Debbie Hayton Debbie Hayton

Covid or no Covid, next year’s exams must go ahead

Students protest downgraded A level results (Getty images)

The decision to cancel next summer’s GCSE and A-Level exams in Wales has left teachers and pupils in uncharted waters. After Scotland scrapped its GCSE-equivalent National 5 exams in 2021 – opting for teacher assessments and coursework instead – England is under pressure to follow suit. But education secretary Gavin Williamson must stick to his guns and ensure that next year’s exams do go ahead.

Why? Because it’s worth remembering that we are not in the same position we were in back in March. The UK-wide decision taken then, to replace school exams with ‘centre assessed grades’ was made at the tail end of the school year. Whether this was wise or not is debatable, but in the midst of an unprecedented situation, the decision was at least understandable. Not so this time around. While it is likely the disruption caused by Covid-19 could continue well into next year, we must avoid at all costs a repeat of the chaos caused by the way pupils were assessed in 2020.

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