We got it wrong on exams – apologetic ESC president
GUERNSEY students will not sit international exams this year, Education, Sport and Culture said yesterday, and its president apologised wholeheartedly for the distress it had caused with its earlier statement that they would.
ESC made its original announcement on Saturday via social media, a method which in itself caused criticism.
Less than four hours later, and following an outcry, it made a hasty retreat by saying that it would take more time to decide.
Students and parents were furious at the move to proceed with international exams, which include the International Baccalaureate and several A-levels, which came only three months before they were due to take place and after students had been told to focus on their coursework rather than worry about revising.
ESC made its decision following a meeting yesterday and said it had based
its original announcement on whether or not it would be ‘safe and appropriate’ to let the students sit the exams and if there was sufficient staff capacity for a last-minute switch to teacher assessment should there be another outbreak of Covid-19.
In a statement issued late yesterday afternoon, ESC said it had ‘sought urgent clarity from international qualification exam boards about whether it is fair for Guernsey students to have to sit these exams when many of their counterparts are not’.
It added that the local schools had maintained that students should continue to plan for exams, but that the situation was confused when a national newspaper last month said that the International Baccalaureate Organisation had stated that exams in the UK, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey would not go ahead.
‘That statement was made without consultation with Guernsey and made the assumption that Crown Dependencies are part of the United Kingdom,’ said ESC.
‘An important point of distinction that we have now made clear to the IBO.’
‘We know this matter could have been handled much better and we apologise wholeheartedly for the distress and confusion caused by the announcement of our original decision without students first hearing it directly from their schools,’ said ESC president Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen.
‘As with all our decisions, we tried to do what was best for our students and if those international exams are going ahead elsewhere we felt our young people would be better placed if they sat them.’
She thanked students for their comments in the wake of the original announcement.
‘The committee received some excellent well-articulated feedback from students and I want to thank and commend them for that.
‘We got this wrong but have demonstrated that, as a committee, we can be agile and show a willingness to hold our hands up and quickly revisit issues if needed.
‘We hope that today’s announcement provides students with the certainty they need and very much deserve.’
Former chief minister Gavin St Pier was among the most vocal of the critics, emailing ESC president Andrea Dudley-Owen and saying that decisions had been made without consulting students or families.
ESC had said its statement would come ‘early this week’, but Deputy St Pier had called on the committee to meet on Sunday and sort the matter out immediately.
He has now submitted a number of written questions to the committee.
