Vocational examinations in January cancelled
We will cancel all of our planned vocational exams during January. I had expected the government to make this clear but they have left the decision to colleges. It seems completely obvious to us that if it is unsafe to open schools and colleges then it is also unsafe to run examinations. We also believe that it is unfair to ask students to sit examinations under such conditions, you would be unlikely to perform at your best. The exam boards have promised that no students will be disadvantaged by not sitting their exams now. Hopefully all your hard work can be recognised through whatever centre assessed grade process is decided on.
To be clear, we will not be running exams in the following subjects this January:
Please get in touch directly with your subject teachers who will provide you with information about their planned replacement for this activity. You will have lots of work to do to ensure we have the evidence to justify our teacher-assessed grades.
A level and GCSE exams are cancelled and will be replaced with ‘teacher-assessed grades’
The Secretary of State made this clear in his speech yesterday. There now begins a process to determine what system will replace examinations with the claim that “This year we are going to put our trust in teachers rather than algorithms.” We will see what this means but, for now, we all need to keep working as normal as every piece of work we do contributes to the evidence base for a teacher-assessed grade.
The Chief Regulator of Ofqual has also published a brief response today. In this he is clear that the review includes vocational and technical qualifications which is reassuring as neither the Prime Minister or the Education minister have been clear on this.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/a-message-from-simon-lebus-chief-regulator-on-exams-in-2021
Webinar on Wyke’s response to Lockdown 3.0 today 1pm
A reminder that I am hosting a webinar for students and parents today at 1pm. I will be explaining the detail of my updates this week, I haven’t got lots of new material to share so don’t worry about missing out if you are comfortable with the plans. Here is the link to the session:
And here is the link to submit any questions in advance.
