2022 gcse exams?

[Wowwellokthen]

So much disruption in schools at the moment. My yr11 ds has had 2-3 of his subject teacher (different ones) off school I'll for the last 8 weeks. Now three sets of assessments plus mocks and not having finished the syllabus.

Can't help but wonder if exams might be cancelled again....not sure what I think would be better to be honest!

Thought?

I'm fairly sure they will be cancelled, or seriously amended. Omicron is going to leave us in the same position as we were in in January, if not worse.

Looking more likely isn't it. I suppose it depends on what happens at the start of next term. Ongoing disruption for 2 years and uncertainty makes it so hard to revise and prepare.

Yes I think they will.
There’s been a lot of disruption this term, meaning students are yet again not on anything like an even playing field. The example you give is replicated across a lot of schools, and in many more the students themselves have been off and unwell.

I’d be amazed if there are exams. Amazed.

My dd wants her exams to happen.
I think they’ll be amended.

Poor pupils (and teachers) having to revise/prepare all Xmas for mocks and plan B TAGs. I do wonder if they'll even be going back for the first part of next term. I suppose there will be some news about it in January.

Dd had her mocks in November and will have TAGs in February.
She has been lucky as none of her teachers has been off and she has also remained covid free. I also would not be surprised if January start of term is delayed.

@ShanghaiDiva

Dd had her mocks in November and will have TAGs in February. She has been lucky as none of her teachers has been off and she has also remained covid free. I also would not be surprised if January start of term is delayed.

Sounds like she's been one of the lucky ones. It's going to be a mixed bag of attendance and quality of education across the country I think.

Have a y11 DD and would be amazed if it does not go to TAGs now but just hope y11s are allowed in if schools close so can get evidence for the TAGs. Its just non stop pressure and chaos, feel sorry for them. Expecting Jan school closures.

Year 11 DS.
He had no psychology teacher for all of year 10.
No science teacher at all in Year 11.
How can he be expected to take an exam in those subjects !

I think we'll be back to TAGS unfortunately.

@Justwingingit2005

Year 11 DS. He had no psychology teacher for all of year 10. No science teacher at all in Year 11. How can he be expected to take an exam in those subjects !

That's rubbish :( With disrupted yr 9 (no summer term) yr 10 (no spring term) and disrupted learning the rest of the term, I am not sure even TAGs are going to show pupils true potential...all pupils not just my own.

"Rest of the time" I mean to say

Rummicub yes I agree exams are the least unfair option normally, but in this situation are more unfair than TAGs. The exams I don’t think can be amended, as you suggest, any more than the very small concessions which have already been made, because schools have taught the curriculum in different ways and a different order. I’m not sure how they could amend them now and create parity.

Wow yes same here. My current year 11s are nowhere near the level that my last year’s year 11s were in. Their attainment will not be comparable.

Seen questions or a limited range of topics examined.

It’s difficult i agree.

I do agree that TAGs seem farer and are probably a better reflection.

However there could be an issue with perceived bias. I heard it a lot last year from students who claimed the teacher under graded them if they didn’t like each other! And there needs to be a better appeals process.

If there are no GCSE exams for three years, then the whole system should have an overhaul.

Seen questions is unfair as they can memorise answers. A limited range would be fair if exam boards had said that with enough time. It wouldn’t be fair now.
Don’t believe any teacher under graded. They did the best they could with the evidence they had. Nobody wants a student not to do well.
Appeals process was fair in my opinion.

I have a Y11 and I think they might go ahead, but amended. Because having TAGs this year would mean that those sitting A levels were not able to sit GCSEs or A levels. Also there is supposed to be some sort of announcement in February that either limits the scope or gives topic spoilers in advance. Mind you, schools teach in varying orders so I don't know how it could be fair to exclude something that some schools had taught but others hadn't. I think that a third consecutive year of TAGs risks undermining the entire GCSE exam process. It's no longer a blip, more of a precedent.

