Y10 and Y12....

[teachpaint]

If this mess isn’t over soon and we’re not back until September, does anyone have any predictions of what they think will happen to the pupils sitting GCSES/ A levels in 2021?

Some colleagues think we won’t be back until October and may be off again around Christmas, extending that holiday if there’s another winter peak.

Obviously no one knows anything, including my school, I’m just interested to hear what you all think will happen, if we’ll have another cancelled exam cohort or if they’ll somehow scrap elements of the course? I don’t see how that would work though and schools work through the course in different orders, at different rate?

It’s going to be really hard to unpick and I doubt there can be the same rule for all subjects.

I teach English, for language I don’t see how they can reduce the content (it’s skill rather than knowledge based) so I hope they reduce the grade boundaries. For literature, I hope they reduce the content, but the only fair way to do that would be to give choice - so each school / pupil chooses which 40 mark section to miss out.

Posted too soon. Longer term, I hope we see a return to more modular courses. Coursework / modular exams would have solved many of the current problems (for year 10-13)

I sort of agree jane but they aren't all worth 40...

I think Eng Lang is probably the least impacted by all of this.

I'm in Wales where we have modular and NEA. It has helped with Year 11. Some schools didn't manage to get on their NEA marks though and they are not being externally moderated, so I'm not sure if they're even looking at it, but as my Year 11 have done 45% it has helped to give them a fair grade. It's not helping with Year 10 though. They aren't able to sit their Year 10 exam and we didn't get around to completing the NEA.

Some private schools near us are doing a full days lessons every day via zoom and similar apps, while our school has received nothing but worksheets. Lowering the grade boundaries would hugely advantage some privately educated kids

Not a teacher but following this as i have a y10 dd. Very worried about it all. She's still working hard but as @GreenTulips said it's not the same. I'm praying the school will set up some online classes as so many things are better learned by listening to the teacher talking (history particularly!). Her art coursework is a worry as the school were slow to get them started on it (not until after October half term) and she has to do about 16 A3 pages by the end of the school year!

It seems unfair that the situation is very different in Wales. Ours would normally have sat one unit at the end of year 10 in lots of subjects and now they don't have to and can choose whether to sit it in year 11 or not and if they don't, their grade for the whole gcse is based on the units they do sit. In year 12 it's the same, so even though all would have sat 2 units this year and got an AS, they can now choose in year 13 to only sit the 2 year 13 units and get a wholeA level from that. I live in England and have kids in year 10 and11 here and teach in Wales. It does mean welsh teachers are having to help them choose what to do though and there are pros and cons of each and different teachers and departments are choosing different things and debating it a lot. We still need their engagement and not getting it in some cases!

Heinz they might well be (my DH's school isn't) but it still is not the same as being in a room learning things.

It feels on MN like huge numbers of schools are using Zoom etc but according to a recent TeacherTapp poll it's about 2% and lots of teachers are reporting that it is not going well and is not sustainable.

I am noticing form this thread that no one seems that focused on/concerned about year 12?

Should be clear : 2% of teachers, so not necessarily 2% of schools.

It's a bit easier for year 12s I think, they have fewer subjects and a bit more maturity, though DD is completing actual coursework for English, and I feel for the kids who only have phones to work on and no computers, or are looking after siblings whilst parents work.

With Y12 they’re hopefully more able to work independently and keep up with the new content we are giving them. They’ve chosen their subjects, usually are keen to do well and so are more likely to engage (obviously I teach an academic A-level with lots of online resources so am in a much better position than others).

Y10 on the other hand - apart from the top set kids - are going to struggle massively with self-teaching, independent work and motivation, especially in non-option subjects.

Another parent, rather than teacher, of a Y10 here. There is going to be an even bigger gap between pupils this year too, as you will have the families and pupils who usually engage but can't at the moment for a variety of reasons such as parents both struggling to WFH and help educate their children, illness, money worries, lack of tech. Not sure how that gap can be closed.

At the moment DS is working his way through the work set, his school were trying to provide a full timetable last week and have set quite a substantial amount of homework for the Easter holidays which started this week for us. But obviously it is not the same as being in a classroom.

@noblegiraffe have you set any work for your Y11s? There seems to be differences between schools whether they are doing this (DS's school had at the end of last term, will be interesting to see if they do next term)

My year 12s are getting on with the work (for the most part) but I am definitely treading water. It is very difficult to teach my subject remotely, not least because of legal access to materials!!

What worries me is the fact that exam papers begin life two years in advance - so a friend of mine who's a principal examiner for an international A Level, has set papers for the next three or four sessions (June and November so two sessions a year), I think.

So I worry about how papers that have already been written might be adapted, or maybe they'll just scrap them and start from scratch, which means a much faster creation process than normal.

DS is in Yr 12 and is keeping up with his courses so far through online teaching but how long is the motivation to keep plodding on with nothing but virtual interaction sustainable? And so many students aren't getting that - never mind the playing field not being level, we've got several completely different playing fields now.

ineed my dept has set some work for kids who are thinking of taking A-level maths, but nothing for the rest. I did raise it before schools closed that we were cutting them loose with nothing to do, but was told there was little that could be done.

I’ve got kids in my class who will have to resit, not because they are unhappy with their grades, but because they won’t get a 4. God knows what happens with that, as Maths and English usually resit in November anyway. Will they have a September and November sitting? I doubt it.

Kids who will need to resit maths due to not getting a 4 should ideally still be doing maths to keep it ticking over. I assume once that the July results are out, resit studying will really gear up (but will be the summer hols!).

That was my thinking noble, 6 months with no study is not going to be a great start for sitting exams in the September term.

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z98jmp3

I agree that Year 10 are the biggest worry. I spent most of yesterday emailing parents and form tutors with missing work. We’ve just been finishing off a text so it’s been easier but starting something from scratch next term is going to be really hard. L6th is easier as others have said - we’ve set ours off on reading for their coursework and we have also had lessons via a Microsoft Teams.

Assuming their marks across all papers are combined before a grade is given? Therefore wholesale boundary lowering would work. I'm thinking much lower than previous years 15+ marks in Maths for example. This assumes all pupils haven't had time to study the full course. (I know private schools may have done it better).

@Piggywaspushed -
For edexcel, each section of the literature exam is worth 40 marks, but that’s probably not the same for other exam boards. This is why it’s so bloody complicated. I’m glad it’s not me who has to work our a fair solution.

I’m less worried about Y12 as they’re working on coursework at the moment anyway so I can coach them through that remotely.

For Science, choice of questions wouldn't really work because many questions require synthesis of concepts. Lowering grade boundaries depending on how students perform nationally may be a better approach. I am setting work for the whole of Y10 including voice over PowerPoints to deliver new content but some students will undoubtedly struggle without the support they would have in the classroom. Plus, a lack of practical work is an issue.

With my Y12 class, I am setting work and delivering lessons through teams which seems to work quite well. They are engaging with everything which is great but I know I will need to go over things when we get back. I am trying to keep going with content so there is less to cram into Y13 on top of what we teach in Y13 anyway.

The other issue is that there will be such variety between schools. Some will be doing online lessons, some setting work, some sticking to revision while others are moving onto new content.

It's certainly not going to be straightforward.

Grade boundaries are already used to ensure fair results when papers are more difficult, first year of new GCSEs etc. I think it would be the go-to solution (although like I said before it would raise issues in tiered subjects).

Problem with November is that we may be in another lockdown period as I assume flu season will be rearing its ugly head again