Why are some schools setting extra GCSE work for Y11?

[noblegiraffe]

I don’t mean A-level prep, or providing ongoing revision in case of September resits.

I mean setting and marking work giving pupils the impression that it can be used towards improving predicted grades.

There’s no way that the exam boards will look at it is there? It would be totally unfair.

So why are they wasting kids and teachers’ time?

I have nfi why my school is doing this, we have shed loads of data, it is expected many kids won’t do it, yet we are still setting work for 11 and 13

I do think these resit style exams wil be shorter than the real exams. I also think they will be a blimmin nightmare to administer, timetable and prepare for.

I was actually going to post the same question this morning.

Ds is year 11 and his school have set no work at all. At the final assembly last week the Headteacher told the year group that they were not to do any work as there will no exams.

We have had one email from school since and that says to do some revision if you feel that you may need to retake. Absolutely zero work has been set though.

Ds has an SEN. He finds doing any study at home very difficult. He sees home as his safe space and he doesn't like to bring school work into his home environment. We had been struggling to encourage revision before the school closure. His grades though have been pretty good and consistent so it's very unlikely he will want to retake any.

I'm going to gently try and encourage him to do some Gcse to A Level bridging work over the next few months. In reality he will probably do very little academic work before September.

I'm really surprised that some year 11s have been sent so much work. Should I be concerned that Ds's school are doing nothing?

Wondering the same. Ds1 has been doing his.

We were initially told to set if for their mental health as it could be six months before they see a class room.

Now we have been told that it will count for them in an email. We know it won't but we are lying to us and them and it makes me uneasy.

They are lying to them and us.

We are telling them to keep working because we have no idea how the grades are going to work. It’s clear that students aren’t just going to get teacher predictions. Our progress 8 has hovered somewhere between +0.8 and +1.4 since it was brought in. If prior attainment is going to be a big determining factor in the calculated grades them our students might be awarded much lower grades than we have predicted. If that happens then we will, of course, be encouraging them to sit the exams in the Autumn. I have kids with target grades of 5 (based on their prior attainment) who would definitely have got an 8 or 9. It the exam boards give them a 5 or 6 then of course they should sit the exam. We think it’s a good idea to be ready for the fact that a lot of our kids might want to sit the exam. If they don’t then nothing is lost. We aren’t setting exam papers, but I am carrying on teaching the last bit of content and doing practice questions and revision.

Sabine so is Ds at a disadvantage as his school have set no work?. There is certainly no teaching going on. The only other communication with the year group apart from 'revise if you think you might want to retake' is telling us that they will let us know when they want locker keys and textbooks back. As far as Gcses go it feels like he has left school. Ds has checked his emails and there is nothing.

You could use revision guides to practise if no work set by school?

Our school have said no work for yr 11 and told them they should keep revising English , maths and whatever they are doing for A level , but on their own.

I am setting my yr 11 small amounts of completely optional past paper questions that I will mark- mostly because I don’t want them to feel abandoned. I’ve got 10 out of 30 doing the work - most of whom want to take the subject at A level. This may well change once we get more details.

Our data is all over the place because the school has gone for ‘walking talking mocks’ which rules out November data, and so the only really the only valid data point is the last January mock. Those kids in January who were just starting to pull it out the bag and thought they had 5 more months to do it in are the ones that are going to get hit. I’ve got 2 students I think would actually get 6s in the real exam but I can’t predict a 6 as I have no easy to provide data. I base my gut feeling about them on 20 years teaching experience, lots of conversations with their supportive parents, the fact that they attended extra sessions since November , the fact they submitted an extra exam paper from home in which they got a 6, the fact one of them has a tutor . However I can’t imagine any of that will actually be taken into account.

Punxsutawney- I honestly don’t know if he’s at any disadvantage. Until we know how the predictions and calculations work it’s impossible to say. If he does end up having to (or wanting to) sit exams in some subjects in the Autumn then I imagine he will be disadvantaged compared to someone in a school that carried on teaching and setting work up to July.
As the person in charge of the Sixth Form at my school I also think having a new cohort of year 12, who have done no serious, productive school work for months and months would be a nightmare. Talking about A Level bridging work is all very well but what about external students or those who don’t know what subjects they will do yet? To me the most sensible thing is to keep them working on their GCSE content. Learning something doesn’t stop being valuable just because the exam is cancelled. I’m teaching the Middle East conflict to year 11 at the minute. I think it’s worth doing exams or no exams.

