Potential outcomes for students exam results in the current situation.

[Bletchleyite]

Mods note - Split from this thread:

COVID-19 and the lockdown effects on mental health.

One thing nobody who actually cared about people would do would be to just pick up "mental health" as a reason for wanting restrictions to be reduced. The fact is that healthcare for the causes of suicide are very poor in this country. Some people are able to access literally no support...

www.railforums.co.uk

I really feel for current sixth form students who've been faced with all this uncertainty through no fault of their own. Even under normal circumstances they're under a lot of stress (too much if you ask me, following linearisation of qualifications) to get the grades required for their university offer.

And now? They have no control over the predicted grades they'll be issued, no idea how universities will handle places for the next academic year (or even what state campuses will be in then) and no idea how teaching might be impacted.

Disclaimer: views my own; not of any organisation I may perform work for.

Yeah, I'd have been in a right state if this was me aged 17. We say kids are resilient, and younger ones generally are, but late teens are about the least resilient time of most peoples' lives.

It’s a very difficult circle to square, as one could quite justifiably be resentful about the schools / exams situation, but there’s a quite reasonable case to say we simply could not viably ask teachers to go to work in a potentially dangerous environment.

There is, but you could say that for NHS staff, supermarket workers, bus drivers...

This is where it is a bit like a war. People will have to, as a matter of duty to the greater good, put themselves at some level of risk to restart things, because the alternative is economic collapse, famine and many more deaths. It is just not possible to wait for a vaccine which may never come to reopen the economy - that could be a year, two years...

I actually feel quite frustrated that I'm a home working IT bod...I'd actually in a way rather be out there, before anyone says I'm being a hypocrite by stating the above. I am however doing some volunteering locally to square that circle.

 

[bramling]

Yeah, I'd have been in a right state if this was me aged 17. We say kids are resilient, and younger ones generally are, but late teens are about the least resilient time of most peoples' lives.

The whole exams situation is terrible, and this is certainly one area where I do have immense sympathy.

Likewise I really struggle to think of a way round it. I’m really uncomfortable with the idea of teachers estimating grades (thinking back to my school days this would have created some massive injustices), and I’m likewise really uncomfortable with going on mock exams as they’re just that - a mock.

So what’s the solution? Repeating the whole year is essentially robbing a year of life from a whole cohort of people - and probably wouldn’t work in practice. Schools wouldn’t have the capacity to do it, and for private schools no doubt some parents wouldn’t have the budget to pay a whole extra year’s worth of fees.

It really is a terrible situation, and one which IMO hasn’t received nearly as much focus as it should have. I think some of the moaning about not able to partake in leisure activities or the young versus old troublemaking is overshadowing what *is* a very real and major issue for the specific groups directly affected by this (which is presumably those meant to be doing GCSEs and A levels now).

Perhaps, with the great benefit of hindsight, we should have found a way to keep schools open for those in exam years only and declared them the equivalent of essential workers. I’d assume the age groups concerned would have been more responsive to social distancing. There would of course still have been a load of logistical issues to work through. This would no doubt have avoided one of worse causes of stress for younger people.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think what I would do for A-levels is this, it's not perfect but it'll do.

Estimate the grades. If you don't like your estimate, you have the option to defer a year to work, volunteer or something (I nearly said travel but there won't be much of that) and do your exams next year with next year's students. This choice could perhaps be offered per exam, i.e. you could pick and choose which estimated grades you wished to accept. This is a bit like the way OU students can take what their present modules add up to at any given point or leave them "banked" for something bigger.

For GCSEs, given that you now can't go straight into a normal job so they are much less important than they were, I'd suggest the estimates are probably enough but that the Government should encourage those offering further education and apprenticeships to be very accommodating of people who only just missed their requirements because of the circumstances. However, because of the importance of Maths and English in later life, I'd also offer the chance to retake that with next year's class if you were unhappy.

 

[bramling]

I think what I would do for A-levels is this, it's not perfect but it'll do.

