A-level, AS and GCSE exams are cancelled for next summer
WALES has cancelled all GCSE, A-level and AS-level exams next summer, Education Minister Kirsty Williams has announced.
GCSEs, A-levels and AS exams next year will be replaced by classroom assessments because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and disruption to learning. They will take place at the end of the spring term.
Ms Williams said the ongoing pandemic made it “impossible to guarantee a level playing-field for exams to take place” and the decision “removes pressures from learners”.
No decision has been made yet for vocational qualifications.
“The primary reason for my decision is down to fairness; the time learners will spend in schools and colleges will vary hugely and, in this situation, it is impossible to guarantee a level playing-field for exams to take place,” she said yesterday.
“Cancelling exams provides time for teaching and learning to continue throughout the summer term, to build the knowledge, skills and confidence in our learners to progress in whatever they decide to do next.”
The decision follows a public outcry over this year’s results fiasco, when thousands of students were downgraded by a standardisation algorithm used by independent regulator Qualifications Wales.
Those results were replaced by assessments in a last-minute U-turn by the minister, who later apologised.
Outlining plans for next summer, Ms Williams said that in place of exams the Welsh Government would work with schools and colleges to “take forward” teachermanaged assessments.
This should include externally set and marked assessments delivered within a classroom environment under teacher supervision.
The minister said her “expectation” was that this would form the basis for results from schools and colleges linked to an agreed national approach to provide consistency across Wales.
The minister accepted the recommendation from the independent review she launched after this year’s grading chaos, but against advice from independent regulator Qualifications Wales. The regulator had wanted GCSEs cancelled, but reduced A-level exams to go ahead. The review advised cancelling all exams.
The minister also spoke to pupils and their families, headteachers, college leaders, the Children’s Commissioner and universities across the UK to get their views.
As well as schools being shut for almost the entire summer term, more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported in 695 maintained schools, including eight in 10 secondaries since term began in September.
This has led to thousands of students having to self-isolate and return to remote learning, many of them in key exam years.
Wales is the last of the four UK nations to make a decision on exams after the recent grading fiasco.
Exams will take place in England, while Highers (equivalent to A-levels) will be held in Scotland.
In a terse statement, exam regulator Qualifications Wales said: “As the independent regulator of qualifications, we provided advice to the minister on what we considered to be the fairest approach to assessment in 2021.
“We recognise this has been a difficult decision and there are no easy answers. We are considering the decision and what it could mean in practice. In the meantime, we will provide advice to the independent design and delivery advisory group.”
Headteachers have been divided, but all seem to have agreed that exams could not go ahead as they usually do.
Eithne Hughes, director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru, said: “We wholeheartedly support the decision of the minister for education to scrap end-of-year exams and focus on ensuring the maximum fairness for students amidst the disruption of the Covid pandemic.
“This is the right decision for our young people. It recognises the fact that they will have been affected to differing extents by the impact of the pandemic and it allows for as much teaching time as possible to catch up with lost learning.
“We are confident that the planned approach is robust and that it will avoid the pitfalls that occurred in the grading of this summer’s qualifications.
“Parents can be reassured also by the steps the Welsh Government has taken to ensure this approach will not disadvantage students in Wales in comparison to those in the other UK nations.”
Among those welcoming yesterday’s decision was Huw Powell, headteacher of Mary Immaculate High in Wenvoe.
His school, like all other secondaries in Cardiff, has had coronavirus cases and large numbers of pupils have had to learn remotely as a result.
Responding to the announcement, he said: “The move away from formal, terminal examinations is a sensible and a fair one.
“An examination system must be robust and allow pupils to progress on to the next stage, but it must also be fair and not disadvantage one group or one school over another.
“There is still much to unpack and still questions around any external tests or moderation, but this is a positive way to try to engender fairness in a system where young people have already been disadvantaged by the pandemic.
“All schools have faced issues on
return – parents and young people are experiencing anxiety around coronavirus, which has impacted the attendance of some.
“We have concerns about the ability of some subjects to finish course content, non-examined assessment or examination preparation because of the time lost earlier in the year.
“Even with the welcome reduction in content made by WJEC earlier this year, losing an entire term and with ongoing attendance and self-isolation issues, the pressure was nearly insurmountable for some subjects.
“End-of-year exams also posed huge challenges around invigilation and supporting special consideration pupils with the required social distancing.”
Robert Owen, from Cardiff, whose eldest son was due to sit his GCSEs in the summer, said it was the “best allround option” in a difficult set of circumstances.
“My son has only been in school for two days out of four weeks because he was self-isolating, and then there was the two-week break over half-term,” he said.
“They have to find a way to make it fair for all pupils who have had their year disrupted and this sounds like about as fair as it is going to get.
“I do have a concern, however, that they will not have sat a formal exam before they take on their A-levels and are missing on that sort of level of revision, but that is an issue for another day.”
Parent Pru Jones, from Penarth, who has a son due to take exams, said: “I would support the idea of GCSE exams being cancelled in summer 2021 because there is no way of accurately predicting whether the Covid situation will be stable enough to allow for these exams to go ahead next year, risking a repetition of last year’s uncertainty and chaos.
“Alternatively, controlled assessments during the school year will allow the teachers to prepare for the fair assessment of a child’s ability in a planned way.
“They are already very experienced in doing this. Importantly, the children would be clear about what would be expected of them, and would be spared the anxiety and uncertainty caused by not knowing if their exams would go ahead.”
But another parent, also with a teenager due to take exams, said: “I think exams should have gone ahead. We have enough time to plan it.
“If we are OK to go on holiday or to the pub, we are OK for the exams.”
The Welsh Conservatives’ shadow education minister, Suzy Davies, said it was a “shame” A-level students in Wales would not get a chance to sit exams before heading to university.
She added: “The critical issue for me is that assessments are externally set and externally marked. This will give them some comparability with previous years’ exams and protect teachers against any accusations of unintended bias.
“It’s a shame that A-level students won’t get a chance to sit at least one exam.
“This will be the second year where sixth-formers and college students won’t have the experience of sitting exams when they will be competing for university places with others who have.”
Becky Ricketts, president of the National Union of Students (NUS) Wales, said: “This decision will give students certainty about how they will be assessed and I welcome that students and teaching staff now have the time to plan and prepare.”
Downing Street said there was “no change” in relation to exams in England, despite their cancellation in Wales.