Teachers concerned over students’ exam grades next year

A MAJORITY of teachers believe students who are due to sit exams next year following months of school closures are not on track to get the results they are capable of, a survey has suggested.

Staff in the most deprived schools are more concerned that pupils will miss out – with 60 per cent of these teachers saying they cannot provide resources needed for home study, according to the poll.

By contrast, fewer than one per cent ( 0.4 per cent) of staff in private schools said their students are not equipped to learn from home, according to the survey of 6,932 teachers by the Teacher Tapp app.

The poll found more than half ( 53 per cent) of teachers with pupils due to take exams next summer feel they are not on track. This figure rises to 66 per cent in deprived schools with the most children receiving free school meals.

Only seven per cent of teachers in England’s most disadvantaged schools felt that they could send students home with all the resources they would need in the event of a local lockdown or outbreak in the school, the poll suggests. More than four in five of headteachers said that they do not have access to the funding needed to fully equip pupils who will take exams in 2021.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We recognise that students due to take exams next summer will have experienced disruption to their education, which is why we prioritised bringing Year 10 and Year 12 pupils back to school last term.

“There are a range of measures proposed by Ofqual, including a possible short delay to the exam timetable and subject- specific changes to reduce pressure on teaching time, that will ensure those young people taking exams next year have the same opportunities to progress as the students before them.”