Estimate the grades. If you don't like your estimate, you have the option to defer a year to work, volunteer or something (I nearly said travel but there won't be much of that) and do your exams next year with next year's students. This choice could perhaps be offered per exam, i.e. you could pick and choose which estimated grades you wished to accept. This is a bit like the way OU students can take what their present modules add up to at any given point or leave them "banked" for something bigger.

For GCSEs, given that you now can't go straight into a normal job so they are much less important than they were, I'd suggest the estimates are probably enough but that the Government should encourage those offering further education and apprenticeships to be very accommodating of people who only just missed their requirements because of the circumstances. However, because of the importance of Maths and English in later life, I'd also offer the chance to retake that with next year's class if you were unhappy.

This might be worthy of a thread in itself.

I’m *really* uncomfortable with any notion of estimating grades. There’s just too much scope for unfairness - thinking back to my school days for sure there was favouritism and disfavouritism, and that’s a sure-fire way to seed resentment which could last for life. The problem with GCSEs is that for some these have a direct bearing on what A levels people pursue (or in some schools are allowed to pursue), so unfortunately for some they’re as important if not more so than A levels.

Perhaps if we can get back to an element of normal it might just be possible to open up schools for exam preparation and sitting over July and August, or is this completely unviable?

It’s really awful, but at this moment I’m finding myself really stumped to think of any good solution to all this. As I said before, for those affected this really is a massive issue, and one which doesn’t seem to have received the attention it merits.

 

[Qwerty133]

I think what I would do for A-levels is this, it's not perfect but it'll do.

Estimate the grades. If you don't like your estimate, you have the option to defer a year to work, volunteer or something (I nearly said travel but there won't be much of that) and do your exams next year with next year's students. This choice could perhaps be offered per exam, i.e. you could pick and choose which estimated grades you wished to accept. This is a bit like the way OU students can take what their present modules add up to at any given point or leave them "banked" for something bigger.

For GCSEs, given that you now can't go straight into a normal job so they are much less important than they were, I'd suggest the estimates are probably enough but that the Government should encourage those offering further education and apprenticeships to be very accommodating of people who only just missed their requirements because of the circumstances. However, because of the importance of Maths and English in later life, I'd also offer the chance to retake that with next year's class if you were unhappy.

Unfortunately it is well documented that any estimation based upon teacher assessment will structurally discriminate against boys (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31751672) and therefore I am fundamentally opposed to any system where those happy with their teachers assessment will be able to progress as planned while those who are not have to wait a year as it likely that a large proportion will then miss out on university completely and would therefore almost certainly widen the participation gap between boys and girls at university level. Unfortunately articles like this (https://www.theguardian.com/higher-...nticeships-should-be-used-to-improve-equality) that claim white boys are over represented in apprenticeships without looking at it in the context of poorer white boys being by far the least likely to go to university, make me believe that much of the education sector is happy to see boys (especially white boys) get left behind as they see it as rectifying past mistakes (unfortunately discrimination in the other direction against future generations is anything but helpful in rectifying previous discrimination).

 

[scotrail158713]

Perhaps if we can get back to an element of normal it might just be possible to open up schools for exam preparation and sitting over July and August, or is this completely unviable?

I’d say if they’ve already been announced as cancelled then it’s probably more unfair to make a u-turn on that. Chances are a lot of pupils have probably not looked at school stuff for a few weeks now.

I’m *really* uncomfortable with any notion of estimating grades. There’s just too much scope for unfairness - thinking back to my school days for sure there was favouritism and disfavouritism, and that’s a sure-fire way to seed resentment which could last for life.

I know it’s only one sample but my Dad’s a secondary teacher so I was speaking to him about this recently. Certainly within his department there’s no cases of favouritism - the teachers are being as far as they possibly can be, and they’re spending a long time deciding this. (He said he had a 2hr phone call with one of his colleagues discussing just one class they share)

 

[backontrack]

I really feel for current sixth form students who've been faced with all this uncertainty through no fault of their own. Even under normal circumstances they're under a lot of stress (too much if you ask me, following linearisation of qualifications) to get the grades required for their university offer.

And now? They have no control over the predicted grades they'll be issued, no idea how universities will handle places for the next academic year (or even what state campuses will be in then) and no idea how teaching might be impacted.

