TEENS COULD STILL SIT EXAMS
New confusion as plan emerges for pupils to do ‘tasks or papers’ in summer
TEENAGERS may still sit exams this year even though GCSEs and A- levels have been cancelled, according to a letter from the Education Secretary yesterday.
Gavin Williamson said that ‘externally set tasks or papers’ might be used to help teachers award grades.
The development is likely to create yet more confusion for pupils and parents. Mr Williamson announced to the Commons only last week that ‘exams will not go ahead this summer’.
In his letter yesterday to exam regulator Ofqual, Mr Williamson said: ‘We should seek views in the consultation on what broader evidence should determine a teacher’s assessment of a student’s grade and whether we should require or recommend the use of the externally set tasks or papers.’
Mr Williamson was setting out his ideas on grading ahead of a consultation alongside Ofqual opening later this week. Exams were ditched last week after schools were forced to close again due to rising Covid infections.
The Education Secretary has said he wants teachers to have the primary role in deciding grades, and that algorithms like the one that led to last year’s exams fiasco would be abandoned. Sources said last night that the results of any exam or test would not be decisive. Teachers would still have the freedom to award different grades if exam performance did not reflect the pupil’s ability.
The letter from Mr Williamson also revealed that pupils will receive their grades ‘as late as possible’ to keep them ‘motivated’. He wrote: ‘It is my view that a teacher’s final judgement on a student’s grade ought to be as late as possible in the academic year to maximise remaining teaching time and ensure students are motivated to remain engaged in education.’
Responding to the letter, Ofqual’s chief regulator, Simon
Lebus, agreed to consider short exams.
He wrote: ‘We know that the more the evidence comes from students’ performance in externally set papers, the fairer and more consistent teachers’ assessments are likely to be, because all students are given the chance to show what they can do in the same way.’
However, he added that ‘ no assessment arrangements can take account of all the different ways that students have suffered from the pandemic’.
He continued: ‘We are of the view that exams and other formal assessments provide the best and fairest way to assess student attainment.
‘We regret the fact that exams will not take place this year. We will work with you and others across the sector to put in place the fairest possible alternative arrangements.’
Mr Lebus said that appeals also needed to be considered so pupils are able to challenge their results. ‘Appeals against results are normally determined by a review of the marking of an exam paper by an exam board, therefore we will need to develop different arrangements for this year,’ he said.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was ‘relieved’ that algorithms would not be used.
‘It is vital that the final plans not only provide fairness and consistency but that they are also workable for schools, colleges and teaching staff who will have to put them into practice,’ he added.
Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said pupils must not face a ‘tsunami of anxiety’ as they did last year.
‘Best way to assess attainment’ ‘Faced a tsunami of anxiety’