How GCSEs and A levels will be awarded this year
We have been provided with more information by exam regulators Ofqual about how grades will be awarded to students this year. It comes after exams were cancelled by the Government. Bucks UTC will be contacted by exam boards to submit evidence for GCSE and A-Level students’ grades, and these will be sent in by 29th May 2020. Results will be revealed in August, or earlier, but no later than this original time.
“School or college based assessment already has an important role in many GCSEs, AS and A levels and in extraordinary circumstances such as these, schools and colleges are best placed to judge the likely performance of their students at the end of the course”
Teachers will be gathering and using a variety of material to make a judgment about each individual’s grades:
- Classwork and bookwork
- Homework
- Non-complete or complete exam assessment
- Mock exam results
- Previous examination results (if any)
- Other records of student performance
A ‘rank of order’ of students, in each subject, of grades. An example: a list of all students with Grade 5 in English: they will be listed from the most secure/highest-level grade to least. Also, the UTC’s Principal will need to make a declaration, when submitting this information.
Teachers and staff dealing will not be able to share assessment grades with students or their families. Ofqual has set this rule in place to keep the pressure off teachers and protect their judgments.
Students will also be able to sit exams in the Autumn term of 2020, or at the nearest possible point. Information on this is still be processed by the regulators and exam boards. Students due to sit exams, and their parents, have been sent information via email in a letter from Ofqual’s Chief Regulator, Sally Collier.