Disclaimer: views my own; not of any organisation I may perform work for.

Thanks. It is a massively stressful time, but it's not the end of the world...universities need us more now, as they'll have maybe fewer foreign students coming over here to study. Plus I'm still glad that I won't have to sit the exams, even if I think I could've done well in them.

What I miss is the other stuff – we'll never get our final leaving ceremony at school. And I've seen every other year group get that up the school. Instead school 'ended' in a couple of days.

Yeah, I'd have been in a right state if this was me aged 17. We say kids are resilient, and younger ones generally are, but late teens are about the least resilient time of most peoples' lives.

I'm holding up all right. 18 and my finals would've started this month. But you're right to say 17...

I think this year's Year 12s are the ones who are really going to suffer. They've missed months of solid school that they can't get at home – and they still have no idea what will happen with their exams, but the implication is that they'll continue as normal.

 

[Mojo]

I’m under the impression that a decision has already been taken on what to do with year 11 and A level students, this was decided upon in the week after the schools closed.

My partner is a teacher and the department had an online conference call last week at which they agreed on the grades for their students who would have been taking their exams in May / June. This is based upon predicted grades, mock exams held in January and more general attainment throughout the past two years. The grades they decided upon will go away to be moderated and finalised by the exam boards.

I do wonder if the decision to cancel exams was taken a little bit hastily; especially given we are now hearing this morning that schools may start to go back next month, and exam setups could quite easily have been socially distanced given the extra manpower that is available because lessons have been cancelled. I know their GCSE course for example only had one more week to go before the schools closed; so it’s not like much teaching was missed out on.

 

[scotrail158713]

I do wonder if the decision to cancel exams was taken a little bit hastily; especially given we are now hearing this morning that schools may start to go back next month, and exam setups could quite easily have been socially distanced given the extra manpower that is available because lessons have been cancelled. I know their GCSE course for example only had one more week to go before the schools closed; so it’s not like much teaching was missed out on.

Perhaps down south yes. But up here the SQA diet would’ve been in its 2nd week this week so I believe it was the correct, albeit tough, choice to make.

 

[Mojo]

Perhaps down south yes. But up here the SQA diet would’ve been in its 2nd week this week so I believe it was the correct, albeit tough, choice to make.

That was a different decision, taken by the Scottish authorities.

 

[underbank]

So what’s the solution? Repeating the whole year is essentially robbing a year of life from a whole cohort of people - and probably wouldn’t work in practice. Schools wouldn’t have the capacity to do it

But upper sixth formers are likely to have a year robbed from their life anyway. My son was due to start his A levels this month and go to Uni in September. Neither him nor quite a number of his school friends are planning to go to Uni this year now. Not because they expect low grades and want to re-take the U6 year, but simply because they don't want to go to Uni if the "social" side isn't happening - they're not really interested in moving away to a strange city only to be trapped in their halls rooms watching online lectures. My son isn't a party/social animal but he was still looking forward to freshers week, joining clubs & societies, exploring a new city (Newcastle in his case). If he can't do that, he's sitting out the year and going in Sep 21 instead. Uni staff are seriously worried about lack of numbers so it looks a pretty common decision by lots of students. Personally, I think the A levels should have been delayed, maybe until the Autumn and Uni start data delayed to say January 21. As it is, people are losing a full year of their lives and there could have been a better way. Yes, if Covid was going to have been over, done and dusted by Summer, then fair enough, cancel the exams and estimate the grades so kids could go to Uni as normal in September, but we all know that's not going to happen.

 

[underbank]

I do wonder if the decision to cancel exams was taken a little bit hastily; especially given we are now hearing this morning that schools may start to go back next month, and exam setups could quite easily have been socially distanced given the extra manpower that is available because lessons have been cancelled. I know their GCSE course for example only had one more week to go before the schools closed; so it’s not like much teaching was missed out on.

I tend to agree. My son's school had just finished their A level courses when they closed and some teachers were already doing revision classes and handing out past papers etc. He'd have preferred to have been given the option to sit the A levels as normal, especially as he's had so much time available since school stopped - he could have been doing a lot more "school work" at home than the would have been able to do had he had to continue going to school!

