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Welcome to Scotsnet - discuss all aspects of life in Scotland, including relocating, schools and local areas.

Original poster

Highers and AH cancelled!

88 replies

ScoldsBridle · 08/12/2020 16:15

My DS is horrified!!

OP posts:
JacobReesMogadishu · 08/12/2020 16:20

England will surely have to follow now. Sadly I think it's the right decision.

Lidlfix · 08/12/2020 16:24

My DD is too and not looking forward to trying to reassure pupils tomorrow. But the parental survey clearly showed that was what the majority wanted.

Not looking forward to the workload impact As we do our own jobs and SQA . Again.

WouldBeGood · 08/12/2020 16:48

@Lidlfix that’s interesting, what will the SQA be doing if there are no exams?

Icedteaplease · 08/12/2020 16:49

I think my Higher class will be devastated too. We have had virtually no disruption to schooling, my lot are really hardworking and keen to prove themselves. Sitting exams is a rite of passage in many ways and it must be hard for them to not have that experience. I absolutely understand why the govt are doing it but for those of us who have had such little disruption, it is a bitter pill to swallow.

dementedpixie · 08/12/2020 16:54

I sont know how it will work with dd and her AH English as it is done remotely through another school and I doubt the teacher has a clue who she is! Pre-covid she would have attended the school but can't now. Remote learning has been shit and she never gets feedback on work she has done

OOAOML · 08/12/2020 17:00

At least they know now rather than waiting. With some pupils isolating multiple times it would be difficult to come up with a fair solution.

Bejazzled · 08/12/2020 17:07

This reply has been deleted

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Bejazzled · 08/12/2020 17:08

@dementedpixie

I sont know how it will work with dd and her AH English as it is done remotely through another school and I doubt the teacher has a clue who she is! Pre-covid she would have attended the school but can't now. Remote learning has been shit and she never gets feedback on work she has done
That’s really poor
Changethetoner · 08/12/2020 17:12

So, my DD didn't sit the Nat5s this year, and won't sit Highers next year. She's missing ALL the exams. What a strange state of affairs.

Orcadianrythyms · 08/12/2020 17:13

My boy is really upset, he's not had any missed time but struggled to pick up from the months off. He'll have had no exams for Nats or Highers. It's not setting them up well for universitySad

vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 08/12/2020 17:18

I really feel for the kids who's first experience of sitting exams will be at uni. That sucks.

Lidlfix · 08/12/2020 17:37

Care to explain Bejazzled ? Does my uniform offend? I don't lower myself calling strangers names online.

What have I said that is arrogant? When I mark for SQA I do it separately from my teaching post and am remunerated accordingly. I also undertake training to carry out that role. This year I did not .

Did those estimate grades magically make their way? Be sensitive about your employer/ role if that's how you feel but I can assure you that does not make me arrogant about what mine was.

Lidlfix · 08/12/2020 17:41

And if I am so arrogant why is payment now being proposed? Hmm

ComeonMoira · 08/12/2020 17:46

England will surely have to follow now

We really don't.
I hope Gavin Williamson holds his nerve.

Don't laugh!

DollyMixtureLulus · 08/12/2020 17:48

Huh- England closing all schools on the 17th, with an inset on the 18th, Scotland cancelled all exams... it's like an national game of chicken Hmm

Mistressiggi · 08/12/2020 17:52

Lidfix your guess is as good as mine, what a strange post!
Personally I like to think Swinney just put the payment thing in to give UFT something else to froth about.

