As you may have heard from last nights announcement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the “cancellation” of GCSE and A-Level examinations.
While we have no direct guidance from exam centres or the board, Tutors and Exams, one of the exam centres we work with issued us the following statement via email. It is to them we fully accredit the statement. We share it here as guidance only.
https://www.tutorsandexams.uk/
4th January 2021
Dear Colleague(s)
I would like to wish you and your team a very Happy New Year from all of us at Tutors & Exams. I trust that you managed to get some downtime and got to see as many loved ones as the pandemic situation allowed. Rather than sending Christmas cards this year we made donations to the Carers Trust and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Whether an established partner or one that has recently chosen to work with Tutors & Exams it is an absolute pleasure to be working with you to deliver assessment services for your learners. If you would wish to partner with us, then please feel free to contact my colleague Simon Cherriman, whose details are at the bottom of this email.
We were the first Independent Assessment Service to develop such partnerships, recognising the benefits of doing so and ensuring examination delivery is as simple as it can be for candidates. If you think that there are projects or developments that can be worked on collaboratively, please do not hesitate to contact me directly to discuss. We are open to any suggestions and ideas that you might have. If things are not going how you thought they would, please get in touch too. We have excellent relationships with all Awarding Bodies giving us greater leverage in presenting ‘solutions’ that may benefit you and your learners.
Can I also take this opportunity to address the rumours circulating regarding “cancelled exams.” As things stand current Government guidelines state that exams are going ahead, albeit slightly delayed, and with additional support material (yet to be announced). The current International GCSE series started today and will continue over the next two weeks. In addition, schools are carrying out other vocational exams and assessments throughout this window.
That said, there is increasing pressure on the Government to cancel Summer examinations in favour of teacher-based assessments, like those used to calculate Centre Assessed Grades this Summer. Recognising the potential detrimental effect this will have on those learners outside of mainstream education, we are strongly advocating that examinations do indeed take place this Summer. We have strict Covid measures in place, as well as the ability to support learners affected by Covid directly.
We are committed to avoiding the confusion, frustration and desperation many of our candidates found themselves in last Spring. We are already in dialogue with Awarding Bodies to ensure that your voice is heard. That said we really need you, our partners, to ensure that you have your contingencies in place in the event Summer examinations are cancelled.
Can you please ensure that you are communicating directly with your learners about the importance of completing assignments and any other tasks you set. You must make sure that the assignments you have set / are setting is suitably challenging to the level that the candidate is expecting to be graded at and that you can authenticate their work. The Assessment Objectives and grading criteria are all laid out in the individual Awarding Body specifications. In addition to this level of work, the Awarding Bodies are always going to put supervised work (carried out under exam conditions) ahead of all other evidence. Mocks which are standardised and composite will be key to awarding grades.
We have not received any formal guidance from Awarding Bodies, we just want you to be ready for all possible outcomes. It has been mooted that the Awarding Bodies will provide a single paper if exams are cancelled. This has not been confirmed and is purely hypothetical at this time. Please ensure that your learners are aware about the pitfalls of not completing assignments or working to the correct standard. Most importantly do remind them of the need to continue studying in the event examinations are cancelled as they may be required to complete mock examinations at a later date.
Our team are on hand to provide advice if required. We are in the process of ensuring that we are contingency ready, just in case! We have changed a few of our processes and will be ensuring that each subject has a lead advisor should the need arise. They will be on hand to discuss any issues between grading and evidence to support a grade. This will ensure that everything is documented and their rationale behind any decisions taken by both parties.
However, as I have stated, this is purely time for us to plan for the ‘what if…?’ situation. We are still confident that exams can take place this summer. The message from the Awarding Bodies is that they are planning for exams to continue as currently scheduled. The JCQ latest updates can be found here News Releases – JCQ Joint Council for Qualifications. Please remember that Cambridge Assessment International Education and Pearson International GCSE exams are not Ofqual regulated. Pearson International Qualifications do follow the JCQ guidelines, advice and regulations.
Christ Spraggett
CEO, Tutors and Exams