GCSE's and A levels

I am pleased with the announcement and relieved for them I think teachers and children have not been treated well.

I am pleased too.

That's good news and I hope your grandchildren feel more at ease now Franbern. Maybe one positive from this enforced remote learning is that year 13s will have learnt how to organise their work more independently, which is good preparation for uni.

Agree. Only sensible decision.
I’m also of the view that for many (younger)children there is some exaggerated panicking going on of the “their education is ruined, they’ll never catch up” variety.
If you think about the stages and levels etc by which a child’s learning is currently measured are completely arbitrary. Why does a child need to be able to do/learn a particular skill by a particular age ? It’s not set in stone, or shouldn’t be.

Most children will get far more accurate grades. Teachers spend a great deal of time continually assessing children to ensure they move them on at the correct pace. It seems silly to me to waste all this money on an outdated exam system when a teacher could tell you the grade of every child he/she teaches. Also it gives a better insight into what the child actually knows and understands rather than what they can churn out on a particular day in a relatively short space of time. Some children excel in formal exams but others who are equally clever don't. I come into the second group and it affected me all the way through my education. Even at degree level. My assessments and work showed I was heading for a first but my inability to perform in exams brought me down to a 2.1

Absolutely. I’ve often said you could predict a gcse grade after teaching a student for a year!

I have one GD at A-level and another at GCSE. I haven't spoken to either of them yet, but I know that my GD, who is applying for Tech Design courses at Universities, has had a promising response on the basis of her course work as shown in her portfilio. GS in Y11 has been doing a lot of course work by remote learning and I think the teachers are reasonably pleased with him. He hopes to get into the 6th form college department. I will phone him today and get the latest news, if he has heard from his school.

I have mixed feelings about this. There is evidence that course work assessment favours girls, and boys do better in an exam system. My GS's teacher predicted grades have always been lower than the grade he eventually acheived. It will be interesting to see what grades he is given. One thing that will happen is a huge number of appeals in some schools and the results date is earlier to accommodate this. Teachers will need suits of armour.

^ I'm also of the view that for many (younger)children there is some exaggerated panicking going on of the “their education is ruined, they’ll never catch up” variety.^
Yes, the younger children will catch up pretty quickly Lucca.
I think their social skills are more of an issue just when they are learning to interact and share. Not many younger children have mobile phones to communicate with their peers, it isn't appropriate for them to be on chat like secondary kids either. Basically it is the younger children who have missed out the most on social development and that is not to be underestimated.

Do agree that with primary school aged children -school and learning is more about social skills etc. than parsing English and knowing fractions.

I am concerned as to how many younger children have been virtually taught over this past year to be scared about going out of doors, or meeting someone new.

One of my AC is an Educational Psychologist, another works in NHS Mental Health -both are getting increased number of people being referred to their teams. Yet another is involved with SENCO. Another is involved with Higher Education.A neice (who like a further honorary member of our family is a primary school teacher. So, as a family (as you can imagine) education over all age groups is a subject of much and often discussion.

Last year, my gson, thought he had failed to get his chosen Uni place, as he needed AABB minimum (well within his projections) but the algorythm used gave him a D for his Chemisty instead of the required A. In actual fact, the Unis must have had a short idea of this fiasco, as when he looked into UCAS, his offer had been changed by them to Unconditional. He was still unhappy and annoyed and, of course, when it changed a week later to Teachers Grades he achieved AAAB. He still feels that a proper exam would have got him an A*.

So, this year, Uni interviews have all been conducted on line - my g.daughter has been offered BBB for her course at her chosen Uni. She has been projected AAB - so, hopefully will be fine now.

The Year 11 g.child just needs enough to get into the chosen 3 A levels at college,

Ellianne

^ I'm also of the view that for many (younger)children there is some exaggerated panicking going on of the “their education is ruined, they’ll never catch up” variety.^
Yes, the younger children will catch up pretty quickly Lucca.
I think their social skills are more of an issue just when they are learning to interact and share. Not many younger children have mobile phones to communicate with their peers, it isn't appropriate for them to be on chat like secondary kids either. Basically it is the younger children who have missed out the most on social development and that is not to be underestimated.

