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Schools in England will conduct rigorous mock exams this winter as part of the government’s “plan B” to avoid the chaos of this year’s A-level and GCSE results, proposals shared with the Guardian program.
Gavin Williamson is expected to announce a three-week delay in the start of next summer’s A-level exams, and possibly GCSEs, along with a requirement that schools take mock exams under controlled conditions early in the year, with surveillance. and test-style correction. and classification.
Mock scores could be used to assess results in regions or centers where student exam preparations were severely disrupted by coronavirus outbreaks, or where students were unable to take some or all of the exams in the summer.
Williamson’s announcement of preparations for the 2021 exam season is expected next week, although tensions between the Department of Education (DfE) and Ofqual, England’s exam regulator, have already led to delays.
Last week, the Scottish government said it would not test for its National 5 rating, its equivalent of GCSE, and would instead award grades using a new school assessment system. He also said the calendar for Scottish High Schools and Advanced High Schools would be delayed, the equivalent of A levels.
Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to announce their plans.
In England, Ofqual is said to have presented the DfE with a “bewildering” array of options for the 2021 exams, some contradictory, with relations between the two bodies still strained after the A-level and GCSE-award debacle this summer. .
In August, Williamson’s department wanted to use mock test scores as grounds for appeal from students unhappy with their scores from Ofqual’s controversial model. Ofqual initially published a guide to the use of mock grades, the weekend after its A-level results were released. But after a dispute with Williamson, it abruptly switched to using school assessments to award final grades.
One of the criticisms of the use of mock test results is that schools approach them with different degrees of rigor, making it difficult to compare mock scores between centers.
This year, the proposal is that schools are expected to conduct drills under test-like conditions, using sample work produced by test boards. If students were unable to complete all exams in a subject, because they were infected, isolated, or their school was closed, exam boards could issue grades based on equivalent mock exam scores.
School leaders said using mock-ups as an alternate position could create problems, including pressure on students to review mock exams, rather than study new material.
“The question is whether creating a high-stakes assessment like this will lead to challenges, such as a generous grade or teaching for the exam,” said Hamid Patel, executive director of the Star academies Trust. “This should be thought through carefully and should only be used in exceptional circumstances where a student is unable to take at least one exam in one subject.”
A spokesperson for DfE said: “We are committed to having the exams take place next year as they are the best and fairest way to judge student performance. There is broad consensus, including among the unions and school leaders we have engaged with, that testing is the best option next summer. We continue to work with Ofqual and the review boards to ensure they are fair and take into account the disruption caused by Covid. “
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The government also needs to make sure its plan A (taking a full set of exams next summer) is fit for purpose. These exams must take into account the fact that students will have suffered varying degrees of disruption due to the Covid pandemic or else those who have experienced the most disruptions will be at a significant disadvantage.
“The answer is to allow students more choice in the topics they answer questions about, so they can choose the topics they are sure they have studied in sufficient depth.
“We have to make sure that next year’s GCSEs and A-Levels are as fair as possible in these difficult circumstances, and it frustrates us that we are still waiting for government announcements when we are already in the middle of the fall term. “
Meanwhile, the National Association of Teacher Principals has called on the government to remove the 2021 standardized tests (Sats) in primary schools in England, due to disruption caused by the pandemic. The association’s annual conference unanimously passed a motion committing the NAHT to pressure the DfE to abandon the externally marked sixth-year math and literacy tests used by the DfE to judge the progress of schools.
Michelle Sheehy, a West Midlands representative, told the online conference delegates: “The legal assessment in 2021 serves no useful purpose. When some schools are more affected than others by the effects of Covid, Sats cannot function as a fair measure of comparative performance. ”
