Most praise new system

THE move was broadly welcomed by teaching union leaders yesterday, but one warned that the new system would still constitute exams “in all but name”.

Ruth Davies, president of school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said: “We welcome the acknowledgement that things need to be different in 2021, but there is a real concern that we will end up with exams by stealth.

“It has been announced that pupils will still be given externally set and marked tests, just in the classroom. We can’t see how that isn’t an exam.

“There is an awful lot of detail still to be determined, and we await further clarification, but we are worried we will end up with exams in all but name.”

Neil Butler, national official for the NASUWT teaching union, said: “The good news is that there’s been a recognition of the serious impact that school-based assessments will have on workload for teachers. Talk of externally marked and externally set assessments is helpful.

“The bad news is the Welsh Government has got this idea that co-construction means just talking to school and college leaders, which it doesn’t because the people who are going to have to put this into practice are the classroom teachers and middle leaders in schools.”

David Evans, Wales secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) Cymru, said: “We welcome that the minister has made an announcement on this – it is critical that we don’t have a repeat of what happened this summer.

“We must ensure that young people have a consistent assessment process in place which means their abilities are recognised for their next steps. But this must not mean extra work for everyone involved.”