Teachers have not stopped working since schools were shut

From: Adam J Porter, Hull Road, Wilberfoss, York.

I WRITE in response to Tony Worthington’s letter ‘Teachers are the real culprits in school exams fiasco’ (The Yorkshire Post, August 19).

As a teacher, this is highly offensive. Since schools were ordered to close in March by the Government, teachers have not stopped working in the interests of their students.

My colleagues and I have spent hours planning remote learning from home, marking submitted work, returning work back, phoning students and their parents as part of our pastoral care etc. Teachers did not want to have to close schools or cancel exams, they want to be in the classroom doing the job they love.

As for the exams fiasco, these grades were centre assessed, not only teacher assessed as is often portrayed in the media.

This means that the grades were checked and double checked internally by heads of department and senior leadership teams in line with schools’ past performance, as was instructed to us by Ofqual, the examination regulator.

They were done with the integrity that the teaching profession stands for. It may be news to Mr Worthington but the Government decided to cancel exams, not teachers.

Mr Worthington’s criticism does nothing but stoke up additional teacher bashing amongst uninformed members of the public.

His letter proves he has one thing in common with Gavin Williamson, the former

Scarborough fireplace salesman, now Education Secretary – they haven’t got a clue.

From: Brian H Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

HAS anyone else noticed the demise of the words “pupils” and “schoolchildren” in modern English usage? Now, it seems, anyone in the process of being educated is a student, or “stoodent”, a good one of which Donald Trump hubristically claims to have been. I grew up to understand that a student was an individual who had extended his or her studies beyond school into further education. Another example of our language being blunted by Americanisms.

From: David Craggs, Shafton Gate, Goldthorpe.

I KNOW that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but bearing in mind all that has materialised, shouldn’t a much greater effort have been made by all those involved to have at least gone ahead with the A-level exams?