Is it remotely feasible for GCSEs 2021 to move to June/July?

[Mostpeculiar]

And if it were when’s the latest we would be informed?

That's going to be a sticking point if exams are reduced then. I can't see there will be much choice except doing what has been done this year.

I wasn't sure about this when I first heard it but the more I think about it the better it seems. A few weeks longer won't make up for all many students have lost but it will help and the ones it will help most are those who are the least privileged so it could be part of the answer in closing the gap. I hope they give some clear answers soon so people can plan though.

We are expecting news on this within the next few days (ASCL update this afternoon).

I remember noticing that my daughters igcse maths was two, two hour papers compared with the same board's GCSE being three one and a half hour papers. Potentially some time could be clawed back in the exam schedule with that sort of change? Makes it harder for setting practice papers and so on though.

I was at school a long time ago and have little idea of how these things work but I was mooting the idea (with a friend who is a teacher) of having shorter exams (of same level/depth of questioning) but with more choice on questions (eg answer 2 long questions out of a possible 5, accounting that schools might have 5 terms of teaching but can choose which order they teach each module)

@BlackPuddingEggs my DS has barely engaged with online learning. He has been depressed and anxious and demotivated. He's academic - at a superselective grammar - but tbh the school's offering was shockingly shit. He's had 2 half days in school and a Zoom Spanish lesson and he's back in the game.

I work in exams and this sounds like hell for everybody. Tired kids, stressed out staff, hotter exam halls, less time to mark, less breathing space after y11 and y13 finish.

I don't know if I'm missing something but I cannot see how 2-3 weeks extra is going to make up Aterm's work. I would've thought it would make more sense to adjust the grade boundaries to accommodate. MY DS has had lessons and exams online and is probably around where he would have been with the exception of drama but has already submitted written work and performance so I guess they could reevaluate the performance weighting to cover what they'd complete normally in Y11.

To be honest I really think they need the long break to relax, have fun and prepare for Y12 as well as complete any work experience/observation required for UCAS applications

@seenbeensbean - there are multiple papers for each subject. By reducing the content (and publishing this soon) they could reduce the number of papers. For example in English Lit, my board currently has 3 papers - Poetry and Prose, Drama and Unseen. You could cut the Unseen paper entirely for all candidates. Or you could cut the Poetry and put the Drama with the Prose, this turning 3 papers into 2. I don’t know much about other subjects but assume that similar could happen.

To the aggressive poster sarcastically saying that we should just recruit more examiners as educationalists are not that ‘speshal’, or whatever other demeaning spelling it was that you used, good luck with that. You are looking for people with high level degrees and at least 2 years of professional experience who are willing to give up their holiday time for what works out as less that minimum wage. It’s amazing that we have enough examiners without thinking that we can just wave a magic wand and recruit more.

@cologne4711 - see above.

My year 10 does a maximum of 3.5hrs a day of lessons. That is it. There is no homework and no lunch time revision groups. My older child at this stage would be doing a days school lessons then an hour of homework a night at least and then 3 or 4 hours at the weekend. So how anyone can say this years 10s and 12s haven’t missed much are having a laugh.

3.5 hours is plenty.

@Coffeeandbeans
As a teacher, one of the things I really hope comes out of this whole situation is an end to what you have described: teenagers in at 7:30/8 for before school revision, whole day of lessons, lunch time intervention and after school booster sessions, followed by hours of homework.
For the benefit of the students and the teachers/staff.

Sadly, I very much suspect it will go completely the other way.

I agree but when he is competing against private school kids and grammer school kids then unfortunately he needs to be doing more than 3.5hrs a day. Whilst employers still interview kids based on the number of GCSEs they have or schools restrict the A levels they can do based on grades then I’m afraid children need to be doing more than just 3.5 hrs a day.

Several well known public schools have been setting about 3.5hours of work a day and no additional prep during this period.

Quality is much more important than quantity.

