Surely using mocks for GCSE grades is hugely unfair.

[1nterstar]

Our school did them before Christmas before the whole course was completed, others were doing them this week.

Many kids don’t revise as much for mocks as the real thing( if at all).

The content and marking varies hugely.

Just how can they be used?

Ridiculously inaccurate in comparison to other schools and meaningless.

If the mock was sat early then everyone in the class will see a bigger improvement. However that (again) can be corrected across schools using the same methodology they use for creating fairness between years.

Most schools do a mock around Christmas and expect a grade ish from most pupils.

Schools that do March /April mocks expect less of an increase.

When teachers input their grades, they know when the students sat the mock, alongside how well the student has done all year.

Can I reiterate

TEACHERS WILL NOT JUST BE USING MOCK GRADES

@1nterstar again, what would you do, if you were in charge?

All very well to rail against the perceived “ridiculousness” but what would you actually want to happen?

My dds teacher said it would be predicted grades which will generally be close to mock results but if towards top end of grade than the grade above.
Dds mocks were marked with harsh grade boundaries so I hope they take that into account.
She is also worried after whether they will be allowed to award a 9 as she is close to a 9 in one subject.
It was a truly shit decision imo. Surely in this day and age there is technology that they can use to do remote study and than take exams with perhaps kinder grade boundaries for all.

Take exams in various rooms to maintain social distancing.

I'm a teacher and I'm devastated by this. I have 7 GCSE classes. 5 of those are Adult GCSE groups.

We don't have flight path data for adults, we're cramming a 2 year curriculum into just a few months so assessments aren't extensive. I'm lost - we did mocks a few weeks ago but they were a genuine kick up the arse for lots of them and I've been amazed at the progress some have made since.

One adult did a mock today for me and scored 54 (grade 4 was 48) whereas her mock equivalent paper she scored just 26.

We're going to be lynched over this - I've already had parents email from my young re-sit students demanding their grade.

So it will be solely mocks then.

Reported as spam now.

It may be a ranking system. Where a teacher takes a cohort and uses the grades over two years to rank from top to bottom. Then-they apply the exam board’s typical bell shaped curve outcome so last year there were 5.4% A* in that subject in that exam board so 5% of the cohort would attain that grade (possibly the top 2/3 students) etc. Much fairer than just using mocks which no student bothers to revise for

@Northernsoulgirl45 but how would you manage that in reality?

Given that a significant number of invigilators will be either self isolating or diagnosed with corona by May/June?

It’s just not feasible. I wish it was but it isn’t.

I also think the OP is arguing for the sake of making Josie now.

Making noise

Bloody autocorrect!

Ds actually sat his GCSEs last summer, so we had year 10 predictions, November mocks, February mocks and the actual GCSEs.

I have said this before, he got a 6 in History for both the Nov and Feb mock, his teacher said he would probably get a 7 if he kept up the stella work he was doing. He actually got a 9. But, on results day his History teacher told him he deserved it because his teacher knew how hard he had worked to improve that grade.

This was an anomaly, everything else was pretty much spot on considering mocks and his continued improvements in class assessments over year 11 as he honed his skills at exam questions.

His SATs grade predicted much lower GCSE grades than he got, maths a 6 and he got a 9, English lang a 5 and he got an 8. Incredible teachers and a great work ethic.

He showed this incredible work ethic all the way through, was praised for his achievements and commitment to his school work. His teachers had the measure of him having had him as a student for years 10 and 11 minimum.

I think we need to trust the teachers who have a ridiculously difficult task ahead of them with predicting grades. Worse for those having to predict A level grades with a possible university place riding on it.

Much fairer than just using mocks which no student bothers to revise for

Plenty of kids revise very hard for their mocks, as they are told time and again by their teachers to do so. The parents shouting the loudest here, including the OP, sadly appear to have kids who didn't listen.

Why should some bizarre averaging exercise be applied, rather than grades based on a pupils actual work product.

They would beed more staff yes but I am sure there would be plenty of teachers still available.
However it is done and dusted now so I guess we just have to stay positive for our dc and pray they get the recognition they deserve.

The teacher's assessed grade is good enough for me - the school is hardly going to distort their results' average hugely is it.

Seriously people, who is really going to appeal in these circumstances? -Wake up, GCSE grades are NOT a priority at the moment. A Level grades are more complicated in that university entrance is affected but similarly, it's hardly a priority at the moment when no-one knows whether life will return to any semblance of normality come August.

But GCSE grades aren’t based on mocks but on GCSEs. No child should be punished for working towards GCSEs instead of mocks.

Northern we are currently struggling to open with skeleton staff due to the number of self isolating teachers.

Under exam board guidelines teachers are not allowed to be present in their students’ exam rooms.

Which is why schools employ invigilators in the first place.

So having teachers invigilating would render exams invalid.

Honestly, I feel your frustration - I’m a y11 parent too - but it just wouldn’t work.

Factor in those who need one on one support in an exam, a reader, a scribe, work on computer etc - and it becomes completely unmanageable.

I am a teacher and I invigilate all exams in my school except my own subject.

My dd worked really hard throughout her courses and did well in mock but even so I am still worried . Due to the formula the school used for grading she got a grade two grades below the actual grade for that years paper. She eirked it out. They also never award the top grade even though she earned it in one subject.
So even for top achievers using mocks is a rubbish idea due to the discrepancy.
I hope they us predicted grades not target grades as these are also different.

@1nterstar you are sounding like a broken record now.

We all know that - under normal circumstances - they work towards final GCSEs, not mocks.

These are not normal circumstances.

Thousands of people are going to die.

The education department and exam boards will try and ensure an outcome as fair as possible for y11s and y13s. Under. The. Circumstances.

I don’t understand why you can’t grasp this.