Babak Belurs

Rabu, 24 Februari 2021

Covid-19: A-level and GCSE results to be decided by teachers - BBC News

GCSEs and A-levels cancelled in England by the pandemic will be replaced by grades decided by teachers, the exams watchdog Ofqual has confirmed.

Schools can determine grades this summer by using a combination of mock exams, coursework and essays.

There will be optional assessments set by exam boards for all subjects, but they will not be taken in exam conditions nor decide final grades.

Results will be published earlier in August to allow time to appeal.

The new arrangements come after a consultation into how best to assess pupils after months of school and college closures.

Last summer, thousands of A-level students had their results downgraded from school estimates by a controversial algorithm, before Ofqual announced a U-turn which allowed them to use teachers' predictions instead.

There will be no fixed share of grades and schools will not be expected to keep in line with last year's results or any earlier year.

But the Education Policy Institute think tank has warned the plans for this year risk "extremely high grade inflation".

How will the 2021 exams work?

After last year's chaos, the exams watchdog Ofqual and the Department for Education say there will be no algorithm calculating results.

Instead, the grading system will be built around teachers' judgements - with schools allowed to decide on the evidence to be used, such as mock exams, coursework and essays.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said it was the "fairest possible system" to ask "those who know them best, their teachers, to determine their grades".

He told a Downing Street press briefing on Wednesday: "As I said many times before, we are putting trust in teachers.

"That's where the trust is going, there is going to be no algorithms whatsoever but there will be a very clear and robust appeals mechanism."

If students are unhappy at the outcome of what their school and teachers have decided, they can appeal, with no financial charge expected.

For those still wanting to take written papers, there will be an option of exams in the autumn.

A-level results day will be 10 August, with GCSEs results given out on 12 August.

They are earlier this year to create a "buffer" for appeals, ahead of decisions over university places in the autumn.

Before the end of the school year, teachers can tell pupils how they got on in the test papers set by exam boards - but not their final grades.

Tests or 'mini-exams'

There will be test papers set by exam boards for each subject, which are intended to inform the judgement of teachers, but will not decide the final grades.

These have been labelled "mini-exams", but Ofqual says the tests, which will be optional for schools to use, should not be seen as exams.

Question papers, which could be from previous exams, will be sent to schools before the Easter holidays and can be taken before 18 June, when schools have to submit grades to exam boards.

The intention is that regardless of how much time pupils might have missed out of school, they will have questions on a topic they will have studied.

These tests will be taken in class rather than exam halls, there is no fixed time limit for their duration and they will be marked by teachers.

What checks are in place?

There will be no fixed share of grades - and schools will not be expected to keep in line with last year's results or any earlier year.

Instead teachers will be expected to award grades based on their professional judgement, drawing on whatever evidence is available.

Schools will be given detailed information about grading and will be expected to ensure consistency between teachers.

Exam boards will check random samples and if there are specific concerns about unusual results, they can investigate and change grades.

Vocational exams

Teachers' grades will be used to replace written vocational exams, in the same way as GCSEs and A-levels.

But where there are practical, hands-on skills to be tested, such as for a professional qualification, some of these exams will continue in a Covid-safe way.

What do students think about it?

Caitlyn in Wigan, aged 15, is taking nine GCSEs and has been studying at home where it's hard to concentrate and the wi-fi keeps crashing. She is glad she won't have to sit exams.

"You feel relief because there's not so much pressure," she says, especially when they had missed so much time in school.

"It's not the same as face-to face interactions with teachers," she says.

The mock exams she sat in November she found particularly hard. "You had that fear of going into a hall with 200 people around you.

"It was really stressful as obviously, we'd been online learning so then you had to quickly cram everything in which made quite a few people drained."

Kori from Blackburn, aged 16, is taking five GCSES.

He says learning from home was "in a way better for me, so I could concentrate and there was no-one to distract me". Although he did miss the support of teachers when he got stuck.

Kori feels the assessments, the so-called "mini exams", that will be offered "are going to be better for me".

Although he worries all the pupils this year might be judged unfairly because they didn't sit the full exams.

Grade inflation?

The Education Policy Institute warned of a "high risk of inconsistencies" between schools - and if there are large numbers of successful appeals or widespread grade inflation it could be difficult for universities and employers to distinguish between applicants.

But the ASCL head teachers' union supported giving schools "flexibility over the assessments they use". While the National Education Union said it was probably the "least worst option available".

Parenting charity Parentkind said "teacher assessment is, under the circumstances, the fairest way to test pupils".

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said delays to deciding a replacement for exams had "created needless stress for pupils, parents and teachers".

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2021-02-25 01:17:48Z
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Covid-19: 'No child's prospects should be blighted by pandemic' - BBC News

No child should have their prospects "blighted by the pandemic", the education secretary has said.