I understand schools couldn't carry on having the kids in for normal lessons, but I'm sure they could have "social distanced" the exams themselves especially seeing as desks are already over a metre apart - just spread them a little further and use other rooms for the overflow.

(Yes, I understand the problems of "practical" subjects requiring lab work, course work, etc but perhaps it should have been those where teacher assessment was used rather than a knee jerk reaction to stop everything).

 

[Bayum]

I think people have to give teachers more credit than this... I certainly don’t know of any colleagues who would purposely push a student’s grades up or down because of ‘favouritism’ or the complete opposite. Many of these decisions will have been moderated - sharing of explanations and coursework with other staff members who will give their view based on this also, and the work they themselves have moderated. It’s something we do all the times, every single day.

 

[Bayum]

I understand schools couldn't carry on having the kids in for normal lessons, but I'm sure they could have "social distanced" the exams themselves especially seeing as desks are already over a metre apart - just spread them a little further and use other rooms for the overflow.

And increase the number of invigilators needed? What about the exams to be marked - what if the people marking the exams are struck poorly? What about if students are poorly? Those who are shielding? There are a number of problems with running exams this exam season. The decision was not taken lightly, at all. I personally don’t see the worth in tests, especially with the amount of emphasis placed upon them in the workplace, but I’d have preferred they go ahead because of the exam culture we have in this country.

 

[bramling]

I think people have to give teachers more credit than this... I certainly don’t know of any colleagues who would purposely push a student’s grades up or down because of ‘favouritism’ or the complete opposite. Many of these decisions will have been moderated - sharing of explanations and coursework with other staff members who will give their view based on this also, and the work they themselves have moderated. It’s something we do all the times, every single day.

I can only think back to my own school days, however I would have been *extremely* sceptical then, and looking back with the benefit of life experience I’d probably be even more so now.

It’s human nature to dislike certain people, and it’s inevitable teachers will think negatively of such people. Speaking from personal experience I got on extremely badly with one particular teacher to the point where I was predicted to essential fail the subject completely, which caused some priceless reaction when not only did this not happen but I happened to get one of those letters from the exam board commending one of their top scores that year for that subject, which the teacher concerned had to admit was the first time he’d ever known that to happen with one of his pupils.

Had things gone on predicted grades it would have quite probably set about a chain reaction which would almost certainly mean a couple of decades later I’d not be where I am now, doing what I’m doing.

 

[Domh245]

(Yes, I understand the problems of "practical" subjects requiring lab work, course work, etc but perhaps it should have been those where teacher assessment was used rather than a knee jerk reaction to stop everything).

Practical subjects would have submitted a body of work by now from which a mark could be derived, surely? Yes one or two deadlines may have fallen after the deadline but on a 2 year course there should have been various pieces submitted by now. My uni has determined a 'safety net' mark based on what has been submitted so far, and where less than 60 credits have been completed (ie half of what is needed for a standard award) then they take performance in previous years into account*, so I'm sure something similar could be done for schools. Extend the option to people to take the year again if their generated mark was low (and they were relying on pulling out all the stops in the last piece of work) but I'm sure that generating a mark based on work submitted to date would be a fair representation.

It's the 100% exam only subjects that are the tricky ones, but running a handful of exams for these students having cancelled all exams where a mark has already been generated would make that easier. Or even replacing the exams with short coursework type assessments where possible


*Amusingly enough, because of a quirk in the way the safety net mark is generated and my performance in the exams over winter, my safety net mark is higher than my actual mark would have otherwise been! Does make it very hard to motivate myself to study further though when I know all I need to do is not fail any modules and I'm guaranteed a first

 

[Bayum]

I can only think back to my own school days, however I would have been *extremely* sceptical then, and looking back with the benefit of life experience I’d probably be even more so now.

It’s human nature to dislike certain people, and it’s inevitable teachers will think negatively of such people. Speaking from personal experience I got on extremely badly with one particular teacher to the point where I was predicted to essential fail the subject completely, which caused some priceless reaction when not only did this not happen but I happened to get one of those letters from the exam board commending one of their top scores that year for that subject, which the teacher concerned had to admit was the first time he’d ever known that to happen with one of his pupils.

