WATCH: Teacher assessments to replace summer exams

Wednesday 06 January 2021

Mock exams are going ahead this month despite the news that this year’s A-Levels and GCSE grades will be based on teacher assessments.

For the second year in a row, students across the British Isles won’t be sitting A-Level and GCSE exams at the end of the summer term due to the enduring impact of the pandemic.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday that this year’s exams “would be different” and the teacher-assessment system of grading was confirmed by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson in the House of Commons this afternoon.

Because Jersey schools rely on UK-based examining boards and their regulator, they have to follow suit.

Pictured: Mocks will go ahead this month - providing a key indicator of performance on which teachers can base their grade assessments.

In response to the UK announcement, Education Minister Tracey Vallois said: “Plans are already in place to make sure that students are not at a disadvantage by sitting January examinations. They have been supported this week by teachers and lecturers with teaching sustained by a mixture of face-to-face and online tuition last term. 

“There will be re-sit opportunities should vocational tests go ahead in the summer and, if not, we have robust assessment data to ensure that all students achieve the results which reflect their true potential.”

Senator Vallois added: “When further information becomes available, schools will be informed and students in Jersey will be offered the same opportunities and support as pupils in the UK. 

“We will do all we can to ensure that students’ education is disrupted as little as possible and to ensure that results are fair and robust.”

Mr Williamson told Parliament yesterday that the mistakes of last summer – when an automated algorithm lowered the A-Level results of nearly 40 per cent of students – would not be repeated.

Education Secretary @GavinWilliamson is making a statement on educational settings.

Watch live https://t.co/UIaABWh7t3

— UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) January 6, 2021

“Last year, all four nations of the UK found their arrangements for awarding grades did not deliver what they needed, with the impact felt painfully by students and their parents,’ he said. 

“Although exams are the fairest way we have of assessing what a student knows, the impact of this pandemic now means that it is not possible to have these exams this year. I can confirm that GCSEs and A and AS Level exams will not go ahead this summer. This year we are going to put our trust in teachers rather than algorithms.

“The department and Ofqual had already worked up a range of contingency options. While the details will need to be fine-tuned in consultation with Ofqual, the exam boards and teaching representatives, I can confirm now that I wish to use a form of teacher-assessed grades, with training and support provided to ensure these are awarded fairly and consistently.”

One parent of a Jersey student who is due to sit her A-Levels in the summer said the news was a relief. 

“My daughter has been very fortunate as her teachers maintained seamless, high-quality virtual lessons throughout the lockdown period last April and during any periods of self-isolation since, and we are most grateful for this,” said Susan Parker, who is also a secondary school teacher. 

“Therefore, today's news comes as a relief that an early decision has been made and that, hopefully, a more robust method of centre assessment will be put in place for summer 2021 predicted grades. 

“I fully appreciate that many students nationally have endured interrupted learning over the past nine months and it would be completely unreasonable to expect all Year 11 and 13 students to sit exams on a level playing field in May or June.”

Her daughter, Katie, said she also felt relieved: “I personally feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. After the craziness of the past year, I am glad that a decision has been made early to clear up some of the uncertainty. 

“Having said that, I know this was not the news many other students were hoping to hear today, so I hope we will receive further guidance and information as soon as possible.”

Pictured: One pupil who spoke to Express said that she was relieved that there was now certainty for the summer.

Another Year 13 parent, Sophie Le Blancq, said she was disappointed that exams had been cancelled but she understood that the health and safety of students had to come first.

"My main concern would be that the UK Government and Ofqual don't respect the grades that teachers provide," she said. "We certainly don't want an algorithm like last year. 

"Jersey teachers know their students well and are able to provide good professional judgments on what their students would have achieved. Also, the original date for A-Levels results this August was put back because the exams were due to start later. I'd like to see the results day returned to its initial date to allow the maximum time to prepare for university."

The early confirmation that grades would be teacher assessed this year was welcomed by unions.

Tim Balston, secretary of the local branch of the National Education Union, said: “We welcome this decision by Gavin Williamson, but we also fully understand and sympathise with students caught up in what has been, and is, a horrendous year for them. 

“It remains to be seen exactly what Ofqual decides is the fairest and most robust way for teachers to make their grade recommendations. Whatever is introduced will no doubt require additional time and work from teachers in order to give full and fair decisions. This should not be rushed. 

“The NEU will be asking for timely and thorough training in order to implement the more rigorous systems that will be put in place. It is expected that CYPES will work collaboratively with teachers to ensure that time, resources and energy can be best spent in order to give our students the confidence and assurance that they will receive the results their hard work and talent deserves.”

Last year’s announcement that examinations would be scrapped was only made in April, when it became clear that sitting examinations would be impossible.

The first set of results in August - A-Levels – were mired in controversy when it became clear that many students’ grades were significantly lower than those predicted by their teachers.

In Jersey, a number of schools immediately announced that they would be challenging the results.

In the end, an under-pressure UK Government dispensed with the algorithm’s grades and switched to teachers’ predicted grades. 

By doing so, they avoided a similar outcry when GCSE results were published a week later. 

In October, schools and Ministers called on the UK Government to make an early decision on 2021's A-Level and GCSE exams to relieve student anxiety and avoid another grading fiasco.