GCSEs Summer 2020 (thread 4) -the final countdown

[PostNotInHaste]

Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1(year 10)

Hope OrangeCinnamon doesn’t mind me starting another in her absence , feel twitchy without ! Apologies in advance if I have messed the links up.

The last thread ended with discussion of possible school closures, not really what we want to hear at this point - let’s hope things sound more positive as thread progresses.

Does anyone know about pearson edexcel IGCSES being sat outside of the UK? are they cancelled

DS was ill during mocks last month and I don’t think has a full set and the ones he sat he was well off his game, I don’t think for one moment they will just use one set of results but have just emailed the poor teachers just to flag it up. Have arranged for his locker stuff to be collected.

I was hoping a night's sleep on things might make things a bit clearer today, but I have even more questions now.n
We got two quite different emails from our DD's schools last night. One said for year 11 and 13 to carry on working, the other said that they expected grades to be given based on evidence.

DD has gone into school in a state of high anxiety, knowing that tomorrow will be her last day, but not quite being able to believe it, especially as some of her teachers are off and she can't thank the others properly because school hasn't truly finished until some weeks after the Easter holidays.
Her school has even just sent an invoice for the school prom in June.

DH and I lost all foreseeable income in Tuesday, when the theatre's shut. I can't get my head around having to find some way of paying full school fees for 2 schools that neither DC will step back inside now; we were already planning to talk to the bursars to see if there is any way of suspending payment for the time being.

Finally, the prospect of keeping DD and DS (year 9) motivated and engaged with learning for the next 6 months seems quite daunting.

Son just said he has nothing to do now as exams cancelled. That's it.

Just read this on the student room and reposting here:

As a teacher, I thought I'd share my speculation on how exam grades might be awarded going forwards. This is just my speculation, based on current JCQ guidelines, so things might totally change.

Firstly, for any qualification where you've already got at least 25% of the qualification achieved (e.g. via coursework, or BTEC module exams), this can be upgraded to a full grade. This is the current JCQ rule, and I don't see why this would change.

For qualifications where you've sat less than 25%, but more than 0%, it is possible for you to be given this as an overall grade, down to the discretion of JCQ. I think it's likely for people who've sat 10%+ of their qualification, at least, this will be the case- but this is just me guessing.

For exams where people haven't done any assessed work so far (so most of them), there's currently no way to give people a grade. I can see two possible ways things could go, going forwards.

1. Entrance to uni, college and other courses is done using teacher assessed grades, but these don't have official standing and people may need to sit actual exams at a later date.

2. People are given actual qualifications based on teacher assessment- this isn't the same as predicted grades, as teachers would have to evidence the grade they are giving students- e.g. using mock results, end of unit tests, in class assessments and so on. However, this is a lot of work for teachers and relies on them being able to get into school to collate evidence in some cases.

However, the government may have another plan they are working on, so I repeat this is just my speculation!

People are given actual qualifications based on teacher assessment- this isn't the same as predicted grades, as teachers would have to evidence the grade they are giving students- e.g. using mock results, end of unit tests, in class assessments and so on

This honestly does seem the fairest way to do it. For a lot of pupils will probably result in a higher grade than they would have got - if you think your student was hovering between 4 and 5 it will feel "fairer" to give them the 5.

If anyone's going to lose out it will prob be "solid 7s with a chance of an 8" as a 7 is already a very good mark. So an 8 will be a "definite 8" probably.

I think these days mist schools record assessments and predicted grades fairly thoroughly. I genuinely have faith in this. That said, I don't know quite where some of my evidence will come from unless someone else raids my markbook! My whole markbook is not conveniently online for my more obscure GCSE subject. We have NEA though and I can mark that if told to and it's good evidence.

When I started teaching English was 100% coursework : imagine how less stressful this would be now!

Gove came along, many years later, and got rid of modules, most coursework and AS. I know he didn't have a crystal ball, but...

