The government should be made to fulfil their promise re Autumn GCSE sittings since there is now no appeals procedure. [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

[H0usePlant]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/22/schools-and-exam-boards-undermine-promise-to-pupils-of-september-tests

So having had the chance to sit GCSEs( understandable in the circumstances if schools don’t go back until the Autumn) the gov promised a robust appeals procedure and Autumn sittings. There is now no appeals procedure to speak off as regards actual results and it’s looking less likely there will be Autumn sittings.

They promised both originally and many kids are going to be really upset that through no fault of their own that there will be no chance to put right any issues with GCSE grades allocated. It will surely have an impact on the future chances of those wishing to attend Russel group unis.

Having read several year 11 threads it’s clear all schools aren’t adhering to advice that work from home after school stopped is not to be used.Many kids do cram( there is no gcse rule book prohibiting this), some kids will have had issues outside and inside school that will have an impact on grades being allocated without exams. Private schools have an added incentive for higher results and no Sats data. Teachers, schools and circumstances vary. As such it’s clear in all likelihood there will be discrepancies.

My dd has had an awful time and isn’t holding out much hope that she’ll get what she should/ could have done. She has been working hard since school left for Autumn sittings as that is what was promised. These appear to be disappearing too. Sitting GCSEs next summer whilst studying for A levels isn’t workable. They have hoards of free time and anxiety now. She is now feeling powerless to put right any discrepancies herself. We as parents will be powerless to do anything when results come out.

It’s shit and the gov should surely be offering money to exam boards to ensure exams are held in the Autumn as they promised.

It would be unfair though to say to schools "you all must use mocks". Or "you must use work done in January only". There has to be some allowance for variation and the fact teachers know their students.

Your dd may even end up coming out better. If she had a bad day MH wise in an exam, then she could have crumbled. This way some of our students will come out with a more complete set of grades than if they had sat all of the exams.

Tell her to prep for A level and ignore the rest. If she needs to resit for further study (unlikely) then cross that bridge as and when.

It doesn't work like that op, one piece of work is not going to change anything. You don't seem to understand how the process works

The best and healthiest thing to do was to get on, study and show what you can do.

I guess that's where we disagree.

I think the best and healthiest thing to do is accept she has worked hard up until school closure and that school will assess/rank/grade her fairly. To accept and move on, and focus on A level prep.

@H0usePlant

You really are catastrophising here. You do realise we're in the middle of a pandemic and that decisions are having to be adjusted all the time? The DfE had to act quickly once it was announced that schools will close, and suggested that resits might take place in Autumn, but Ive not seen a 'promise' published anywhere. However, I have read lots of information regarding how grades will be awarded, and how students should not be doing work now towards those grades as it won't be taken into account.
You're talking as if your DDs life is in tatters as she won't get a chance to get the grades she (you) want in order to get to an RG Uni. She's really being set up for a load of disappointment from you.
Your job as a parent is to reassure her that in the grand scheme of things, her GCSE grades don't matter. If she doesn't get the grades she wants, she could resit them next summer. Thousands of students do you know.
At 16, the obsession with her future is unhealthy. So much can happen that's out of her control and it sounds like she (you) have not developed resilience to deal with shit that life can throw at you.

My dd1 got reasonable GCSE grades, flunked her AS levels and had to leave school. She went to college and did a BTech, which is absolutely what she didn't want to do, got a good enough grade to go to uni (not RG) and now, 10 years later, has a fantastic job earning 100k a year. What she has got is resilience in shed loads, and a positive attitude that has taken the knock backs and made the most of them.

It really isn't the end of the world!

Hec but if a teacher had given a higher grade due to newly submitted work then that kid is taking away a grade from somebody else when boards shuffle, or not?

It doesn't work like that. The teacher cannot award a higher grade to one student due to newly submitted work without awarding all students a higher grade. They cannot disadvantage those who didn't do the work.

The statistical shuffle by ofqual no one really knows the exact process. They can't rank the whole country, they only have school wide ranking. So if they think a school has over or under graded, they will change grades within the school.

Of course I don’t I’m not a teacher.

MrsCanpbell’s child is being set work used for assessment for the next 3 weeks on top of the last 4 . That is nearly 2 months extra work that is going to be used as assessment.

