Babak Belurs

Rabu, 06 Januari 2021

Teachers' grades will replace exams in England - BBC News

Teachers' estimated grades will be used to replace cancelled GCSEs and A-levels in England this summer, says Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

He told MPs he would "trust in teachers rather than algorithms", a reference to problems in last year's exam results.

For primaries, he confirmed there would be no Year 6 Sats tests this year.

Mr Williamson also said it would be "mandatory" for schools to provide "high-quality remote education" of three to five hours per day.

He said Ofsted inspectors would check that this was delivered.

'Confusion'

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary, Kate Green, accused Mr Williamson of "chaos and confusion" - and said he had failed to listen to the "expertise of professionals on the front line".

She said he had given a "cast-iron commitment" that exams would go ahead - and Ms Green said: "At that moment, we should have known they were doomed to be cancelled."

Mr Williamson, in a statement to the House of Commons, said there would be "training and support" for teachers in estimating grades, "to ensure these are awarded fairly and consistently".

Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers' union, warned against repeating the "shambles" of last summer's cancelled exam season.

He said rather than a "vague statement" of how exams would be graded, ministers should already have a system ready in place - and it was a "dereliction of duty" that it was not already prepared.

The education secretary confirmed to MPs that GCSEs and A-levels are not going ahead - after this week's decision that it was no longer feasible with so much time lost in the Covid pandemic and the latest lockdown.

The exams watchdog Ofqual will now have to come up with proposals for an alternative way of deciding results, which could be used for jobs, staying on in school or university places.

Last year's attempts to find an alternative approach to exam results, which initially used an algorithm, descended into chaos - and eventually switched to using teachers' grades.

And without any exam papers or standardised mock exams, the use of teachers' grades, with some process of moderation, will be used for this summer's candidates.

On vocational qualifications, Labour's Ms Green said the education secretary was "failing to show leadership on exams in January".

Vocational exams, such as BTecs, are carrying on, if schools and colleges decide to continue with them - but college leaders had complained that there needed to be a national decision to avoid confusion.

If students cannot take BTec exams this month as planned, they will still be awarded a grade, if they have "enough evidence to receive a certificate that they need for progression", says the awarding body Pearson.

An Ofqual spokeswoman said they would consider options for replacement exam results, academic and vocational, "to ensure the fairest possible outcome in the circumstances".

The exams watchdog's decisions will face much scrutiny - with the previous head of Ofqual resigning after last summer's U-turns over grades.

"We are discussing alternative arrangements with the Department for Education. We know that many are seeking clarity as soon as possible," said Simon Lebus, Ofqual's interim chief regulator.

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2021-01-06 13:45:00Z
52781287490475

Covid-19: Johnson warns England's lockdown won't end 'with a bang' - BBC News

The end of England's lockdown will not happen with a "big bang" but will instead be a "gradual unwrapping", Boris Johnson has told MPs.

The prime minister made the comments in the Commons ahead of a retrospective vote on the lockdown measures later.

He said the legislation runs until 31 March to allow a "controlled" easing of restrictions back into local tiers.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government's decisions "have led us to the position we're now in".

All of the UK is now under strict virus curbs, with Wales, Northern Ireland and most of Scotland also in lockdown.

On Tuesday the number of new daily confirmed cases of Covid in the UK topped 60,000 for the first time.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Johnson said the new variant had "led to more cases than we've seen ever before" and that this had left the government with "no choice but to return to national lockdown".

He said the legislation ran until the end of March "not because we expect the full national lockdown to continue until then, but to allow a steady, controlled and evidence-led move down through the tiers on a regional basis".

He said this would happen "brick-by-brick... without risking the hard-won gains that protections have given us".

But in response to MPs' questions, he said there was a "cautious presumption" that restrictions could start being eased from mid-February.

"And as was the case last spring, our emergence from the lockdown cocoon will be not a big bang but a gradual unwrapping," he added.

Under the measures, which came into force legally on Wednesday, people in England will only be able to go out for essential reasons, exercise outdoors will be allowed only once a day, and outdoor sports venues must close.

The need to debate and vote on the restrictions means the Commons has been recalled from its Christmas break for the second time - the first being for the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

With Sir Keir saying Labour will support the motion, the measures are expected to pass with ease.

