Do you think they will cancel GCSE’s in England ?

[FippertyGibbett]

Just that really. I believe Wales has already cancelled them, but not Scotland ?
My year 11 DS has just done some mocks and not done as well as we thought he would.
He worked really hard to keep up in the first lock down , but teaching yourself isn’t the same.
I’d like to see them cancel GCSE’s this year and concentrate on teaching the syllabus rather than teaching them to pass exams, then go maybe with a mock/teacher assessment result.
What would others with DC in year 11 like to see ? Is there any hope of them cancelling them ?

@Itshissister

Knife. Heart.

I just think that it would be good to sit an exam to finish school, it’s a rite of passage and a big step in life

This uncertainty is worse imo

My y11 and y13 kids don’t know what to expect

I think if exams do go ahead, we’ll end up with most socially unjust set of results the country have ever seen

Even if exams don't go ahead, it's going to be a socially unjust set of results. Kids at independent schools receiving full time on-line teaching vs kids in deprived areas struggling without access to computers / internet / quiet areas to study.

There is no right answer, I don't think, and as it stands in England, there is no uncertainty - the exams are (currently) going ahead, and the children have to work to this. After an initial flurry of uncertainty at the beginning of the school year, I notice DD seems much more in the groove now and is just getting on with it - really she knows no different.

On a personal level, I'd prefer that the children were just taught the full curriculum, I'm uncomfortable with what's happening now which is blatantly teaching to test with no regard for the value of the information they're being taught, or how it should be complete for their future steps, but there you go. So on that basis, I'd prefer exams to be cancelled, but full teaching to the end of the school year to try to cover the whole syllabus. I think Wales seems to have done the worst thing - effectively bringing final exams to January - what will they do for the rest of the year?

We have just been given a timetable for mocks in Jan, think they may use some of that in case they don't go ahead. Quite stressful isn't it.

DCs currently doing GCSE mocks here - they're all taking it very seriously and lots of revision going on as teachers have told them these will count towards CAGs if we end up in that position again.

I think it would be better if, rather than making up GCSE grades (which wouldn't necessarily reflect what they actually know, just what they might have been expected to know in a normal year), they were to award everyone a "school-leaving certificate" instead. Keep English and maths, but for the rest, a certificate saying which subjects they studied, and perhaps comments from the school of the likely attainment had things been normal, and the student's commitment to study.

With hindsight, that would have been better this year, too. This way, you wouldn't have to worry about comparability with previous and future years. Everyone would know that GCSEs just didn't happen in 2020 and 2021, and that to apply any sort of requirement for GCSEs other than English and maths to those cohorts would be discriminatory.

You'd need some means of determining entry to post 16 courses, but I'm pretty sure sixth-forms and colleges could manage with teacher recommendations of suitability and/or asking to see some of their work. As it would mostly be on a local level, if a school was thought to be over-inflating their opinions, it would be easy enough for the sixth form/college to seek a meeting and ask to see the evidence.

Universities would have to rely more on predicted grades but also doable.

After that, who actually looks much at GCSE grades?

Yes ours says kicks with me in the exam hall under strict conditions and have GCSE invigilators. Unsure of the content but sounds like nothing is different to usual mocks.

mocks, not kicks sorry!

I think it would be better if, rather than making up GCSE grades ...

You know teachers actually know their students capabilities don’t you? They aren’t just making up a grade and handing them out like sweets! They know who works and who slacks, who studies and those who don’t, etc

Beside knowing historical dates is pointless if you work as a paramedic or you cooking skills won’t help in a supermarket job

Exams only help those who go into further education.

DD had some mini mocks recently in maths and English and did very well surprising us and surpassing the teachers predictions at parents evenings the week before Oct half term. She also went up two whole grades from the mock tests in maths and English two weeks after going back in September. So if GCSE’s were to go ahead even though she has missed out on umpteen months teaching and she is very stressed she seems to be getting into her stride and would likely to do better than the CAG grades the teachers would give her. We are not pressurising her and she isn’t busting a gut between now and her mocks starting shortly. We have plenty of her favourite snacks in. She is tall and slim and can eat what she likes.

MNers love dropping casually into convo how “tall and slim” their DC are

I think the GCSEs will cancelled but not until much nearer the time. Maybe March?

This is so stressful. School said from now on they will use as much time as possible to revisit the work missed in lockdown.

With it seeming positive with the vaccine surely it is best to spend the next months working towards the exams rather than depending on work done now?