Still no comms today at school level on this AFAIK

Paddington I thought this about NEA. BUT my exam board (Eduqas) is 100% online submission of moderation samples. All except the final bit is hard copy and I do not have the tech facilities at home to do online submission. Tears before (and after!) bedtime if Eduqas starts assuming things about teachers' capabilities on that one. It was all right last year as I got admin support with it. They also will never have a system which benefits one type of subject over another.

My issue isn't with lack of recorded evudence, it's with the fact that, DD's history teacher, for example, hasn't given grades based on previous grade boundaries - he's chosen his own.

Don't panic : it will be sorted. Another issue the same board will be aware of is there lack of transparency over grade boundaries. It will all be being discussed in manic conference calls today.

I have just had the Gove conversation with DH Piggy .

Is he a fan!? If such a thing exists...

The man who said 'let's not listen to experts' hey? Wonder why he hasn't been wheeled out recently....

If I said we have a 21 year old I think you can work out the answer to that ! How are you feeling Piggy? Hard job for teachers at the moment without illness to contend with. DS’s are all being lovely.

I am feeling OK. Bedbound and irritable today as my menfolk just keep bickering. DS1 whines periodically about coming back from uni . He does not appreciate the seriousness of this at all.

Under normal circumstances I would have released myself from my room but because DH is vulnerable I am still up here. Back is killing me!

Ouch, you poor thing. DH and I started coughing at the same time, he is vulnerable. No idea what we have, whatever DS had I imagine. DD is digging in for duration with friends at University as they have been told by parents not to go home (overseas). She is waiting for university to make final decision on cancelling placement year and a bit frustrated as has had an offer of accommodation and wants to plan. Not that you can really.

One suggestion from Education Datalab

twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=news&q=gcse&src=typd

Frankly I don't think this is going to be acceptable to parents. Giving each school a certain number of grades is just going to cause an outrage - every child who's mocks, assignments, etc were all at Grade 6 is just not going to buy that their child gets a 5 because the school ran out of 6s.

The only way to do this fairly is to have each teacher give a grade to each child based on a number of factors. This can then be checked off against the school's normal results to make sure they're not outrageously out-of-line.

We've just had an email saying keep studying in case exams happen later....everyone is completely confused.

Yes we’ve been told to keep studying as not all assessment material is in yet. My son has been told to carry on working on his A level DT project.

Yes, similar here but given Dd health issues told her not to overstretch this week. She keeps bursting into tears.

Hoping more info will make her feel better. We keep on telling her WE know how hard she has worked. Hopefully the final results will have some kind of marker against them for future so employers know it was Corona year!

I know they aren't supposed to matter further down the line but ...

“ The only way to do this fairly is to have each teacher give a grade to each child based on a number of factors. This can then be checked off against the school's normal results to make sure they're not outrageously out-of-line”

This was meant to be our schools first set of GCSEs so no idea how that would work for us. They were obviously under a lot of pressure to do well being a new school

I suggested the ‘match last year’s grades’ theory to DD and she was horrified as last years Yr11 were ‘a bunch of notorious thickos’.

Listening to Radio 4 right now, I can see the exam situation turning into last year's Brexit debacle: they've got a university vice chancellor begging Boris to reconsider.

Email from school. They are going to run online lessons to usual timetable as far as possible (mobile phone sufficient tech) & will be open for children of key workers. I guess if 6 weeks holiday leads to drop in learning can't risk 5 months.

This was meant to be our schools first set of GCSEs so no idea how that would work for us. They were obviously under a lot of pressure to do well being a new school

In that case I suppose they could be compared to national results. But we need to face up to the fact that EVERY suggestion is going to have its objections. At some point a decision is going to have to be made.

To those who still seem to be talking about postponement how can you do this when you don't know for certain that things will be OK then? You're going to say "exams in September" and then cancel them again?

Our school just emailed. Said evans cancelled . No advise on revision. I guess no need.