Totally agree .

I too agree with Ellianne.

I can echo what happened to Lucca. Formal exams, and I include the 11+, unnerved me. ```I still remember the day, when I was told I failed. I passed all my mock GCSEs, but when I actually sat them, I passed one. It took years for my confidence to be restored to a level where I then did adult ed for O and A levels. Then I did an Hons Degree and like Lucca got 2.1

There is another option for children beside university, It is one my granddaughter is taking. She took her mock GCSEs before Christmas and got good grades. Based on these grades she has a place at college, starting in September. She's chosen not to take A levels but do a B.Tech. (4 year course). Leading onto an apprenticeship.

I'd like to see a trend towards more students considering B.Tech's as well as university.

Muse that wasn’t me ! I loved exams and would have been hopeless at coursework

The poor exam taker was me

I was a good exam taker, I dont think it particularly means anything, well I am brilliant obviously, but in general not so much.

I have grandchildren in Year 11 and 13 and glad that this has been sorted out for them. They have both worked well online so hopefully not too much damage done.

My GD in Y13 has shone in most subjects throughout her school career, but she is not good at exams, so her GCSEs weren't those of a high flyer and she is pleased that she won't have to take A-level exams. Her brother, now in Y12, is a complete opposite and just takes everything as they come. If they do manage to run A-levels next year, I'll have no qualms about him.

My grandchildren are primary school age, but already I can see the one who will sail through exams with top grades. It's the one with the good memory, who answers the questions as required and who gets it all correct despite being in the grumpiest of moods when asked to do the work sonetimes!
I feel sorry for those who struggle and find exams hard.

I agree this is probably the best solution now, but it's very tough for schools. And for students in the longer run.

This could have been foreseen last November if not before and plans made for local schools to swap / share the assessing. Exams boards could have ensured a range of fair questions on all topics on the syllabus and head teachers could decide the topics for their school. Some such element of external rigour might benefit pupils in the long run. Life has been very very tough for them.

I'm guessing last November we were all unaware of the new mutant variants and no decisions could be made.

I think it's all farcical. One of my tutees is "doing" GCSE German this year with me. Her school doesn't teach German, so she will be the only candidate. I've double checked (and triple checked) the requirements.

There are about 7 pages of instructions for the teacher and a tick list of criteria for awarding grades, but I can award whatever grade I want and nobody will check.

I'm professional enough not to award a Grade 9 automatically, especially as the idea is for my pupil to improve her German up to a standard where she could study in Germany (she has dual German nationality). If I inflated her grade now, she'd still need to prove herself when taking Goethe Institut exams in the future.

However, if a school really wanted to look good, they could just inflate all their grades. There has been time to organise some kind of externally moderated assessment scheme.

DGD1 is in Year 13 at a highly selective and seriously academic grammar school. Her predicted A Level grades are A*, A, A which, given her high scoring GCSE grades, sounds right. She is worried that the school will be penalised for having too many high achieving pupils and that they may be marked down. Who would be an exam year student just now?

Trisha noted that many boys rely on the race to the finish while girls generally do better with continuous assessment and projects. It will be interesting to see whether girls continue to out perform boys this year and what, if anything, this will tell us.

No, it won't work like that GrannySomerset. The government has promised that no algorithm will be used and the teachers' grades will be final. Apparently, they will do random checks to see whether the grades seem reasonable given a school's past performance. Presumably pupils at this school are usually high-achieving, so it won't ring any alarm bells. I'm afraid the cynic in me says it will be a cheats' charter.

Teacher assessment would have been a disaster for one of my sons at A level.

His teacher in one subject, Design and Technology, (who despite also being his form teacher throughout all his time at secondary school, never 'got' him) genuinely expected him to totally fail the subject.
There was some justification. DS's record of doing or handing in homework was abysmal at that stage of his life, and in addition to that, it was only discovered a week before the first exam that he had never even seen the text book that apparently he was supposed to have been studying from throughout the year.
However, against all predictions, he actually got an A in both that and Geography, and went on to get excellent degrees!

That said, I can't think of a better way forward than teacher assessment this year, and as students will be allowed to take the exams at a later date if they wish, the assessments are not the be all and end all.