It was Michael Gove who declared today that the Government was closing schools with the ‘heaviest of hearts’ and confirmed that A levels and GCSEs were off. Where, you wondered, was Gavin Williamson, the actual Education Secretary? Busy, no doubt, preparing for his own announcement on Wednesday, which, on the basis of his previous record, will reassure no one.
Personally, I think the decision to cancel exams is really bad. I can’t remember whether it was Einstein we credit with that quote about repeating the same thing and expecting a different outcome being the quintessence of stupidity, but it pretty well sums up the situation here.
Last summer, some schools took the opportunity to inflate grades by comparison with normal years when teachers marked their own cards – via their pupils’ performance – in assigning GCSE and A level grades (though, rather annoyingly, my own son’s school took the opposite approach).
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