Had things gone on predicted grades it would have quite probably set about a chain reaction which would almost certainly mean a couple of decades later I’d not be where I am now, doing what I’m doing.

Well, any predicted grades I’ve ben given come from outside the school - Fisher Family Trust or such. I think any talk of failing grades, whether the teacher likes the child or not, is probably to spook rather than firm the grade’s demise. Why do people become teachers? To teach, push others to develop and learn and do the best they can do - any child I haven’t got on with has never fallen outside of that. I might have been firmer in their responses to exam questions or marked work, but I would never, and nor would any of my colleagues calculate and set up a situation whereby that child is going to fail. Don’t forget, I mentioned earlier that work is moderated across classes and subjects as well.

 

[Mojo]

Had things gone on predicted grades it would have quite probably set about a chain reaction which would almost certainly mean a couple of decades later I’d not be where I am now, doing what I’m doing.

I don’t think the teachers would have been too happy with this either, as predicted grades are often set higher or lower than what the staff think they are capable of as either a stick or carrot to motivate students and stop them from being complacent!

 

[cactustwirly]

Practical subjects would have submitted a body of work by now from which a mark could be derived, surely? Yes one or two deadlines may have fallen after the deadline but on a 2 year course there should have been various pieces submitted by now. My uni has determined a 'safety net' mark based on what has been submitted so far, and where less than 60 credits have been completed (ie half of what is needed for a standard award) then they take performance in previous years into account*, so I'm sure something similar could be done for schools. Extend the option to people to take the year again if their generated mark was low (and they were relying on pulling out all the stops in the last piece of work) but I'm sure that generating a mark based on work submitted to date would be a fair representation.

It's the 100% exam only subjects that are the tricky ones, but running a handful of exams for these students having cancelled all exams where a mark has already been generated would make that easier. Or even replacing the exams with short coursework type assessments where possible


*Amusingly enough, because of a quirk in the way the safety net mark is generated and my performance in the exams over winter, my safety net mark is higher than my actual mark would have otherwise been! Does make it very hard to motivate myself to study further though when I know all I need to do is not fail any modules and I'm guaranteed a first

I have a no detriment policy as well, but since I didn't have any exams in January, I don't have a high enough score in half my modules, so I don't know how they're doing the benchmark yet.

 

[bramling]

Well, any predicted grades I’ve ben given come from outside the school - Fisher Family Trust or such. I think any talk of failing grades, whether the teacher likes the child or not, is probably to spook rather than firm the grade’s demise. Why do people become teachers? To teach, push others to develop and learn and do the best they can do - any child I haven’t got on with has never fallen outside of that. I might have been firmer in their responses to exam questions or marked work, but I would never, and nor would any of my colleagues calculate and set up a situation whereby that child is going to fail. Don’t forget, I mentioned earlier that work is moderated across classes and subjects as well.

Perhaps my experience was unusual, but I can say in no uncertain terms the teacher concerned would have predicted me a poor grade in this situation - at the time ISTR the predictions were used for something important (I forget what) which did cause some issue at the time, which was only worked around because another teacher took the line “we won’t take any notice of *him*”.

Another issue which, on reflection, I think would have been an issue is certain teachers disliking people from particular backgrounds. Again I can remember another teacher who was rather frosty towards certain pupils, at the time no one could quite work out why, until some time afterwards it all clicked into place when I saw his name as a candidate for something like the socialist alliance. In those days I bet some ethnic groups would have found themselves biased against too.

 

[ainsworth74]

It’s human nature to dislike certain people, and it’s inevitable teachers will think negatively of such people. Speaking from personal experience I got on extremely badly with one particular teacher to the point where I was predicted to essential fail the subject completely, which caused some priceless reaction when not only did this not happen but I happened to get one of those letters from the exam board commending one of their top scores that year for that subject, which the teacher concerned had to admit was the first time he’d ever known that to happen with one of his pupils.

