Commenting on Ofqual’s decision that students who receive a
teacher assessed grade this summer will be eligible to take exams
in the autumn, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association
of School and College Leaders, said:
“The decision to run an autumn exam series owes more to public
relations than it does to common sense.
“While running this series may seem like an extra safeguard for
students who are unhappy with teacher-assessed grades this
summer, it creates more problems than it solves.
“The whole point of cancelling public exams this summer was
because the pandemic has affected the learning of students to
varying extents. This will still be the case in the autumn and
the idea of an exam series at that point in time is just as
problematic as it would have been in the summer. It cannot
possibly be a level playing field and those who were worst
affected by the pandemic will still be at a disadvantage.
“At the same time, schools and colleges will be full with current
students and the decision to run an exam series puts more
pressure on them in terms of the staffing, organisation and space
that is necessary.
“Given that the process for awarding teacher-assessed grades this
summer will involve the opportunity for students to appeal, an
autumn exam series seems entirely unnecessary.”
