Exams cancelled

[noblegiraffe]

Alternative arrangements will be made.

How stressful to announce that with no details about what will happen.

Which (presumably) school will be aware of if they teach those students. I really can't see a problem with telling students that the work they do now could (and should) have influcene on sixth form entry. Reasonable adjustments will be made by schools that know students and their backgrounds.

I think it's reasonable to expect some engagement with remote learning. The work done now will impact on students grades. It would be foolish to pretend otherwise.

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation

Well, we have had school saying engagement levels may impact their entry to sixth form

What's the problem with this?

For my DC (Y11) they have massively struggled with their mental health over the first lockdown and their 'engagement level' with their GCSEs after this government's fucking cock ups is pretty low.

School just uploaded huge amounts of work from Mar/July - teachers putting up their PPs, with well over an hour's worth of lesson work to keep pupils busy for 5 lessons a day. There was no one to ask for help, lots of it wasn't understandable without being taught.

Within about 2 weeks DS was swamped, stuck, falling behind and just stopped opening any emails and could barely get out of bed. Unsurprisingly he went back to school in September feeling like he was miles behind.

Since then - apart from having Covid himself and being quite unwell for several weeks - he's had 3 fortnights out of school because of burst bubbles. Altogether between Sept - Dec he missed about 9 weeks of schooling. And then obviously school has closed again and they've told kids their exams are cancelled.

School are now doing Teams live lessons and he's struggling to access them on his phone with our shitty wifi. I can't afford to buy a laptop and printer. He had targets of 7s and 8s and is currently being predicted 3s and 4s.

Now he's probably not going to get into the sixth form. Understandably he feels his future is utterly fucked. He is still 15, doesn't know what he wants to do as a career and has just given up. His engagement level is about fucking zero at this point. He was told the exams are cancelled - now they are saying kids might still do exams, but the teachers will mark them instead of sending them off. The semantics of 'this is not you sitting a GCSE exam; this is you sitting an exam which teachers will grade you on' is lost on him.

That's my problem. He's a nice kid who is dyslexic and has failed to teach himself 11 GCSE subjects from home to the standard that his teachers would have taught him in school.

Get in touch with school re phone, they may be able to help. Can he attend school instead?

I don't know what else you can reasonably expect. If he isn't working, then he won't be given the grades. I completely understand his reasons for switching off. But no teacher will award him a grade without evidence. The government has cocked up I agree, but that doesn't mean that he should be awarded GCSEs with no work.

Yes, I understand that @HercwasanEnemyofEducation. But he's not going to achieve anywhere near the GCSEs he could and should have done. The govt suspended the curriculum, he's missed loads of time in Sept/Dec and now school has closed.

He's far from the only one. How can it possibly be right to test them on what they've taught themselves/managed to cope with? Understandably he and many others will now have utterly shit GCSE grades.

He can't go into school, as he doesn't fit the criteria of kw/vulnerable.

If he doesn't have a laptop at home then he does fit the vulnerable category. I'll find the guidance link for you.

How can it possibly be right to test them on what they've taught themselves/managed to cope with?
What alternative do you suggest?

On the counter argument, how can it be possible to award someone a grade they would have got without the pandemic? Even ofqual have said this is impossible and not what they are asking for.

those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home (for example due to a lack of devices or quiet space to study)

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Sadly I don't have any answers. But getting pupils to sit a GCSE paper when they were taught Sept to March in Y10 and then whatever schooling they managed between Sept and Dec in Y11 will surely not answer?

The school are aware he doesn't have a laptop, or a printer, but thank you for the link. Unfortunately that criteria will apply to far too many students for the school to accommodate all of them. I did ask if he could go in. The answer was no and I do appreciate that everyone thinks their child needs extra.

I don't have a solution.

But getting pupils to sit a GCSE paper when they were taught Sept to March in Y10 and then whatever schooling they managed between Sept and Dec in Y11 will surely not answer?

There isn't really a secure and fair way to assess students in maths that doesn't involve a terminal assessment. They will be back in school before May, so they need to make the most of this time at home.

I'd ask again. It is unusual for a secondary school to be anywhere near over subscribed with students coming in. They may be trying to put people off. Definitely worth an email too outlining your case too. I'd be pushing hard for him to be in school in your situation.

The primary and secondary I am linked with are working incredibly hard to access devices, not just from the DFE but charities and donations as well. Keep pushing if no devices...
However, I also agree that mini-tests are not going to work across all students... A recipe for a stressful muddle...

I think a lot of the "grade inflation" seen last summer came from the borderline students (rightly) being given the benefit of the doubt. Giving a two grade range would be great for those students because it clearly shows which "side" of the grade they are on.

I disagree. Giving a 7/8 or an 8/9 to a grade 8 student isn’t acceptable.
In my subject there is quite a big jump from 7 to 8 and again from 8 to 9.

herc, if I am right in generalising in my school, maths always seem to finish the course very early so you may not be in the same panic about uncompleted content as other subjects?

I think we need to acknowledge that some kids in some schools (regardless of quality and quantity- and access to- of remote learning) have had terribly disrupted exam years and that some subjects are better able to cope than others. Ofqual (under instruction from Dfe) failed to acknowledge or respond to this. I am also not as optimistic as you that the kids will be back, undisrupted , in all areas.