I'd be staggered if there were any schools where they were allowing an individual teacher to make these judgements without having to justify it to their colleagues in the same subject or to a department head or member of the senior leadership team. Indeed we're hearing from those involved, or who know people, in the education sector that that's exactly what's happening. So you're teacher who predicated you'd fail would have had to justified that decision as it would have received a lot more scrutiny and presumably there would be evidence that you weren't going to fail (mock results for instance). And considering this:

which was only worked around because another teacher took the line “we won’t take any notice of *him*”

I can't help but suspect you'd have found that if the results had been driven by teacher assessment you'd not have been given a failing grade!

 

[Domh245]

I have a no detriment policy as well, but since I didn't have any exams in January, I don't have a high enough score in half my modules, so I don't know how they're doing the benchmark yet.

Ours was calculated on a credit-weighted-average of everything at our current level or higher submitted this year before 15/3, but then where that didn't add up to 60 credits there's then a contribution from a CWA of our last year and any credits below our current level. They've got the guidelines and some worked examples here if you want to have a look, I'd be surprised if other unis didn't adopt something similar.

 

[bramling]

I'd be staggered if there were any schools where they were allowing an individual teacher to make these judgements without having to justify it to their colleagues in the same subject or to a department head or member of the senior leadership team. Indeed we're hearing from those involved, or who know people, in the education sector that that's exactly what's happening. So you're teacher who predicated you'd fail would have had to justified that decision as it would have received a lot more scrutiny and presumably there would be evidence that you weren't going to fail (mock results for instance). And considering this:

Unfortunately this only underlines my view. Again perhaps my experience is untypical, but at my place there were a *lot* of people who worked consistently well and delivered the goods in terms of work through the two years, but then performed fairly mediocre at the end, in some cases surprisingly so. Meanwhile there were some who essentially coasted through but then well and truly performed when it came to the final exam.

The ethics of that can certainly be debated, but I don’t think it’s fair for one cohort of people to find the goalposts moved at the last minute.

 

[cactustwirly]

Ours was calculated on a credit-weighted-average of everything at our current level or higher submitted this year before 15/3, but then where that didn't add up to 60 credits there's then a contribution from a CWA of our last year and any credits below our current level. They've got the guidelines and some worked examples here if you want to have a look, I'd be surprised if other unis didn't adopt something similar.

For mine, from what I know so far, is that they apply the no detriment policy at the module level, where atleast 40% of the assessment has been submitted before 30/03.
That only applies to 2 of my modules (45 credits). My uni hasven't released the full guidlines yet, but apparently that's coming later this week.

 

[ainsworth74]

Unfortunately this only underlines my view. Again perhaps my experience is untypical, but at my place there were a *lot* of people who worked consistently well and delivered the goods in terms of work through the two years, but then performed fairly mediocre at the end, in some cases surprisingly so. Meanwhile there were some who essentially coasted through but then well and truly performed when it came to the final exam.

The ethics of that can certainly be debated, but I don’t think it’s fair for one cohort of people to find the goalposts moved at the last minute.

But then of course I'm not sure it was practical to tell a whole cohort of students that "thanks for your hard work but we're going to need you to come back to repeat your last year again". We could have perhaps looked at doing exams in July/August but that then leaves a very narrow window to mark exams, get results out to students and universities/colleges in time for September starts. Quite apart from the other logistical issues around ensuring social distancing in exam halls, what about students who are shielding or whether they'd even be in the right head space to do an exam. I suppose we could have considered pushing it out even further into the autumn and then this cohorts could have started in January 2021 (so a degree year would be January - December rather than the typical September - August) but there's no guarantee that the issues with doing exams in the summer will be avoided and it then means messing around with schedules that have been in place for decades.

I think the honest truth is that there are no good options in this situation just a suite of choices which all have upsides and all have downsides.

Personally I think the decision that's been made was the right one. Having teacher assessment which will be subject to internal moderation/justification and then external validation is the best way to go. If anyone is unhappy with their grades then they can resit either the whole year or the relevant subject/module next year. Meanwhile for the majority who will probably be relatively happy with their grades (or at least happy enough to proceed) they now have the choice to either go ahead in September and continue their education as planned or defer for a year if they'd rather wait until this has all blown over but at least safe in knowledge they have the grades in the bag.