We are continuing exam prep work with Y11 and Y13 because SLT have decided we will set them open-book assessments (to be done at home) in lieu of GCSE and A level exams. The reasoning for this is so we can demonstrate that they've made progress since their mocks in January and hopefully boost their predicted grades. We've not yet received guidance on when we have to provide predicted grades to the exam boards (this certainly hasn't been done already, contrary to what I've been reading on here, at least not for us in England) and the timing of the internal assessments will be based on this, but we anticipate they will take place in May,

I can't say I'm wild about the method of assessment - not all subjects can transfer to an open book exam format, and no doubt some kids will still find ways to cheat - but I think it's good that they still have something to focus on, and it will help us justify our predictions. We have perfectly good record keeping but the fact is that under normal circumstances we never see our students' best work because it only appears on the day of the exam, and huge amounts of progress gets made in the last few weeks.

gingergetthepopcorn I agree with the sentiment of collecting evidence on the progress we all know they make in the last few weeks but I can’t see realistically how it will be used. Who would assess it? That’s an enormous workload , even before we take into account the fact all schools are doing their own thing. I was thinking about the appeals process that they have said will be available and maybe it would be worth the students collating evidence for that but it feels so ad hoc. I’m trying to not overthink it and wait for the next piece of official advice but it’s hard- I like to plan ahead!

My DS school is giving no work. They’ve been sent a ‘goodbye letter’ and that’s it, end of school. He is doing nothing now apart from playing online games with friends. I’m going to give him til after Easter then encourage him to start doing some sort of online self learning.

@Noblegiraffe - my understanding (as a secondary school teacher) is that the kids don't need evidence to appeal their grade; if they feel they could do better than the grade they are given (which is a combination of prior attainment in practice exams, work ethic, understanding shown in class - quizzes, discussion etc) then they do so by opting to take the exam. They will have a 'working at' grade and a 'professional predicted grade' from their last progress check or report so they will be able to see how close their grade is to these. The grades they will be awarded will be as fair as possible, considering all factors and there will be a standardisation process for schools.
I have advised my year 11s to continue topping up their knowledge of the exam texts - in case they sit the exam - and to read for pleasure. Those that are going on to study A Levels can do some prep work for that - which is generally enrichment anyway as most A Levels bear little resemblance to GCSEs anyway.
These are unprecedented times for all concerned so everyone is doing their best with very little clarification at this time. Things aren't 'normal' for anyone so school -aged pupils of any age shouldn't be expected to study for the amount of time they would at school. For several subjects the course content would be finished and the time would now have been spent on revision/extra depth.

SLT have decided we will set them open-book assessments (to be done at home) in lieu of GCSE and A level exams. The reasoning for this is so we can demonstrate that they've made progress since their mocks in January

So those kids with parents who can support them and want them to do well, can help, but those without won’t? That seems impossible to police and very unfair.

I have advised (only advice and cleared by my HT) my year 11 to focus on subjects they didn't do well in on their last mocks in case they want to take the exam. Im moving those who want to do A levels in my subject through an intro module to keep them challenged.
The guidance has been clear as mud at times, especially for the kids.

I understand why Y11 and Y13 pupils would want to complete GCSE coursework and NEAs which they were already working on before 20 March.

I can understand setting further work to give Y11 and Y13 pupils a sense of purpose, and to encourage them to keep learning over the next few months, both for its own sake and to create a firm foundation for those wanting to go on to the next stage of education.

I don't understand why some schools are implying that online assignments and assessments set after 20 March will be used as evidence for teacher assessed grades.

1. Schools have not yet received the details of what data will be used, and how it will be used, so they can't know this.
2. There are huge differences between schools in amount of teaching and resources being offered online, and huge differences in the home circumstances of individual pupils. This increases inequality of access.
3. In schools who have implied that work started after 20 March will be able to boost grades, pupils now feel under pressure to produce work that will bring up their grade, and teachers have an increased pressure of marking. This is at a time when some pupils and teachers are ill with symptoms and many have increased caring responsibilities.

The appeal that is allowed is one against 'correct procedures' rather than marking. Goodness knows what that means but those are the only grounds for appeal.

These exams are going to be carnage.

@Cathpot it's definitely going to mean a lot more work for us. We can't just use past papers, we'll have to write our own assessments for the open-book format and mark them. It's a fairly small school, but even so. The cynic in me wonders whether this is partly in order to justify charging the parents of Y11 and Y13 fees next term (private school), which it would be hard to do if we just stopped teaching them...

And, certainly in normal circumstances, which obviously these aren't, students can't gain an advantage merely by appealing. To grant appeals and then grade changes based on work done at home would be monstrously unfair. Now more than ever the above rule must apply.

@fedup21 I don't disagree with you. We are a private school, make of that what you will, so in theory perhaps our parents are already more invested in their children's education than the national average. However, those who have parents at home and in a position to help them will undoubtedly get more support than the rest. I'm also concerned that this method of assessment will reward naturally clever and quick-thinking kids who haven't necessarily worked the hardest, and penalise those who don't find academic work easy but have been slogging away for months trying to learn the material. It's a clusterfuck of a situation and I don't think anyone is claiming to have the solution.