Due to the ongoing disruption in students’ education as a result of the coronavirus pandemic next year’s public exams may have to be cancelled.

The National Education Union (NEU) have said more pupils are being sent home due to higher Covid-19 infection rates which makes going ahead with exams unfair and less likely to take place.
However, the government is committed to GCSE and A-levels taking place next summer, however they are considering to delay it by a few months.
An official spokesman said “We are working with the exam boards and Ofqual on our approach, recognising that students experienced considerable disruption to their education last year.”

Dr Mary Bousted, NEU joint general secretary said this was a position that was becoming "increasingly untenable" and teachers urgently needed to know what evidence of pupil achievement they needed to collect so fair assessments could be made. Her comments were made a day after national attendance figures revealed one in six secondary schools were not fully open to all pupils last week, with 16% having to send at least some pupils home to self-isolate amid a rise in virus cases.

It also follows comments from several university vice-chancellors who have all called for next year's exams to be cancelled, and for the focus to be on pupils catching up missed learning instead.

Dr Bousted said national figures showed 200,000 children and young people were not in school last week, and that with 7,000 new cases nationally yesterday (29/09/20) alone, disruption was inevitable.
"All of that makes it more and more difficult to see that students will get the opportunity to consistently be in school across the country," she said.
"As the situation develops it may become inevitable that what we have to move to is a system of centre-assessed grades... everybody appears to agree that this is a real possibility - that we won't be able to do exams.
"The only body which is sort of sticking its head in the sand, sticking its fingers in its ears, is the government, and that is what they have done consistently in this crisis.

Kenneth Baker, a former education secretary who introduced GCSEs has also called for the exams, along with A levels, to be cancelled in 2021 due to the continued disruption to learning caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter written to the current education secretary Gavin Williamson urging him to accept that teacher assessment "will have to be used again next year.”
And, in order for this to happen, guidance will need to be provided to schools on “the sort of report that teachers should be keeping for each student now, not only on attendance, but on performance as the weeks and months go by", he said.

Michael Morpurgo, one of Britain’s popular children’s author has voiced his opinion and called for the “tension and fear” to be taken away from pupils who have missed so much work during the pandemic.
The author of The War Horse said the 2021 GCSE and A-level grades should be based again on teacher assessments, as they were this year after exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus.
He said: “Teachers know the children best, and to take the tension off it should be so again.” Grading should be “teacher led and teacher judged”.

Algorithm Chaos
This summer’s exam chaos was caused by a faulty algorithm that purposely down graded grades in ways that were described as "unfair and unfathomable" by head teachers. Students were given grades based on teacher assessments moderated by an algorithm.

The algorithm was quickly discredited and marks were recalculated based solely on teacher assessments. 

Many headteachers are calling for papers to be pushed back from May to July to give students time to catch up.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We expect exams to take place next year and continue to work with Ofqual and the exam boards on our approach, recognising that students will have experienced considerable disruption to their education in the last academic year.
"There are a range of measures proposed by Ofqual following a public consultation, including a possible short delay to the exam timetable and subject-specific changes to reduce pressure on teaching time. We will continue to work with school and college stakeholders, Ofqual and the exam boards, to ensure that exams in 2021 are fair."

24^th August 2017 will be a memorable day for thousands of students across the UK as they receive their GCSE results. Whilst there’ll be students that are celebrating success there are also always disappointed pupils who didn’t get the grades they expected. Those who are disappointed will no doubt be turning to their teachers for support and guidance. Here are top five tips on how you can help your students should their results not be something to celebrate.    

1. Be a calming presence

Emotions will be running high along with feelings of stress and panic. The first thing you can do is offer reassurance and a calming presence on the day. Have some stories on hand of students who didn’t perform as well as they had hoped but went onto being successful. This will help them feel like it’s not the end of the world, as many will probably feeling like it is.   

2. Re-marks and resits

Grades can move up or down however most of the time they don’t therefore it’s important to set expectations when discussing the option of re-marking with students. Maths, English, and English Literature can be retaken in November, whilst everything else the following summer; therefore resits may be more realistic for some.  If there is a high chance of a student improving the second time around, and their choice of career path depends on it then resisting exams is an option worth pursuing. Guidance from a trusted and knowledgeable teacher is vital here. 

3. Talk to students away from parents

Each year more and more parents are accompanying their children and standing with them as they open that all important envelope. This can be quite daunting and nerve racking especially if both parents are looking over their shoulder. It’s a lot better for students to open results, talk to their friends, talk to their teachers and then face parents when they feel prepared. Try to steer students away from their parents and ensure the conversation you have is on point. 

4. Be prepared

As a teacher you will need to respond to an array of questions and deal with situations you may not have faced before. It’s worthwhile speaking to senior members to get their experiences and advice, especially if this was your first year of teaching as an NQT. Think back to your own personal life experiences and how you felt during GCSE results day. 

5. There are other options

A-Levels are not the only option. There are several other post-16 paths, of which some end up at the same destination. Good results in vocational qualifications can open the door to many university courses and careers. There is also the option of apprenticeships which work really well for some young people. 

One final point to remember is to tell your students that their GCSE results do not define them. It’s what they do next that will begin to shape their future.