GCSE’s summer 2020 thread 5 - And then there were none..

[FoolsAssassin]

Once upon a time there was a group of year 11 students who had spent the last few years preparing to sit their GCSE exams in the summer of 2020. Then one day they woke up and found themselves as characters in a real life disaster movie and as if by magic the exams disappeared.

What lies next for the Corona Cohort?!

Thread 4
Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1 (Year 10)

Anyone lurking please feel free to jump on in .

Driving theory excellent idea, thanks!

Yes, we can start driving theory too.

So if schools open do you think yr 11’s will go back to do work to support their grades...I saw a headline saying they are looking at reopening in May. DD’s head would explode, but a lot of her friends are keen.

Well the grades have to be submitted by schools by 29th May so I think they’ll have been submitted by teachers and moderated by departments already by the time schools go back.

No I don't think so wheresthebeach, I think most schools will have their grades and support information ready for submission before May. It will be too much extra work for them to process in the short time left.

I will be amazed if schools re open in May. I think we'll be lucky if they can go back properly in September tbh.

But even if the schools do reopen, I really don't think Y11 will go back. I would imagine the vast majority of schools will use GCSE assessment data logged prior to the school closures.

@crazycrofter I read it as the earliest schools could submit grades was 29th May-happy to be corrected, though!
I’m thinking a phased return to school will commence in the first week of June for what would, in ‘normal circumstances’ be summer half term - but that’s just my thoughts
And, I think if this does indeed transpire it certainly would not involve Yr11 or Yr13

You might be right @proggymat. But I suppose the cut off can’t be too late as the exam boards will have to do analysis/adjustments etc.

Indeed @crazycrofter but DDs last exam was to be 18th June had the exams gone ahead and the analysis/adjustments etc surely won’t take longer than marking in ‘normal circumstances’?
That said, I can’t see Yr11 or Yr13 being ‘called back into school’ as @Wheresthebeach Is concerned about.

@ProggyMat I suppose you’re right! Ideally schools will go back in time for them to do sixth form induction days but not any GCSE work!

Dd is due to do work experience mid June in a primary school but I’m assuming they wouldn’t want that extra responsibility even if primary schools are back.

Dd told me today that she was having daily panic attacks in the lead up to her mocks beginning of March ...she hasn't had one since. She is making music, reading widely, writing creatively, self directing her own learning with moocs and is generally a happy little soul again. I know her experience maybe totally different to others but do we think there is any chance at all that the government will reassess the priorities regarding our children's education instead of this endless testing and exam pressure on schools. BTW I did ask about exams at A levels apparently concentrating on subjects one loves means less anxiety...hope she is right.

@orangecinnamon - DD says the same, not ever having to do another Maths exam means her stress levels have dropped dramatically. A levels are so much better as the are just doing what they love.````

I have just chucked out loads of school shirts so I hope they don’t go back!!!

I hope so @wheresthebeach. Glad your Dd feeling better about things too!
@ZandathePanda hate white school shirts ...might keep one back incase there is ever a delayed shirt signing event though!

Has everyone seen this? www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-seeks-views-on-gcse-and-a-level-grading-proposals-for-2020

Proposing for there to be essentially no way of the kids appealing their results.

That's not new news as such just perhaps clearer. I guess because under normal circumstances , there wouldn't be a follow up exam to prove one's worth in the vast majority of subjects. They always said you would only ever be able to appeal the process not the grade.

I have filled it in. It actually does make a lot of sense.

Just read it-thanks @Wheresthebeach for posting the link.

As I understand it, it’s not that the kids have no way of appealing their results -just that they cannot appeal independently, they will have to ask their exam centre to submit an appeal regarding the data submitted on their behalf? Or have I read that wrong?

I’m assuming this is to avoid a raft of complaints about individual teacher assessments as there will inevitably be students (and parents) who will feel hard done by.

Sorry that should have been thanks to @Wrongdissection! Not quite awake yet clearly.

Yes that's correct. But the good news (and something that had been worrying me) is that centres can appeal. I think it unlikely but , say a student had been CAGd(my new verb!) and 8 and the exam bods had awarded a 5 or 6 , that could be appealed by the centre.

There was one interesting question ( I can't remember the wording) which was about whether schools themselves could be investigated for, as it were, finessing results (and I still think a few schools will do that). I'd have to do the whole survey again to find it ! And one about the trajectory of a school not being taken into account which I know will interest those of you on here who feel your DCs' schools have been making vast improvements this year.

I think it right that students should not be able to appeal their rank order and their result in a direct fashion. Appealing exam results had changed recently as being about processes rather than generosity or meanness of marking , after all (although in practice students were still successful). I have a particular student in mind who, if he doesn't get a 9 , and could appeal would become very vindictive and nasty. That said, he probably would/will anyway...just without a process to back him up!

My big concern is about their reliance on Autumn exams when everything I am reading suggests there may well be another lockdown/ peak in Autumn...?!

(y10 parent butting in.) Have they actually said Autumn, or just 'at the earliest opportunity' ? Might the 'earliest opportunity' actually turn out to be May/June 2021 for many subjects?
I was wondering whether the Summer 2020 series of exams will be available for the '21 cohort to use as mocks, though without the grade boundaries available.

So appeal can only be based on data error? That’s not what it sounded like when it was announced. I certainly think the kids thought they could appeal if the thought the teacher wasn’t fair in the assessment. I certainly did. Doubt it would impact DD but I can see kids feeling hard done by in these circumstances.

Thanks for posting that link, I can see why they want to minimise the scope for appeals as it would probably be overloaded otherwise. I'm trying to make myself come to terms with the grades DS gets may not be what he was hoping for but we will need to move on unless they are dire.

The appeals were always going to be based on processes not people. To be brutally honest, I think if these are any 'losers' in this, it might be some students who have made excellent progress since KS2 where they may have been under rewarded just as easily. This is often boys.

I say this with my own leg in the game, remember , as that describes DS2!

However, I feel, on the whole teachers are kinder than examiners about many things and it is more likely to be over generosity they are trying to temper than meanness (their stats back this up, although I am dubious as to where they get some of them from). Teachers will also spend a lot of time examining evidence and thinking about each student.

The link says autumn.