Bejazzled · 08/12/2020 17:54

@Lidlfix

And if I am so arrogant why is payment now being proposed? Hmm
To assume you are doing SQA’s job at any time or indeed “again” is certainly arrogant. I didn’t call you names at all, I commented on your attitude. If you have concerns over your workload then don’t take on any extra paid work. SQA only do what the government ministers tell them to, the H and AH work was well under way in full swing before this latest late decision. Yet again those workers are left with an easy target on their backs. The new payment is being proposed for political reasons obviously. The previous estimated grades didn’t magically make their way - maybe if they had they would have been more accurate.
Sexnotgender · 08/12/2020 17:56

I knew this would happen. I told my daughter sitting advanced highers before the term even started that she needs to treat this year like the exams aren’t going ahead and EVERY piece of work counts.

timeforanewstart · 08/12/2020 17:57

England won't cancel they have already said they will go ahead but just change things slightly

Sexnotgender · 08/12/2020 17:58

@timeforanewstart

England won't cancel they have already said they will go ahead but just change things slightly
Scotland said something similar.
Neeko · 08/12/2020 18:00

It's not the money that concerns me, it's the time to do it properly. I don't want money, I want time to spend assessing, to train and to discuss standards. There's no study leave in 2021 and all that assessing and moderating to ensure everyone is marking to the same standard takes time, if done properly. I want my pupils to have the mark they deserve (because they are working very hard for it). I also want our grading to be of an equal standard to all schools across the country.
An exam system makes that part of the assessment fairer. Pupils need to know that they are being assessed fairly and employers and further education need to know that the grades are accurate.
Schools need considerable time (and in most cases training) to ensure that happens. Effective training takes time too...
I'm already working 50-60 hours a week to keep up with teaching in school and on-line, plus our normal marking. Where does the extra time come from and what are they willing for us to sacrifice to prioritise this? Extra pay would be nice but it won't extend the day or do away with all the pupils who need teaching and assessing as part of our "normal" jobs. There also won't be markers' meetings, seeded scripts, papers that you have to mark accurately to "clear" you for live marking, cross-checking, comparing actual grades to estimates... all the checks and balances that the normal exam system has to ensure fairness.

(Before anyone says anything about the hours I work, yes I do know that loads of people work such long weeks without school holidays etc, but the summer holidays will be after all this assessing needs to be completed by. If you see the holidays as a perk that negates any of my other concerns, please do retrain as a teacher.)

dancerdog · 08/12/2020 18:03

WouldBeGood SQA do more than NQ.

KatySun · 08/12/2020 18:03

Teachers who mark for the SQA usually do it on top of their usual teaching load bejazzled, as a choice, as at least as I understand it. So the markers for the SQA are teachers who are paid independently of their day job. It is like it I take on a consultant-type role on top of my job and am paid for it.

Last year, the SQA did not mark anything, that is they did not hire and pay markers (teachers in a consultant type extra role) but asked teachers in day time normal school role to do it. (Saving a lot of money, surely).

This is what I understood Lidl to be saying when she said she is doing her own job and the SQA’s job.

RaspberryCoulis · 08/12/2020 18:06

Well I think we all know who Bejazzled works for. Hmm

Of course it's shit to mess around with exams being on, off, on again, teacher assessed. Teachers have been planning for this though, I know my S6's teachers are geared up for it and will be doing robust testing, monitoring, assessing.

This is a totally different scenario from last May's exams when it was all "normal" until March when the exams were pulled with about 6 weeks to go.

The SQA aren't setting exams, aren't marking exams, aren't collating scripts coming in from schools (and losing a few as they seem to do each year), aren't really doing much. Will get the marks in from school and issue certificates with those grades on for exams at ALL levels this year. It's purely an admin, data input exercise because we saw how well that worked out last year with their "algorithm".

The poor wee lambs at the SQA must be run off their feet. Hmm John Swinney's brother among them.

Lidlfix · 08/12/2020 18:12

Must have really hurt to put those grades up for those poor kids downgraded by an algorithm.

You must be so far back in your WFH role that you have no concept of reality in schools. The ludicrous suggestion that a classroom teacher might be able to opt out of the moderation and verification process .

You are a wonderful ambassador for your organisation. No wonder we all feel so confident. Your attitude towards estimates should be shared far and wide.

Why don't you start a thread about this so that the posters who want to come on and express their worries about DC and pupils can have peace.