Commenting on the report from the Education Policy Institute
‘School attendance rates across the UK since full reopening’, Geoff
Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College
Leaders, said:
“This report should ring alarm bells in government about the
widely differing impact of Covid disruption on pupils because
many of them will be taking exams next year. There is no way that
it can be business as normal if a third of pupils were unable to
attend school in some areas of the country, while in other areas
attendance is over 90%. Of particular concern, is the evidence
that the most deprived areas were more likely to have seen lower
pupil attendance levels.
“When pupils have to self-isolate, schools are working incredibly
hard to provide them with remote learning, but it cannot be a
substitute for direct classroom teaching, particularly for young
people who struggle the most with their studies, and for
disadvantaged pupils who do not have access to a dedicated laptop
or sufficient internet connectivity. And all of this is on top of
the impact of the national lockdown on these students.
“The plans for GCSEs and A-levels in 2021 that have been
announced so far by the government in Westminster do not go
anywhere near far enough in tackling this issue. Changes to the
content of the exams amount to no more than tinkering at the
edges, while delaying the start of the exams is small beer
compared to the level of disruption experienced by students, and
fails to take account of the fact that students have been
impacted to such varying extents.
“If the government wants to save next year’s exams series, and
stop it falling into complete disarray, it has to stop
shilly-shallying and get a grip of this matter. Students have to
be given more choice in exam papers over the topics on which they
can answer questions to account for varying levels of lost
learning time, robust contingency plans must be put in place for
those students who are unable to take exams or whose preparation
is very significantly disrupted, and there has to be an allowance
made in setting grade boundaries to recognise the circumstances.”
ASCL, alongside other education organisations, has submitted to
the government a joint proposal about next year’s exams which can
be accessed here.
