - anything else is madness.

www.tes.com/news/gcses-2021-scrapping-exams-risks-harm-warns-ofsted

Ofsted asked about this by MPs today they have advised otherwise.

Assessments will be done under teacher supervision, and will begin in the second half of the spring term.

What? How does that work? So they will be done 4 months early? And they are being externally set and marked?

How is that in any way 'cancelling' them?

No it does not. And how can they possibly be considering taking exams earlier. They've already lost months, now they want to take exams before they usually would, meaning they'll lose even more time.

As a parent of a GCSE pupil my first thought was that the plan was to delay exams to allow extra time to catch up but this seems to be going the opposite way- how can they cover all the work if assessments are taken in the Spring term, on top of the disruption?

Would it not be better to have an agreed approach across the country rather than Wales just doing this and setting a precedent for elsewhere?

steppermum I thought the same, I was simply using the headline from the BBC regarding 'cancelling' the exams.

www.tes.com/news/gcses-2021-avoid-teacher-assessed-grades-dfe-told

Been keeping an eye on this recently, other most recent advice I read was about avoiding 'teacher assessed grades'

i do hope the exams go ahead in some form and the pupils get sufficient time to revise for them. It would be stressful to have the mocks used I think

Any thoughts on 'benchmarking tests'?

"A new series of benchmarking tests to provide “contingency grades” if summer exams cannot take place for most students, to take place in the spring term."

Set externally same as usual
Marked externally same as usual
Take place in school same as usual

On what planet is that a cancellation of exams? They're just earlier which is even weirder. Maybe they think if kids don't think they did very well they can hop over the border after Easter and take the English version.

Oh God I hope they're not cancelled in England. I lost all my private tutoring work last spring (it's my only income) because exams were cancelled. I've only just started picking up again this year. I can't afford for exams to be cancelled again.

DS is in year 13.

He and his friends absolutely do not want the exams cancelled.

They've worked bloody hard and they want the chance to prove themselves.

Honestly I think it's a shitty decision and not in children's interests at all.

I'm hoping that Westminster does not follow suit on this.

What the heck are Wales doing? That’s not cancelling them at all. I’ve yr11 and Yr13. My yr11 doesn’t really mind either way as she’ll no doubt stay at school 6th form where they know her and her abilities albeit she’d like to prove herself. My Yr13 will be livid if they’re cancelled as it really does mess up university applications.
I really do not understand why Wales are doing this. Bizarre.

What do they expect the pupils to do from spring until the following autumn?

Guess what BBC now reporting Northern Ireland may go the same way

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54882421

Sometimes it feels to me that the BBC news does not help with it's egging on of anything covid related.

My child didn’t get to sit his A levels in 2020. It really was a fiasco. He didn’t get the grades he needed for his career. His CAGs were internally moderated sand no way reflected his UCAS grades or his March end of term report. Using teacher assessments isn’t as great as it sounds especially in state schools where the number of grades is moderated.

I have a year 11 and a year 13.

They are doing mocks now.

My year 13 is stuffed if they use these as he is, between year 13 stuff catching up on stuff he didn't get last year.

He needs to external stimulus of exams.

So not happy. What will they do until June if they have finished?

I'm reluctant to agree with the Welsh minister but there's no way GCSEs can be fair to everyone, with the amount of Covid disruption since April. Not everyone has been affected in the same way, so how can they possibly expect them all to take exams in the same way?

I'd put money on Boris giving us bluster, confusion and rhetoric for a few more weeks then cancelling early next year.

I think they’ll be cancelled. To be clear, all options on the table are shit. But they can’t get away from the unfairness of a child in a high covid area that’s been in school maybe 8 days since March because of repeated isolations, versus a child in a low covid area that’s been in full time since June / Sept.

We all know that schools should have provided top quality remote education since April. A lot didn’t. For whatever reason, it didn’t happen. There was actually no legal requirement for them to do so until October half term. Forget all the “they should have...”, we need to act on where we are.

It’s not ideal. It’s all a mess. But it’s reality.

Next summer 2021, you can’t have one child who’s been at school maybe a few weeks in total since March 2020, sitting GCSE’s. Sitting there not recognising some of the content that has been missed due to their isolation absence. It won’t fly will it.

@DeRigueurMortis

DS is in year 13.

He and his friends absolutely do not want the exams cancelled.

They've worked bloody hard and they want the chance to prove themselves.

Honestly I think it's a shitty decision and not in children's interests at all.

I'm hoping that Westminster does not follow suit on this.

Absolutely agree with this (also have a DS in Yr 13).

I think GCSEs and A levels need to be treated differently from each other as one is a set of compulsory exams and the other kids have chosen that route post-16.

Have they spoken to Year 13 pupils and asked them what they want? My DD has worked incredibly hard for the duration of Year 12 and now Year 13. She is likely to do well out of school assessed grades or exam condition grades but I will be sad for her if she doesn't get a chance to prove herself or grade inflation occurs again and her grades are valued less.

I agree they need clarity right now over what is going to happen.

The current situation is causing more stress because schools and colleges can't trust the government not to do a U-turn and are acting as though it will be some kind of centre assessed grades. They are testing the students frequently and this revision is getting in the way of regular homework and consolidating the new things they are learning. Plus, my daughters' college is tearing through the content - perhaps to leave a lot of revision time at the end of the course which can be tailored to each students' needs, but also because they fear a lockdown in January which will include education.

I'm noticing more reporting on school disruption and closures today as well from the BBC.

DS (yr11) has already asked if we can move to Wales....( self isolating due burst bubble)

getting some work through but who knows how much work kids are missing through this- he's lucky we wfh, he has a laptop and decent broadband......

my nephew has isolated twice already.....there is no way it'll be any good by next summer..