The Joint General Secretaries of the National Education
Union have written to the
Education Secretary, setting out why the disastrous handling of
this year’s exam results must never happen again.
Dear Gavin
One absolute priority emerging from this year’s exam
awarding process which failed A level students and their teachers
is that it must never happen again. Most urgently, robust systems
must now be developed to ensure that the 2021 grade awarding
process for GCSE and A level is reliable, valid and secure. We
are concerned that the current arrangements do not meet these
criteria.
Students who are due to sit GCSE and A level exams next
summer have already missed over a term’s education. Any new
spikes in the virus or local lockdowns will lead to further loss
of schooling. This situation will affect students in
disadvantaged or urban areas disproportionately.
It is clear to the National Education Union that Government
needs to make much bigger changes to next year’s exams in order
to build confidence that the grades awarded, upon which young
people’s life chances are determined, properly recognise and
reward their achievements. You should be working, now, to examine
different possible scenarios and to develop contingency plans in
case of further school and college closures.
In particular, we believe that Government should:
• Reduce the content assessed in GCSE and A-level exams
next summer, across all subjects, by making some topics optional
to allow for the different order in which content will have been
taught across the country.
• Work with teachers and school leaders to develop a robust
national system of moderated centre assessed grades in case there
is further disruption to exams next summer because of a second
spike in coronavirus or local lockdowns.
• Commission a thorough, independent review into assessment
methods used to award GCSE and A-level qualifications in England,
along the lines announced by the Scottish government. The current
over-reliance on end of course exams increases student anxiety
and fails to give a fair reflection of what students can achieve.
All options should be considered to ensure that young people are
rewarded for their achievements, supported to fulfil their
potential and not held back due to their background.
We look forward to your urgent reply.
Dr Mary Bousted & Kevin Courtney
Joint General Secretaries, National Education Union