Don't see the benefit exams next year were roughly due to finish end of june anyway due to later half term or something
Schools finish around 22/23 rd july
So they are only gaining around 3 weeks and will miss out on school proms and the long break to recover from the exams etc ,
Also we have no idea if we will have school as normal in sept and if they miss even more then what will they do

I’m afraid children need to be doing more than just 3.5 hrs a day.

I think if it is 3.5 hrs of actual learning it may well be very close to what he would have in school time anyway. While children are in school for a lot longer than that, but actual learning time isn’t 8.30-3.30 because you have to account for form time / breaks / lesson changeover etc. So, hopefully, all he has missed is homework time (should be straight forward to catch up) and lunchtime sessions (which I tend to think are counter-productive anyway).

We've already booked our honeymoon for next year, get married 19th June and then we are off.
DD will be Yr11, so I just know it will fall in exam times.
Absolute bastard as we've already postponed this year, we should be on honeymoon now 😔

Did I dream that I heard it mentioned they were looking at awarding predicted grades next year too, the same as this years Y11 have achieved their mock results?

Many subjects already struggle to recruit enough examiners. I can't see many being willing to mark throughout the summer holidays (for less than minimum wage).

No, I don't think it will happen. I think it's just another idea the govt has thrown out without any understanding of the complexity of the exams system.

There is precious little time between students sitting exams, to standardisation to the exam board awarding grades. Already, this is very tight and sometimes only gets there by the skin of its teeth. I have been an examiner for 15 years. There isn't a bank of extra examiners they can just get in to do it. Despite popular opinion, Exam marking is quite specialised. I have seen so many examiners fail standardisation over the years and not be allowed to mark. There's already a shortage of examiners, so not sure where they'd get them from anyhow.

If you put the exams back to Sept, where would the examiners come from? Very few of my examiner friends would mark then, because they're also teachers and Sept is often the busiest time at school.

Examining is already awful - I did it for 3 years and never again! I marked English Lit - historically always one of the first exams because it's a pig to mark. I marked one of the two papers and each paper was 3 essays. To hit the deadline I had to mark each paper in 20 minutes. No right or wrong answers. I was good at it and I'm still not going back! No idea how it would be possible to turn marks around by September for college admissions.

I'm really worried about my Set 5 Year 10 class. I don't think they'll all keep attending till June if I'm honest. The best thing for them would be to slim down the papers, particularly in Lit. I'm also hoping that the compulsory Speaking and Listening element will be scrapped this year - as it counts for zero marks, it makes sense to get rid of it for this year group.

@Icanflyhigh

We've already booked our honeymoon for next year, get married 19th June and then we are off. DD will be Yr11, so I just know it will fall in exam times. Absolute bastard as we've already postponed this year, we should be on honeymoon now 😔

I'm sorry you have had such disappointment for your wedding already.

Would your dd be with you when you went away? Hopefully a change in exam dates won't cause you too many problems if she isn't. If she is you might have difficulties anyway as contingency day for all exam boards is 29th June so exams are already up to and including that day.

My dc goes to a grammar school and although we love the sxhool I am disappointed in the amount of lessons provided.

We have friends in private and state and they seem to have a lot more online lessons, so it is very dependent on each school.

Not attending school at all and work is provided that day and 1 hour of online per subject every two weeks and that is it!!!

Some subjects my child gets papers and asked to mark themselves ....my child is still very young and naturally think understood everything

Hard to be kept motivated.

I am worried for the whole of year 10 and by extending it to July will not eliminate the problem...

My concern is even though the government said all schools back in September I am hoping this will be the case and not a continuation of what has happened in the Summer term.

Some Unis are going online for the Autumn term, so I am bit anxious to see how all the schools go back in September

@chicoletta thanks for that useful explanation, it's much appreciated.

I didn't read the post by the GF with appalling spelling, I've got too much to do to waste my time on their pointless posts so as soon as it's obvious it's goady I move on.