I may not know the process but can see a blatant advantage when there is one.

And the teachers on here are telling you it doesn't work like that. All grading has to be quality assured, a teacher can't fiddle their grades.

Having read the letter published by the Secretary of State for education, it doesn't actually say the resits will take place in Autumn. It says 'exams should take place as soon as reasonably possible'. A timescale was not promised.

OP, you've interpreted that as it being the Autumn term, as no doubt many others have. 'As soon as reasonably possible' could be next summer!

I may not know the process but can see a blatant advantage when there is one.

Because you don't know the process, you think you are seeing an advantage. There isn't one I can assure you.

H0use - I think you’re getting a really hard time on here and I can totally see where you’re coming from.

Can I ask though, when you say your DD was having a “shit time,” what does this mean? Are you sure the teachers won’t take this into account? It may be that she’s surprised by her grades in August (in a good way). Let’s hope so.

Yes I do think this business of promising Autumn resits and then retracting that (if this is indeed the case) is very bad practice. Of course there will be many DC who have had a bad time for all sorts of reasons and the Autumn exams would have been their chance to do themselves justice.

I don’t have a Year 11. To the teachers who say they can predict exactly what a pupil would have got in the summer exams, I’m not sure about this. Take my DS for example. In the Jan mocks he got mostly 7s, but a 5 in Chemistry. If it was up to teacher assessment, they would have given him 8s / 9s in most things I expect because they would factor in some exam “uplift”, but they would have had no evidence whatsoever to award him the 9 in Chemistry that he eventually got. He surprised himself by getting 9s in everything, but I doubt teacher assessment would have given him this. And this is in a selective independent with small class sizes and over 90% if grades are 7/8/9 every year.

Now he’s applying for unis and I’m afraid some more competitive unis do look at GCSEs, even though everyone tells you they don’t. If you look at the admissions criteria for Oxbridge they do state this. Yes A-level grades are what will get you in, but you still have to get your foot through the door for an interview in the first place and in the absence of AS levels, strong GCSEs will back up strong predicted grades. Predicted grades are just that - predictions.

Yes if you go on to get the required A-levels and apply afterwards with grades in hand, your GCSEs won’t really be relevant but, as OP says, this does not suit everyone. Gap years for say, politics or geography or language students can be great because you can do overseas work that can be very relevant to your degree, but for maths and science subjects, not so much (unless it’s biology because you could do an environmental project or something).

Anyway, it’s not about this. It’s about pupils being messed around and a lack of clarity.

In addition, if a student does not feel their grade reflects their performance, they will have the opportunity to sit an exam, as soon as is reasonably possible after schools and colleges open again.

From the gov and if not a pretty definite plan I don’t know what is. The same has been mentioned in previous briefings.

The rest of your post is completely inaccurate and as far from the truth re my dd as you could get not surprisingly considering you know absolutely nothing about her or my parenting.

No I don’t want the grades she could have got, I’m just forever grateful she’s healthy. She wants them and she has done the RG research as let’s face it has a lot of time on her hands. And looking towards her future in current times doesn’t deserve scorn. I’m proud of her attitude.

Sitting GCSEs next summer on top of Alevels is just not workable. Don’t care if many do I think it would be bonkers as regards work load. She wants to do Alevels with her friends. Life has been shit enough as it is for her, a bit of normality going forward is what she needs, not a year out.

child is being set work used for assessment for the next 3 weeks on top of the last 4 . That is nearly 2 months extra work that is going to be used as assessment

No It Isn't!

It has been made absolutely clear that any work completed after schools closed will not be able to be used towards assessment purposes. Schools that attempt to do so will be in serious trouble as this will be construed as malpractice.
There is absolutely no way of knowing who has done the work at home, which is why it won't be allowed for consideration. How dodgy will it look when little Johnny got a 2 for his mocks then shoots up to a 7? Ofqual isn't daft. Data from previous years will be looked at, so of a school suddenly gets a massive rise in results compared to previous years then that will be questioned during moderation. Schools who suddenly have double the amount of coursework as evidence will be challenged to prove that the work was completed post mock exam but before lockdown.

