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The independent grades regulator in Wales has recommended that all scheduled exams be dropped next summer, aside from a single assignment for each A-level subject, as schools continue to grapple with disruption due to Covid.
Qualifications Wales (QW) told the Welsh government that there should be no scheduled exams for GCSE and AS-level, and that grades should be awarded based on courses and a set of external assessments conducted throughout the year.
Schools and universities in Wales should have flexibility in when assessments are conducted with a series of ‘windows of opportunity’. Evaluations must be established and scored by the WJEC review board to maintain the rigor of the external evaluation.
QW said dropping out of scheduled exams, safely, posed “some risk to public confidence,” but it was a reasonable compromise, allowing schools greater flexibility and external evaluations would be fairer than the scores assessed by the school.
At levels A, the regulator proposed that students take a scheduled exam by subject, along with course work and other set assignments, with an additional “backup” opportunity to take the exam if a student is ill or isolates. itself.
In a letter to Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams, QW said: “The current public health crisis means that we cannot be sure that scheduled exams can take place as usual next year. Therefore, we are proposing different assessment arrangements that provide greater flexibility, without the need for significant additional contingency measures.
“For the most part, our proposals move away from reliance on scheduled exams and all include ‘storing’ some assessment tests before the summer that could be used to generate results if schools were closed.”
The single A-level exam would allow students from Wales to apply for higher education places next summer, alongside their peers in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where A-levels are maintained.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams will consider the proposals and make an announcement on Tuesday, November 10, when students return to school after the Welsh “firewall” to reduce the transmission of Covid.
The Scottish government canceled the National 5 exams, which are roughly equivalent to the GCSEs, and replaced them with teacher and course evaluations. Northern Ireland maintains tests but has asked schools to keep evidence of pupils’ progress as a contingency measure.
Meanwhile, the UK government has announced that GCSEs and A-levels will continue in England, but three weeks later than usual to allow for more teaching time and with reduced content.
Principals call for a rethink and warn that students have lost too much time learning and may not be able to sit for exams due to illness or self-isolation.
All exams were canceled in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland this summer after schools closed to all pupils except the vulnerable and children of key workers due to the pandemic.
