Exams cancelled

[noblegiraffe]

Alternative arrangements will be made.

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

He plays football for school but all inter school matches have been cancelled since September. The same with cricket and they never even got a chance to play that at all at school because of the first lockdown. He plays in a grassroots team but they didn’t have a great start to the season (after not playing for months) so we only got a couple of decent matches before Christmas. I’m hopeful if they go back at Easter and sport reopens he can get some more. He does like running (and going to the gym) but is lacking motivation to do anything apart from school work at the moment. That’s a good idea actually, thank you.

schoolsweek.co.uk/ofquals-proposals-simply-dont-make-the-grade/?fbclid=IwAR1xlGHEg9XQRhJggPMQvMJp7F3mv2o_6QeY32QQJAQLVx187XqhuAKUZQ4

Think this article sums up the Ofqual proposal and its workability perfectly. I really can't grasp how this proposal can provide a fair solution for any student in its current form.

I read that earlier. It’s ridiculous to think that they will be able to get any meaningful grades at all especially if they don’t go back to school until after Easter.

If you read the article it suggests 'There is no such thing as an A- or C-grade piece of work without a national set of grade-specific benchmarks in every subject at every level. These do not exist.' That means it's a free for all and the consultation is just an exercise that the Government can use to suggest they've done the right things. And they can then blame any failure on the process itself and Gavin Williamson can walk away and take no responsibility at all!

Yes, wasn’t noble saying exactly this? That there just isn’t an A grade (or whatever) piece of work. It depends on the cohort and the curve that’s always used.
I don’t think the article says anything we don’t already know. Neither does it provide any solutions.

If students are graded on "where they are now" as opposed to "where they would have been if there hadn't been a pandemic" then surely grades will have to plummet for pretty much everybody (except those who have had constant live lessons).

Also, students without access to laptops/ the internet/ who have been isolating etc etc will be royally screwed.

This could cost them places in 6th form/ universitities and ruin their life chances.

I'm not saying it's easy to work out how to make the grades fair. But it seems to me that the decision to make grades "meaningful" for future employers has been put ahead of fairness for our kids.

Does anyone know if they will be graded on where they are now or where they potentially could have been?

I just don’t see how they can possibly do the latter without a crystal ball?

Is anyone else finding as a parent there seems to be a pressure on completing past papers and other assessments online right now for the GCSEs? We've had some bereavements in recent weeks and time off and getting calls and emails about work needing submitted as very important etc.

It seems to be creating more pressure than having the exams would have.

My DD has had online assessments all last week - but I can't see how these can be used as I'm sure all her friends were probably googling the answers! It's causing pressure - my DD has no idea if they are going to be of any importance and her teachers are clearly anxious about 'evidence' but have no idea what they should be doing because of the lack of government guidance.

Watermelon, it will be based on what they know now (up to and including when they take these assessments.)

I keep my fingers crossed that my DD will do well as she has had no loss of learning and has covered the syllabus in all three of her science a levels. Now onto revision. But for those who don't have the level of knowledge that they would in a non covid year, it will be tricky. Hopefully assessments will be tailored in some way, but they can only supply so many.

Still a guessing game for now. We just need to hold steady until we know more.

Thanks, I feel that they just need to know asap for fairness, this constant unknown is worse that the exams would have been! And wondering if anything you complete could go towards it.

Ours are supposed to be doing online tests soon but apparently have been told they won’t count towards final grade, so is this just checking what they know? And will the final results be based on improvement made after these tests? But what if they are a decent level already but then don’t improve much afterwards! Too many questions! I know no one knows, even schools.

It does feel that the students who aren’t up to speed for whatever reason already will lose out whatever happens...

I agree. It's difficult because for A Levels, they really do need to know the content enough to cope with the next steps, eg a degree for medicine. So I understand why they're awarding grades on what they know now. It just won't be fair for everyone.

It's possible to grade a piece of according to the exam grades. There are no criteria for the different grades as the results have always been norm referenced - but teachers use their judgement all the time to grade work at yeh the standard that a student is working at that time on that topic

If they took the exam they wouldn't get that grade if they hadn't completed all topics - but can certainly show that standard of work on one test or one homework

When I did my masters it was 4 essays and a dissertation - each was marked according to the standard for a masters but only putting it all together gave me the final grade

So yes - the students may not have enough knowledge and skills to pass the exam but they should still be able to show their ability on the worn they're doing and give enough evidence to say what level they're working at

By carrying on and using mainly work from now on it gives students the best possibly chance of demonstrating what they can do while hopefully still squirting knowledge and skills they need for university or work

Results of consultation due out week of 22nd Feb

@ninja

By carrying on and using mainly work from now on it gives students the best possibly chance of demonstrating what they can do while hopefully still squirting knowledge and skills they need for university or work

I’m assuming “squirting” knowledge and skills is a typo, but it does conjure up an image that makes me chuckle!

Let’s hope they squirt enough knowledge and skills to take them where they want to go!

ninja
Results of consultation due out week of 22nd Feb

I know the outputs will be a fuck up, but I am trying to figure what out the ‘off the wall’ recommendations could be. I do hope that assessments will be time stamped in such a way that students are assessed, for CAGs, solely on teacher set EOY exam scores from day 1 April to end of June. By teacher set, I mean teachers using past board paper qns, which will have been norm referenced,

There's nothing I can say with the word "squirting" without sounding like a deviant, so I'll just quietly chuckle.

The Times is reporting wealthy parents spending thousans on tutors to help with the home assessments going on- doesn't seem very fair if that is used to decide grades..

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-frazzled-parents-spend-up-to-1-500-a-week-on-private-tutors-pjpvk035x

"Keystone Tutors, which works with families in London and overseas, charging between £72 and £135 an hour, said it had seen a rise in requests.

Its founder, Will Orr-Ewing, said: “Many families want to ensure that their children do as well as possible in their teacher-assessed grades. One parent got in touch from a top co-ed boarding school looking for particular focus on improving their child’s performance for internal assessments and mock exams, which many believe will be crucial to determining their teacher-assessed grades."

I just watched the briefing and thought I heard "exams must be changed to reflect the circumstances of the year' or along those lines" are they going ahead then?

Yes here it is from the BBC summary

But he acknowledged there was a risk of "educational damage" to some students during lockdown.

He says: "We will work round the clock to come out of lockdown to make sure the kids who have suffered... from loss of learning... get the attention, the tuition and support they need.

"And we will make sure exams are fair... to reflect what everybody has been going through."

An online college sent me their fees just to register and take the exam, nearly £400 per an A level. My son is currently a private student in the sense he is basically resitting his a levels without a school. To get him assessed I’m now going to have to pay substantial amounts to a private exam centre. It is a farce. I am a single parent. It’s not something I can easily afford. Of course I will because my child needs my help to get his A levels that he capable of.

@Orangeblossom1977

"Keystone Tutors, which works with families in London and overseas, charging between £72 and £135 an hour, said it had seen a rise in requests.

Its founder, Will Orr-Ewing, said: “Many families want to ensure that their children do as well as possible in their teacher-assessed grades. One parent got in touch from a top co-ed boarding school looking for particular focus on improving their child’s performance for internal assessments and mock exams, which many believe will be crucial to determining their teacher-assessed grades."

I suppose this just proves how it’s never a level playing field, even when they try to put measures in place to make things “fairer”!

I do hope that assessments will be time stamped in such a way that students are assessed, for CAGs, solely on teacher set EOY exam scores from day 1 April to end of June

I hope they don't do this. If kids have done work earlier that was good, that should be taken into account. I said this when I responded to the consultation.