Whatever 🤷🏼‍♀️

:The DofE and exam boards are hardly going to be busy at the moment
Hope this was sarcastic.
Lecturer here - STEM and we require high A level grades. We will be looking at the summer 2020 GCSE grades with an appropriate lens. We only require Maths and English as entry requirements and we would be looking at those more generously this year obviously.

Soon They then mentioned June after for sittings so clearly sittings in Aut were what were being referenced to.

Thanks Wonder. She’s not applying to Oxbridge but some pretty weighty unis. She came to me worried re the GCSEs in applications. She wanted to study for them and I supported her.The studying has been a huge help and stopped her from panicking about the future. She was actually reassured as is convinced she’d pull off the results she wants. It has given her reassurance and something to do.

And I thought exam boards weren’t going to be looking at evidence so surely schools can look at what they like.

I'm giving up here OP. You basically ignore anything that is said to you by actual teachers on the ground dealing with this and instead start using random snippets of DfE /ofqual publications taken out of context.

I hope your dd is awarded the grades she feels she could have got and then she can progress to further study as she wants.

Then maybe the best thing is not to tell her they might not go ahead. If studying is helping her, let her carry on. Come August she may be pleasantly surprised and decide not to resit. Come August it will also be clearer whether schools will be open in the Autumn.

Do you need to tell her resits may not go ahead? Or is she reading the news herself?

Schools have simply been told to “exercise caution” in regard to any work handed in after March 23rd.

I have DC in 3 different schools. I don’t know about the Year 11s, but the schools have made no secret if the fact that all the U6 sat online exams last week (and this week) - despite the statement about the cut off date of March 23rd. Yes, they will obviously “exercise caution” because if the on- line circumstances, but it is simply not the case that all schools’ assessments ceased on a given date.

Many independent schools are doing IGCSE anyway and those grades get moderated against schools across the world, some of whom are still sitting Summer exams. If they want to do their own internal assessments now and “treat with caution” they will.

I think that is unfair right Herc I’m not ignoring advice. I think it’s understandable to be worried for my dd, a bit of empathy for kids in this mess wouldn’t go amiss.

That wasn’t a random snippet. It was the latest advice.

Resits in Autumn were not promised. They were suggested as part of the consultation of grading which is still ongoing until the 29th April. Resits were suggested as part of the initial proposal and education suppliers are currently being consulted as to whether the proposals are appropriate. We won't know the exact situation until after this date. You are doing your DD no favours by encouraging her to continue to revise for the next five months - she will burn out - and if she is as upset as you continue to suggest maybe she needs to get some outside help to deal with the situation she finds herself in for her own sake.

Crazy think a friend helpfully sent her a link originally, she definitely knows.

Thanks Happy, she’s already getting outside help. Having worked incredibly hard to get well, deal with shitty times and sort her life out before a subsequent pandemic it’s not a surprise that she is a tad upset re the latest developments.

If it’s any consolation OP, I would have thought that schools will give the benefit if the doubt to students wherever possible. Obviously there will be moderation and schools can’t exceed reasonable expectations, but there is nothing to stop schools having a “near record-breaking year”. Who can prove this would not have been the case? Also, the exam boards don’t want a whole cohort kicking up a stink so hopefully they’ll be inclined to let all schools push it a little.

Also, if your DD is looking at RG unis, I think it does state in the course requirements the kind of GCSEs they will be looking for. Often it’s a minimum 6, I think? If your DD is broadly above average in ability, you would hope she’ll be awarded this as minimum, despite whatever it is that’s gone wrong for her in the last year or so.

But I do see why you’re annoyed and I don’t know why you’re getting a hard time on here tbh.

I'll bite one more time.

I understand you are worried. I understand your dd feels an exam might have been better for her to show exactly what she can do in her particular circumstance. I feel for her and all the other students who will have the "what if" feeling forever. Even a resit won't totally answer the what if, because the students sitting it will be a skewed population. So she will never know what she would have got in June 2020. She needs to park that thinking.

I also think you need to appreciate that ofqual and DfE have also had to make some pretty big decisions incredibly quickly. It's a global pandemic for everyone not just you and your dd. So a little bit of empathy and understanding towards their situation wouldn't go amiss.