Also, like many my ds has had quite major disruption. One of his main subject teachers has taught maybe 50% of lessons this term due to suffering long covid. Another has had a phenomenal amount of absence (around 70% of lessons missed) although I don't know what sort of problems have caused it. Also ds has himself been off for cough, pcr etc.

I have two in year 11 at different schools.
One has had more time off school due to cases, 70 and 50 days of continuous isolation respectively, with one receiving no work right at the start, one has had more supply teachers than the other, one hasn't had a subject teacher for over a year and they have basically had to teac themselves the syllabus!
That's two students, two schools. There is so much disparity nationwide.

@cauliflowersqueeze
I don’t know how you can make such a sweeping statement that no teacher under graded. I had a yr 11 with TAGs and just don’t understand how they came up with some of the grades they did based on ongoing performance, including mock exams run under tight conditions. That you can’t believe that a single teacher would mark with unconscious bias makes me think you are ignorant of the racism and classism that some teachers perpetuate in our classrooms.
As for the appeals process, I actually couldn’t understand the stuff they sent out. How is that a fair process?

@igneo

I didn’t qualify my message with enough detail I don’t think. Suffering with Covid here.
I absolutely do realise there is bias but would say

1. teachers didn’t give a grade based on what they thought, they gave a grade based on the evidence produced by the student.

2. teachers didn’t make a judgement alone, there were mechanisms in place to ensure as much fairness as possible. For example at our school assessments were marked by someone who was not the student’s own teacher, and then moderated by others. So while of course there is bias, schools had to build in mechanisms to counter this. We had 3 layers of checking.

3. it is never in a teacher’s interests to mark down or grade low. That’s actually one of the issues with the whole thing because teachers are often so keen to give the benefit of the doubt that the grades in some cases end up being inflated slightly. We tried to ensure it was as objective as possible by repeated moderation, aspects of anonymity and using only the evidence provided (which was different from the previous year).

4. exam boards randomly selected samples of work to check that the standard was being applied fairly. What they couldn’t check was that teachers weren’t teaching to the test, unfairly in my opinion, when other schools were not.

If you weren’t clear on what evidence was used then the school should have clarified that. The evidence used had to be “holistic”.

My issue with the grades is not so much that schools weren’t using the evidence given or that there was bias meaning some students didn’t do as well, my issue is that I know of some schools (via colleagues who work there) who basically taught to the test and tutored their classes to pass the assessments they had created. And this is the issue with teacher salaries, appraisals etc being based on student results. And it has an impact of course on who then is able to access A level courses. Some “benefit of the doubt” inflated grade students will potentially have taken the place of others who did not make it as their assessments were more objective.

Hope that helps clarify.

I suspect they will go ahead as this 'wave' is expected to be short and sharp. I don't know how they will account for the differing levels of learning and disruption though especially as they were planning to align the grades back towards the 2019 levels.

It's extremely unsettling for our already beleaguered teens. Ds is supposed to have a first set of mocks in Jan and thereafter in Feb and Easter. It's a lot of pressure to be 'on' and improving all the time.

It’s hugely unsettling. And unfair on all. There is no good outcome of this for students. And I have quite a few colleagues who were so utterly sick of the massive weight of TAGs from last year that they’ve said they will resign if they happen again.

Recently I read some research via Teacher Tapp (sorry I can't find the original link) which suggests this current Y11 could very well end up being the most disadvantaged cohort so far. I think this is also based on the idea that grade to mark boundaries will probably be raised to try and get back to issuing results more in line with 'normal' years.
I don't think it matters whether they close schools or not. The exam boards will need to take proper account of the disruption across the board. Many kids are being taught by supply or non-specialists. Many subjects at GCSE can't be taught by a non-specialist and most can't be at A level. Half my classes have missed several weeks of their lessons due to pupil infections. I caught Covid at school myself and so did my dh (also a teacher) and both dc - we were all off for several days as a result. We taught from home but it was not as effective and very difficult. My dd (Y11) has has had to do many lessons posted online due to her teachers being absent. Last year, TAGS were hellish for both the teachers and pupils. Everyone's mental health has been affected by this. It worries me greatly and I've no idea how my colleagues will go on.