Pupils in England likely to face reduced GCSE courses and delayed exams
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Version 0 of 1. Ofqual publishes proposals to mitigate impact of learning time lost due to school closures Pupils in England who are due to sit their GCSEs next summer will be taught a reduced curriculum in a small number of subjects and will have their exams delayed by a few weeks, under new proposals drawn up by the exams regulator, Ofqual. The changes have been drawn up to try to mitigate the impact of learning time lost due to school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has meant that students will not have enough time to cover the entire curriculum. However, headteachers said the measures failed to address the scale of the learning loss and called for an urgent “plan B” in case of continuing major disruption due to the coronavirus made it impossible to hold a full exam series next year. Ofqual has asked exam boards to draw up plans for GCSE exams to start after the summer half term next year – moving the exam series back from May to a starting date of 7 June 2021, running into July – in order to allow more teaching time. This could delay results. Delaying A-levels is also under consideration but this may be more complicated because of the pressure to deliver results promptly so students can secure places in further and higher education. “We are also seeking views on whether such a change would be appropriate for the AS/A-level exam timetable, and the impact of any delay in issuing results,” Ofqual said. The regulator has also drawn up proposals to reduce the amount taught in some subjects including GCSE history and geography, with more optional questions in some exams, so teachers have the freedom to choose topics to concentrate on, rather than being required to teach the entire curriculum. GCSE English, maths and science are seen as essential, however, and will be unchanged, and – under the current plans – there are no proposals to reduce what’s taught at A and AS-level in any subject. Ofqual is consulting on a number of other adaptations to give teachers more time to cover content and help relieve pressure on students. These include plans to allow GCSE students to observe practical science work rather than undertake it themselves and the removal of the compulsory computer programming project. Though pupils will generally face the same number of exams in each subject and exams are expected to be the same length, GCSE and A-level art and design students will be assessed on their portfolio alone and will not be required to complete a supervised task. In GCSE geography, fieldwork will not be assessed. Ofqual’s chief regulator, Sally Collier, said: “We have considered a wide range of options before coming forward with a set of proposals for next year’s GCSE, AS and A-level exams, which will help reduce the pressure on students and teachers, while allowing them to progress with valid qualifications which higher educational institutions and employers can trust.” Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, responded: “These plans appear to amount to little more than tinkering at the edges of next year’s exams, despite the massive disruption to learning caused by the coronavirus emergency. “We understand that it is difficult to scale back exams in a way that is fair to all pupils, but we fear the very minor changes in this consultation fail to recognise the enormous pressure on schools and their pupils to cover the large amount of content in these courses.” A consultation on Ofqual’s proposals is now under way and the regulator will announce its final decision on next year’s exams in August. |