Gavin Williamson was speaking at a Downing Street briefing as he set out £700m in funding to help pupils in England catch up on missed learning.

Asked about what would replace exam grades this year, he said they were "putting trust" in teachers.

It comes as the number of people to receive one dose of the vaccine in the UK surpassed 18 million.

A further 9,938 coronavirus cases were recorded across the UK on Wednesday, as well as 442 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to government figures. It takes the death toll by that measure to 121,747.

Labour said the government should put forward a "long-term plan... not just a quick fix over the summer".

The government has confirmed that all schools will open from 8 March, as part of the first step of a roadmap for easing England's lockdown.

As part of the latest announcements, schools will have the option to run summer classes for pupils who need it most, potentially starting with those who will be moving up to Year 7 at secondary school this year.

The government says it will be up to schools to decide how and if they run summer schools, how long they will be, and which pupils will be invited to attend.

Mr Williamson said the funding announcements were about offering "immediate" support for children and schools.

But the education secretary said many children would need longer term support, and "extensive work" was under way on plans for that.

He said: "We're going to make sure we do everything can do to make sure children reach their potential - while looking at all issues - and we're not going to be timid in aspirations for them and the actions we need to take."

The government's £700m education support package for England includes:

A one-off £302m "recovery premium" for state primary and secondary schools to boost summer schooling, clubs and activities
£200m to fund face-to-face secondary summer schools, with teachers in charge of deciding which pupils benefit
An expanded national tutoring programme for primary and secondary pupils and an extended tuition fund for 16 to 19-year-olds - also worth £200m
That includes £18m funding to support early-years language development

He also reiterated that there would be "no algorithms whatsoever" used in determining A-level, AS and GCSE grades, with marks "firmly in the hands of teachers".

It has already been announced that exams will not take place.

The minister said there would be a "clear and robust" appeals mechanism for students who are unhappy with their results.

Further details on how students in England will be graded this year will be set out on Thursday.

Analysis box by Sean Coughlan, education correspondent

The challenge for the education secretary is to keep sounding as though he has a new plan for what everyone can see is a massive problem with no obvious easy answers.

Children have missed a huge amount of school and exams have been cancelled for two years running.

The latest announcement on catch-up has an extra £400m, but it's focused on a familiar check list - summer schools, tuition, after-school activities, much of which happens anyway and with schools deciding how it will be spent.

Gavin Williamson told Wednesday's press conference that the government was "not going to be timid", but the reports about radical plans such as longer school days and shorter holidays seem to have fizzled away.

The unshowy and highly-experienced school recovery tsar, Sir Kevan Collins, will be more interested in long-term results than show-boating headlines.

The education secretary ran through the plans for pupils going back to school - from 8 March with testing and masks - and that date offers families some certainty.

Although university students must think they are being kept in an expensive limbo, with no date yet set for when many of them can return.

The education secretary also defended the requirement for pupils in secondary schools to wear face masks in classrooms.

He said it was a "temporary" measure that would be reviewed over the Easter break.

Asked if the government was looking at lengthening the school day in the future, Mr Williamson said it was not part of the immediate plans announced, but it could be something considered as part of a wider consultation being led by education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins into the longer term support and change needed within schools following the pandemic.

This week, the government announced that secondary school and college students in England will be asked to take regular coronavirus tests at home when they return to school next month.

Deputy chief medical officer for England Jenny Harries said more testing in secondary schools would mean that parents, teachers and grandparents could be reassured that schools would be as safe as they could be.

These measures would have a positive impact on breaking the chains of transmission, she said.

But she warned that "children should not go hugging grandparents too much" before the the impact of the vaccine rollout was felt.

Labour's shadow education secretary, Kate Green, said the impact of lost learning for children was now "baked in" and she was sceptical about whether the catch-up tutoring programme would reach many of the children who needed it most.

She also said there needed to be a "really robust moderation process to make sure that children are treated fairly... a robust appeals process" and time for schools and exam boards to assess pupils and standardise results.

In Scotland, younger primary pupils have gone back to school, along with some exam year students in secondary schools. A wider reopening has yet to be decided.

In Wales, younger primary years also returned on Monday - with older primary pupils set to go back on 15 March if Covid levels continue to fall.

In Northern Ireland, younger primary pupils will return to classrooms on 8 March.

Last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a £1bn catch-up fund for England, and later appointed Sir Kevan as education recovery commissioner.

In Scotland, the administration has promised £140m in funding to help disadvantaged pupils. Tens of millions of pounds have also been put into catch-up schemes in Wales and Northern Ireland.

The announcement comes as the Treasury has said its levelling-up fund will be extended to the whole of the UK to "help boost growth" in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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