I think it really does need to be acknowledged that we can't just ahve 'things as normal' but a few vocal headteachers (have they spoken to their classroom teachers at all?) on Twitter, a vocal set of parent campaign groups and teachers of some subjects seem to be advocating for this without perhaps seeing the bigger picture.

I know what it is like firm both sides as I teach one subject where we have 'finished' and could have done the text Ofqual allowed us to drop and now have to revise for months and another subject where I am at least three moths behind and where NEA is lower quality and patchily submitted.

Re patchy wifi and lack of adequate devices, this does apply to lots of kids. I am in an affluent are, with terrible broadband provision. I asked a GCSE class on Friday. Seven of them were working on phones.

You couldn't do an amalgam grade of 3/4 , surely??

I do think teachers 'awarding' 9s is problematic.

What subject goodbye?

Obviously there's a difference between the top and bottom marks required to be each grade. I couldn't confidently say XX is a grade 8 student if they were at the bottom of that boundary on a mock. Last summer those students were given 8s, in normal years some would have been high sevens and the others low 8s.

if I am right in generalising in my school, maths always seem to finish the course very early so you may not be in the same panic about uncompleted content as other subjects?

Our Higher students this year will struggle to get through the content what with lockdown etc.

Foundation are similar, only they forgot all the basics over lockdown. Hence why they need to sit an assessment at the latest possible opportunity.

I do think teachers 'awarding' 9s is problematic.

Agreed, seeing as they are a statistical calculation. Yet aren't all grade boundaries to some extent? Therefore trying to moderate etc without a standard assessment will be hard.

3-4 amalgam would be tricky, hence the 3 banding idea so it's clear the students that 'would' have passed.

Piggy is right (she usually is ). The policy hasn't adequately reflected the different subjects. I teach A-level Economics. We will easily finish the syllabus (the pandemic has helped this by cancelling extra-curricular activities and my students are so bored, they are actually doing sufficient essay practice). But the course is heavily synoptic and there is no way I can see of setting assessments, mini or otherwise, that doesn't advantage candidates who've covered the whole course.

On the plus side, as long as students can access the Internet in some form, one of the subject organisations has provided a complete set of learning material that could be done on a phone (I tested some of it on the train in Sept and Oct).

There's no way to set a maths assessment that doesn't advantage kids who have covered everything. Yet most students will never cover everything in maths anyway.

Perhaps ofqual need to recognise different subjects need different processes. History for example, could be assessed on one period of history and you'd still know if the student had the skills to be a historian. You couldn't do this with maths because the different branches are so different. Eg students can be brilliant at algebra yet naff at shape. You couldn't just leave shape out without disadvantaging those students.

My DD says they are just a few weeks off finishing the A level chemistry course. I think they tore through it in lockdown 1 and last term in person to leave plenty of time at the end for revision, clinics, filling in gaps.

Thanks phiney!

History is also heavily content based (in terms of what is examined)but you are also right about the skills. Ofqual recognised this by removing content and didn't accept this as an argument for more minor subjects. I can only assume that , because it is a large subject, more teachers filled in the original consultation, tended to agree with each other and so their voices were heard. Likewise English Lit (with Ofqual's wonderful assertion that it is 'difficult to teach remotely' : unlike any other subject it seems!). Also helps that they are EBacc , of course...(I'm such a cynic these days!)

Piggy What would you do in your subject?

The WiFi and remote learning is a problem. But there is no metric that can account for this. Ofqual have also said teachers cannot award grades students would have got. The grades have to reflect where they are, even if that isn't the students fault.

Sorry I’m a bit late to the discussion but I’m struggling to understand Ofqual’s statement that “we propose that a student’s grade in a subject will be based on their teacher’s assessment of the standard at which they are performing” and what they wrote in their letter to GW that “overall outcomes this year will likely look different from 2020 and previous years.”

Does this suggest that results this year are going to be lower than previous years? Because surely nobody expects students this year to be working at a higher standard than in 2019 given the amount of classroom time lost. Am I misinterpreting this?

Oh my goodness my DD is nowhere near finishing her A level chemistry. Or any of her A level subject content for that matter. There’s a lot of content in all her courses. She also says all 3 of hers are synoptic so it’ll still be hard to do papers if the whole courses haven’t been completed. Plus the majority of teens need that knowledge for their uni course. I didn’t think they were allowed to learn new content in lockdown one? So how did your DD ‘tear through it’? Mm, I may have that totally wrong though. Doesn’t make sense to stop learning new stuff does it? But I’m 90% sure.

Please complete the consultation. The Givt might actually listen this time unlike in 2020 when we all raised these issues and yet they ploughed ahead with their flawed approach. There is also a FB group writing to MPs and journalists.

Extra single year 11 and 13 student has had mitigating circumstances these past 12 months and their grades should be tweaked accordingly, as would normally happen.
Not only have these students been disadvantaged more than any other year groups, they're now suggesting this disadvantage is perpetuated in possibly lower grades that will be used by universities and employers? Seems they're going too far the other way after the farce of grade inflation last year.
Consultation completed.

@cptartapp How do you tweak the grades though?

1% for a self isolation period?
2% for no WiFi
5% for no device at home....

It's an impossible task

@cptartapp

I completely agree. Last years Y11 were given high grades when they hadn’t even missed any of the course, yet it seems ours are going to have lower grades through no fault of their own because they don’t want to give high grades again. How exactly is that fair?