This is what we should do, whether GCSE and A-level exams happen this year, or not:

1. Set appropriate assessments throughout the year.

2. Record centrally any mitigating circumstances.

3. Submit internally moderated grades to exam boards.

4. Engage in external moderation with exam boards.

5. Award final grades based on ALL evidence, including any exams that may happen

This isn’t an earth-shattering, innovative solution. It’s what schools have been doing for years for any qualification that has coursework.

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Schools don’t have to change their behaviour with this plan. Exam boards are geared up to do this, too. To be fair, this is what should happen every year. Covid or no Covid.

Students, parents, teachers and the public would accept this. Only time will tell if the government, Ofqual and exam boards will.

A plan for GCSEs and A levels

There are many reasons why we should do this, and here are a few…

• All schools have to take exams at the same time so there is no “cheating”. If just one school is in a local lockdown, we need a Plan B. As above.
• Algorithms don’t work.
• Stating that “exams will happen” during a global pandemic is a disaster waiting to happen. Fixing this as part of the solution means that no one can mitigate for a fair outcome. Ofqual cannot produce a fair outcome. There needs to be a Plan B. As above.
• Delaying exams does not fix the problem. It reinforces the reliance on exams. We would better use this time to professionally moderate centre-assessed grades. This could have happened in 2020. Instead, the government relied on an algorithm. We need to do something different this year. See above.
• Whatever tweaks to exams, the fact that kids have been off school for so long during two-year courses means that the gap between the well-off and the worse-off has been exacerbated. Just relying on exam results will widen this gap. The kids with chaotic home lives will have lost more ground than those without. It is extremely likely that there will be more disruption to our children’s education this year. It is inevitable that the impact of this will not be evenly distributed. Our teachers know the potential of our students. We need a Plan B. As above.
• Looking to the government to produce a Plan B doesn’t sit well with me. Why don’t we just state that this is what we want to do? Let them pick holes in our proposal for a change. It is not time to sit back to play a political point-scoring game. We know what to do, and it is simple and clear, and we’ve been doing it well for years. I hope all our unions and exam boards and Ofqual would get behind the obvious Plan B. As above.

Yes, the plan needs fleshing out a bit, but not much to be honest, and I thought it could start as a simple statement that would fit into one tweet.

My name is Gwyn ap Harri. I co-founded XP School in my hometown of Doncaster in 2014. My eldest son, Jac goes to XP. He has just started Year 11. He needs a Plan B.

As above.

Gwyn ap Harri is CEO of XP School Trust in Doncaster