The restrictions will be kept under "continuous review", Mr Johnson added, with a statutory requirement to reconsider them every two weeks.

Addressing the closure of schools, the PM said "we did everything in our power to keep them open as long as possible" and that was why schools were the "very last thing to close."

They would be the "very first thing to reopen" after lockdown - that could be after the February half term but "we must be very cautious" about the timetable, he said.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is to make a Commons statement later about the cancellation of A-Level and GCSE exams in England.

Analysis box by Jonathan Blake, political correspondent

The prime minister wasted no time in emphasising the "fundamental difference" between this and previous lockdowns.

To keep opposition from his own MPs at bay he needs to demonstrate that the government's aim to vaccinate the most at-risk groups by mid-February is viable.

He is also under pressure to give a sense of how quickly restrictions might be lifted after that.

The course of the pandemic has changed swiftly at times, though, and may do so again, so it's unlikely we'll get any firm new timelines from Boris Johnson today.

Most Conservative backbenchers seem resigned to the need for this new national lockdown and agree the prime minister had "no choice" but to act.

But MPs on all sides are impatient to hear how soon things may start returning to something like life as normal at last.

Mr Johnson said unlike in March last year, during the first lockdown, vaccines offered "the means of our escape".

But he said there was now a race to vaccinate vulnerable people quickly, with the government setting a target of immunising the four most vulnerable groups - some 13 million people - by mid-February.

"After the marathon of last year, we are indeed now in a sprint, a race to vaccinate the vulnerable faster than the virus can reach them," Mr Johnson said.

"Every needle in every arm makes a difference."

Earlier, Covid vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said he was "confident" the government would meet its "ambitious" target, adding that community pharmacies would be brought in to assist the vaccination programme.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that new daily vaccination figures for the UK - which will be released for the first time on Monday - will show there has been a "significant increase" in the number of people who have received the jab.

On Tuesday, Mr Johnson said 1.3 million people in the UK had been vaccinated so far.

At-a-glance: New rules in England

People cannot leave their homes except for certain reasons, like the first lockdown last March
These include essential medical needs, food shopping, exercise and work for those who cannot do so from home
All schools and colleges will close to most pupils from Tuesday with remote learning until February half-term
Early years settings such as nurseries will stay open
End-of-year exams will not take place this summer as normal
Elsewhere, university students should not return to campuses and will be taught online
Restaurants can continue to offer food delivery, but takeaway alcohol will be banned
Outdoor sports venues - such as golf courses, tennis courts and outside gyms - must close
But outdoor playgrounds will remain open
Amateur team sports are not allowed, but elite sport such as Premier League football can continue

Responding to the prime minister's statement, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party will support the new restrictions and urged people to comply with them.

But he said the government was partly to blame for the situation the country was in, accusing ministers of repeatedly being too slow to act.

"These are the decisions that have led us to the position we're now in - and the vaccine is now the only way out and we must all support the national effort to get it rolled out as quickly as possible."

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR: Turn up the nostalgia with this classic 90s comedy
FILMS FOR EVERYONE: A huge selection of films to stream to make lockdown a bit more entertaining

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2021-01-06 13:17:00Z
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Covid-19: Johnson warns England's lockdown won't end 'with a bang' - BBC News

The end of England's lockdown will not happen with a "big bang" but will instead be a "gradual unwrapping", Boris Johnson has told MPs.

The prime minister made the comments in the Commons ahead of a retrospective vote on the lockdown measures later.

He said the legislation runs until 31 March to allow a "controlled" easing of restrictions back into local tiers.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government's decisions "have led us to the position we're now in".

All of the UK is now under strict virus curbs, with Wales, Northern Ireland and most of Scotland also in lockdown.

On Tuesday the number of new daily confirmed cases of Covid in the UK topped 60,000 for the first time.

Mr Johnson said the new variant had "led to more cases than we've seen ever before" and that this had left the government with "no choice but to return to national lockdown".

He said this would happen "brick-by-brick... without risking the hard-won gains that protections have given us."

"And as was the case last spring, our emergence from the lockdown cocoon will be not a big bang but a gradual unwrapping", he said.

Under the measures, people in England will only be able to go out for essential reasons, exercise outdoors will be allowed only once a day, and outdoor sports venues must close.

These will be kept under "continuous review", Mr Johnson added, with a statutory requirement to reconsider them every two weeks.