Students who have lost disproportionate amounts of learning due to disruption caused by the pandemic may be given a Covid “asterisk”alongside their 2021 exam grades to help them progress on to higher or further education,ձunderstands.
Although differential grading by region has been ruled out by the government, it is understood that a new expert advisory group in regional variation could recommend that students inthe areas worst-hitby the coronavirusmight be given a statement or asteriskdenotingtheir level of learning loss to sit alongside their exam grades next year.
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The expert group is beingset upafter sustained pressure from headteachers and others concerned that their students will not betaking exams on a level playing field because of the variation indisruption to schools in different parts of the country caused by the pandemic.
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Yesterday, heads in the North East said thata return to centre-assessedgrades may be the only way forward in order to address the “huge regional variations within England in terms of disruption to students’ education”.
They also raised concerns about their students competing with students in Wales, where exams in 2021 have been cancelled and centre-assessed grades will be awarded.
And in November, headteachers spoke of the “dramatic” levels of learning loss they were seeing among their students due tothe coronavirus crisis, revealed by mock exams and catch-up tests, with one head reporting that students were a grade behind expected progress compared with last year.
In October, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership of local authorities and regional business leaderssaidthe Department for Educationshould commit to continuous assessment for students’ grades this year, warningthat pushing ahead with exams will risk another fiasco next summer.
Ofqualhas said previouslythat using a symbol on GCSE and A-level certificates to highlightdisruption caused by the pandemictoan individual candidate- rather than changing actual grades - has “potential”.
This“one-off special flagging system alongside exam grades”would recognise the minority of students most seriously affected by Covid-19, as they would receive an asteriskor star next to their exam result on their certificates if schools judged that they had underachieved in exams.
Vlogunderstands there is some senior sector support forthe idea of using an asteriskto denote learning loss.
However, other figures close to DfE discussions are less keen on the idea as they feel it will not solve the problem of dealing with differential learning loss overall, Vlog understands.
Today, education secretary Gavin Williamson announced a package of support measures for the 2021 cohort, including more generous levels of grading in line with the 2020 results, and a series of contingency papers for students who miss summer exams because they are ill or self-isolating.
