Commenting on the Education Secretary’s statement to the House of
Commons, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
“Gavin Williamson said in Parliament today that he and Ofqual had
prepared a contingency for teacher-assessed grades to award
qualifications in summer 2021 but, if this is the case, why did
he keep it from the sector? The NEU alongside other unions had
called for structures to enable such a back-up option to exams in
October. Had these structures been put in place then we would be
in a much better position now to make it happen.
“Instead, there is a danger that implementing such a process
fairly and consistently nationally at this late stage will lead
to further extreme stress and workload for education staff,
students and parents. This stress could have been avoided had
government not been so obsessed and blinkered by their pursuit of
exams in the face of the obvious prospect that they may not be
fair or possible.
“Education staff will need further information soon about the
training proposed by to assist
with ensuring consistency and fairness of grades nationally.
Students and parents will also want to understand how the process
is fair for everyone across all types of qualifications - GCSEs,
A-Levels, BTECs and others.
“There remains a willingness from the NEU to work with government
to get the fairest possible outcome for students and find the
best possible ways for schools and colleges to implement the
process. We will take up his offer to discuss the details of
these issues but government and Ofqual will need to be far more
willing to act on what we suggest this time. We will also make
clear that any further workload cannot be dumped upon an already
grossly overstretched profession at this time.
“The decision to pass the buck to school and college leaders on
January exams for vocational qualifications is a further
demonstration of a lack of leadership from government. Awarding
organisations who offer these courses have assured us that no
student will be disadvantaged whether they take the exams in
January or not and it is now incumbent upon them, Ofqual and
government to explain, very soon, how this will come to be.
“We are glad that the Government has listened to the widespread
calls for urgent action on tablets and data support for the
remote learning of disadvantaged children, working with mobile
phone companies. But it has not gone unnoticed that we have seen
months of dither and delay. A move to rationing the supply
towards the end of 2020 was a low point for school leaders who
have been working desperately hard for the disadvantaged students
in their care. Even so, by the Education Secretary’s own estimate
the roll out of one million devices will not be reached until the
end of January – two thirds of the way through the proposed
period of lockdown. With a summer completely squandered by the
Department for Education, it is galling that this should still
remain an issue.
“The last thing teachers and heads need right now is the spectre
of Ofsted, which has been of neither use nor ornament throughout
the pandemic. It is sadly part of their DNA to criticise rather
than offer solutions or real help. The best thing inspectors can
do right now is offer their services, either as additional
teachers or to supervise daily testing of those who will still be
attending their school or college during this period of lockdown.
That way we can allow heads and their staff to focus their
efforts on what really matters – supporting their students,
rather than the distraction of a visiting box-ticker.
“We still have no clarity on primary assessment. Delaying a
decision on SATs just adds to the suspicion that yet again the
government is intending to impose its own warped sense of
priority on schools. This summer, schools will be totally
committed to help pupils who will have experienced more than a
year of learning disruption. SATs, with all the extra pressures
they entail, are the last thing that schools need.”