 

[scotrail158713]

And increase the number of invigilators needed?

And the average age of the invigilators? It must be in the 60s-70s which causes other problems.
Although I suppose there’s maybe more people out of work just now who’d happily invigilate an exam or two.

 

[bramling]

But then of course I'm not sure it was practical to tell a whole cohort of students that "thanks for your hard work but we're going to need you to come back to repeat your last year again". We could have perhaps looked at doing exams in July/August but that then leaves a very narrow window to mark exams, get results out to students and universities/colleges in time for September starts. Quite apart from the other logistical issues around ensuring social distancing in exam halls, what about students who are shielding or whether they'd even be in the right head space to do an exam. I suppose we could have considered pushing it out even further into the autumn and then this cohorts could have started in January 2021 (so a degree year would be January - December rather than the typical September - August) but there's no guarantee that the issues with doing exams in the summer will be avoided and it then means messing around with schedules that have been in place for decades.

I think the honest truth is that there are no good options in this situation just a suite of choices which all have upsides and all have downsides.

Personally I think the decision that's been made was the right one. Having teacher assessment which will be subject to internal moderation/justification and then external validation is the best way to go. If anyone is unhappy with their grades then they can resit either the whole year or the relevant subject/module next year. Meanwhile for the majority who will probably be relatively happy with their grades (or at least happy enough to proceed) they now have the choice to either go ahead in September and continue their education as planned or defer for a year if they'd rather wait until this has all blown over but at least safe in knowledge they have the grades in the bag.

I completely agree that it’s one of those things where it’s going to be screwed either way.

Personally if it were me I’d prefer to just repeat the year, but I doubt the education system would have the capacity to provide that en masse.

 

[backontrack]

Personally if it were me I’d prefer to just repeat the year

No ****ing way, thank you!

Anyway, it's the year below who are most at risk, I feel.

 

[BJames]

I must say that it seems we have a good no detriment policy at Nottingham, and the Education Officer worked hard to get this put in place at the right time. All of my exams have been cancelled and my final coursework due in this week. I know that a lot of people still have online exams or exams now sort of posing as "coursework", which they get either 24 hours to complete or a week to complete. At least it's a reasonable workaround solution. But a few things I've been thinking about:

This time last year I was in Sixth Form. I was certainly on good terms with all of the staff and I knew what I was doing, but I wouldn't be too happy with the teachers deciding all of our A Level results. That said, I know that at the moment, there isn't really a better option. My friends in this year are super concerned about university - it will be fine if social distancing isn't still a problem, but unless things really change soon I can still envisage that being a bit of an issue. 300 people in a lecture theatre is not ideal. Plus, with the science subjects, you've really got issues around labs and practicals. Even in social sciences, the computer workshops and seminars have been cancelled with no substitute offered, simply because you need to be on the university system to access their programs.

Also (perhaps more importantly, depending on where your priorities are at), fresher's week (as mentioned above) is really important for a lot of first years. You wouldn't want to miss out on this, and if I had been a year younger, it's likely I would have deferred entry myself. You want to go to University for the full experience, make good friendships and enjoy yourself as well as learn. It's going to be very hard to do all of them without physical contact. Plus, initiating online learning is difficult for first year students: we were introduced to it on the 23rd March and I very much know that the majority of students haven't logged on to our intranet since we left. Distance learning simply doesn't provide the level of connection or motivation for most people. First years don't know anything about the programs we use online, and getting them set up with it from home is going to take some considerable time and effort. And just to prove the attitudes of staff and students towards online learning, Durham has attempted to try and cut costs by putting some degrees online, much to the dissatisfaction of everyone else:

Durham University has retracted controversial plans to provide online-only degrees due to the coronavirus pandemic following a backlash from students and lecturers.

Exams wise, I know and accept that schools could not really be holding them in person, but it's really going to make things difficult for the admissions at universities. Just in case anyone is confused still about how grades are being awarded, watch the video on this homepage: https://tailoredtutors.co.uk/