Year 9 and Year 10 GCSE students - unfairly treated by Ofqual?

[barbosska]

Students in our school sit GCSE exams in Years 9,10,11. Each of these year groups has lessons in Math, English, Science plus 2-3 GCSE courses of their choice. Each GCSE course runs for a year instead of two, and students from Year 9,10 and 11 all sit together in the same lessons and then sit GCSEs together. They do not study any other subjects except for the above.

Yesterday's Ofqual indicated that Year 9 and 10 students will not be awarded the GCSE grades because they can do these exams in Year 11. This would however put them in a highly disadvantageous position next Year, as not only they would need to do remaining GCSEs in one year instead of two, but also to keep on top of the subjects they have learnt this year and for which they were ready to sit exams.

There are not many schools in the country who organise GCSEs this way and I would very much appreciate to hear from people in the same situation as us: what are you and your schools planning to do?

All these children have sat in one class listening to the same teacher, did the same job, had the same teacher and now Year 11 will get the grades and the rest of students will not - how is that fair? Ofqual should have at least left to the discretion of the schools whether to , but not just pull them all out from the exam registers. Ofqual said they will run a consultation soon, but who are they going to consult - just their internal departments? The fact they they have come up with the proposition already indicates that they have no idea how some schools structure their courses.

AprilFloundering

chocolatviennois

PeppaisaBitch

Easilyanxious

SE13Mummy

SpringUnsprung

I have sent you a PM.

I am in the same position with my son so genuinely Interested in constructive help x

@Harpmum12345

thank you for your message. I have created a new thread (see link below) with practical information which I update on a regular basis. I will also send you a PM now with more info

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3873200-ONLY-for-parents-of-Year-9-and-10-students-doing-GCSEs-this-year?watched=1&msgid=95526775#95526775

@Harpmum12345

@AprilFloundering

@chocolatviennois

@PeppaisaBitch

@Easilyanxious

@SE13Mummy

@SpringUnsprung

www.change.org/p/department-of-education-early-entry-gcse-students-to-be-awarded-their-grade-summer-2020?recruiter=90034045&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial&recruited_by_id=6da7c4c7-66e8-4617-a4fe-7a681893cdca

Signed and shared

@Easilyanxious
I've sent you a PM

Presumably you have all seen the news that Ofqual have u-turned and are now minded to award grades to younger students? .. schoolsweek.co.uk/coronavirus-ofqual-launches-consultation-on-2020-calculated-grade-proposals/

How is the grade standardisation going to work for the year 9/10s? Presumably the national distribution looks a bit different for year 9s/year 10 than the whole cohort or just year 11. Is that likely to have a knock on effect for the reliability of grades in yr 9/10?

@drumblebumble I've just seen the news - it's looking much more positive for early entrants now.
@RafaIsTheKingOfClay I would imagine grade standardisation should work in the same way regardless of the age of the candidate; they should have covered the entire course and would have been subject to the same exam had they not been cancelled. I suppose the ranking for some schools might now need to happen for two year groups simultaneously instead of the Y10 and Y11 being treated as two separate cohorts for any subject that both are sitting although that then begs questions about which year group's prior data is considered - that may be less of an issue for selective schools but comprehensive schools are likely to have greater variance between year groups.

I don’t think it is quite as simple as have covered the course and sat the same exam so grade distribution among year 9/10s will look the same. I’ve got a feeling that nationally early entry has in the past led to lower grades although it’s probably not equally true for all subjects and there are probably instances where it skews in the other direction.

I have a year 10 who was being put in early for English Language slightly against my wishes. Lowest predicted grade and had been liaising with teacher about wisdom of early entry. [Not great relationship with new English teacher either].
If my child or I unhappy with predicted grade hope can take in November...

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay

My understanding is that all students regardless of age who sit the same GCSE will be treated the same, as this is the question of qualification. But by all means please write to the consultation to highlight this point.