I realise that there are no concessions given for the exams this year. Guess they have to end at some stage.
However, when speaking to teacher friends, they privately admit that their students are definitely not at the same stage they would have expected pre the pandemic, although this is not something discussed externally and certainly not communicated to parents.
Both work in secondaries, one in an indie where some GCSEs are taught over 3 years (and although in principle they should have had time to catch up as normally run as a 2-year course elsewhere, the school has not been used to teaching it over 2 years and so the change and transition in that itself has made it hard and kids are behind, not to mention staff shortages last year). My other friend works in a high performing state comp (GCSE courses are taught over 2 years so although they are doing well and have caught up some they are still behind, but also due to there being less of a working set up for virtual learning early on in the pandemic).
So, I'm calling all teachers teaching at GCSE level - are your students where you would normally expect them to be, or do you see gaps or expect to complete your syllabus later than pre-Covid?