Commenting on the announcement by the Department for Education on
teacher assessed grades for qualifications this summer, Dr
Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT-The Teachers’
Union, said:
“The NASUWT has recognised consistently that the difficult but
necessary decision to cancel examinations in the summer of 2021
has meant hard choices for Government and the regulator in
ensuring that young people can leave school or college with
credible and worthwhile qualifications.
“The core test for Ministers to meet in admittedly challenging
circumstances was to ensure that the solution for qualifications
was as fair as possible for candidates and as manageable as
possible for centres and their staff.
“Today's announcement leaves many important questions of detail
unanswered and teachers, school and college leaders and
candidates remain uncertain about the precise nature of the
arrangements that will be put in place. That such uncertainty
persists a matter of months before assessments are due to be
completed is profoundly concerning.
“However, from the information that has been set out today it is
by no means evident that the Government and Ofqual have made the
right calls in determining how qualifications should be awarded.
As the NASUWT has made clear consistently, a solution that does
not recognise the extraordinary pressures on centre staff cannot
be regarded as close to fit for purpose.
“By rejecting the Union's calls for awarding body-set assessments
to be made mandatory in the majority of cases and marked
externally, a golden opportunity has been missed to secure a
consistent, reliable and manageable approach to awarding.
“Warm words about the pressures on teachers and school leaders
from the Government are scant consolation for this serious error
of judgement. In any event, it would appear that the Government
has ducked the issue by outsourcing responsibility for addressing
workload concerns to awarding bodies.
“It will not escape the attention of teachers and school and
college leaders that there is no detail in today's announcement
on how centres will be expected to ensure that assessments are
undertaken consistently and fairly within and between centres, no
meaningful information on quality assurance processes nor on how
decisions should be made about the kinds of evidence to be used
in assessments.
“Of particular concern is the wholly unjustified decision to move
results day to the week beginning 9 August, particularly in light
of the lack of information about the precise nature of the
responsibilities centres will be expected to take on in managing
candidate appeals.
“The NASUWT will be raising these and other critical concerns
about these matters with Ministers and Ofqual as a matter of
urgency.”
