Exams – a third year of potential chaos

Government finally reveals exams ‘plan’

NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted has criticised the Government for leaving teachers and leaders “in limbo” by failing to confirm how students will be assessed next year if exams cannot take place.

Responding to an exams contingency plan published by regulator Ofqual, Mary said: “This is the third year in a row that decisions about the contingency plans for GCSE, AS and A-levels have been published.

“Yet again teachers and leaders have been left in limbo, teaching pupils who are in their final GCSE and A-level years without knowing how they will be assessed if exams cannot take place.”

She added: “The lack of urgency is shameful and an affront to parents, pupils and their teachers – all of whom needed to know, much earlier, how they would be assessed if the exam system fell over, as it did last year and the year before.”

The long-awaited plan, published in November and endorsed by the Department for Education, says students in England will sit repeated mock A-levels and GCSEs, as a contingency if exams are cancelled in 2022. It advised schools to collect evidence for grades through setting formal exams once a term, beginning before the Christmas holidays.

The NEU and sister unions have criticised the Government for publishing plans after the start of the new academic year, and for creating a heavier workload for both students and teachers.

“The lack of urgency is shameful and an affront to parents, pupils and their teachers.”

Mary Bousted

Sign primary tests petition

A PETITION launched by coalition More Than A Score (MTAS) calling for all primary tests to be scrapped this academic year has almost 14,000 signatures. It urges Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and school standards minister Robin Walker to halt high-stakes tests, in order to protect the mental health and wellbeing of children.

The NEU is working with MTAS to press the Government to drop Baseline assessment, SATs, the phonics check in years 1 and 2, and a multiplication check in year 4. High-stakes tests will harm recovery, says the union.

In May, then Schools Minister Nick Gibb announced the Government’s plans for primary assessment in 2021/22, saying there would be no performance tables for SATs in 2022. Test results will, however, still be used for accountability purposes and Ofsted, local authorities and academy managements will have access to them.

n Visit morethanascore.org.uk

Help us find a better way to assess

ASSESSMENT week and tests are words that produce many emotional responses in primary educators, including tiredness at the marking and annoyance at results that told you what you already knew. Educators also become emotionally drained when supporting stressed children.

Out of seven years in primary, five now have high-stakes testing – high in accountability; high in stress.

But assessment, in itself, isn’t bad. As educators we do this in every lesson of every day, so is another way possible? Could we develop assessment that focuses on teaching a subject deeply, rather than tips and tricks for tests?

Instead of pitting schools against each other, could assessment allow open dialogue around pedagogy and curriculum development with children and education at its heart?

Due to our passion for education, the NEU is launching an independent primary commission, and we need your views, experiences and professional opinions to be central to it. It is through valuing educators, international experiences and parental views that new ideas around assessment will be developed.

As an executive member, I’m keen to develop this in the south west of England and there are groups in every region.

Sheila Caffrey

Sheila Caffrey, NEU executive member n Email primaryassessment@neu.org.uk to find out how your views can be included and to join the campaign.