Teachers to play a part in exam grades
ISLAND teachers have been asked to come up with grades for their GCSE and A-level students after this summer’s exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis.
The grades will be based on a combination of mock results, homework assessments, classwork, bookwork and overall pupil performance.
Ofqual, which is the exams regulator, has also announced that the past performance of each school will also have to be taken into account, meaning that the overall distribution of grades will have to follow a similar profile to previous years.
Schools and colleges must provide a rank order of students within each grade to support Ofqual’s approach.
Exam boards have been instructed to use a statistical model being developed to standardise grades across each subject.
Ofqual is still working on the details for those taking BTec and vocational or technical qualifications.
This new system will affect hundreds of local students and the regulator said it had worked closely with the teaching profession to ensure that what had been asked was appropriate and manageable.
With the impossibility of holding exams, the regulator stressed that it was now the only fair course of action.
Education president Deputy Matt Fallaize acknowledged that the situation was less than ideal.
‘We must do everything possible to support our students affected by these unavoidable circumstances, we now at least have more clarity about the process everyone entered into these exams will go through,’ he said.
‘These are unprecedented times and students who have been preparing for these exams must be reassured that this process will be objective, fair and will not result in them losing out.
‘To this end I was pleased to see that the exams regulator confirmed an appropriate appeals mechanism will be put in place with students having the opportunity to sit exams at the earliest reasonable opportunity in the new academic year if they wish.
‘It is also important to understand that, while our schools will have to supply evidence to Ofqual, it is Ofqual that will make the final decision on grades.’
Parents and carers of children who are routinely home educated and were due to sit their GCSEs this summer are being asked to discuss a best way forward with the high school where the child had expected to sit the exams.
Any parent or carer who has further questions is urged to contact the relevant head teacher in the first instance.
