Teachers to grade exams as schools remain closed
GCSE and A-level exam results in Wales this summer will be graded by teachers after plans for external assessments were ditched, the Welsh Government has announced.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said she was dumping the plan to have externally-marked assessments in schools in place of traditional summer exams in the light of the latest school closures amid the continued pandemic.
Results for GCSEs, AS and A-levels run by Wales’ exam board the WJEC will now be based on pupils’ work during their courses, not on replacement internal and external assessments, as previously planned when exams were cancelled again.
Pupils will have their qualifications awarded through a Centre Determined Grade (CDG), the minister said in a written statement.
It is in part a return to the outcome last summer when centre assessed grades from teachers replaced results after standardised results were ditched in a row over downgrading.
Teachers will be given training as well as guidance and a framework from the WJEC on how to arrive at CDG exam grades “so that processes are applied consistently, equitably, and fairly”, the minster added.
They will use non-exam assessment evidence, including past work and mocks already taken, to determine grades. Learners will be able to appeal to their school or college if they are unhappy with their grade, and to the WJEC if they are unhappy with the process.
The change comes after criticism that assessments to grade exams this year after they were cancelled again would not be fair. Internal assessments for GCSEs, AS- and A-levels scheduled for this term had already been cancelled.
The Welsh Government agreed in November to cancel summer 2021 exams and set up a Design and Delivery Group which advised external and internal assessments for this term and next term to help arrive at grades.
A surge in coronavirus cases and school closure until at least half term has now made that plan unviable.
Critics, including headteachers, said with schools shut again, and for the foreseeable future, as well as continued disruption to education meant those assessments would have been as unfair as holding exams. Some pupils have missed more school than others.
Exam regulator Qualifications Wales will work with the WJEC to provide an assessment framework to support schools and colleges in developing their assessment plans.
These “should demonstrate sufficient coverage of key concepts to allow learners to progress, and detail for how the centre has determined a learner’s grade”.
These assessment plans will be quality assured by the WJEC.
In light of the continued disruption to schools, deadlines and controls around non-exam assessment are being removed and will not be moderated by the WJEC.
But the regulator and exam board said they would “encourage” schools and colleges to support learners to undertake some of their non exam assessments.
Pupils in Year 12 will be awarded Centre Determined Grades to recognise work done, but that will not contribute to their final grades in 2022, the minister said.
For learners in Year 10 due to complete a qualification this year the CDG will apply, but it won’t apply to learners due to take individual units of assessment.
The minister said the plans had met a positive response from universities.