As I write this, our exam-year students are in a sandwich of uncertainty.

Yesterday, our IGCSE exam board declared there will not be exams this May. On Monday, we await an announcement from the International Baccalaureate (IB) regarding its decision about exams, amid a swirl of rumours about country by country, school by school or even student by student decisions being handed down.

This is stressful enough, but my biggest reflection at this point is incredulity that those who have the power to transform the lives of young people do not appreciate more about the impact that uncertainty is having on student wellbeing. 

I was happy last year with the consistency of the IB and its algorithm for the last academic year. While I know this was not true for all schools, for us they were fairly considered and assigned.

So, to be clear, my concern does not necessarily rest with the inherent idea of not having exams or using teacher assessed grades.

However, there is no doubt that this year will be more challenging.

Further news

Exams 2021: OxfordAQA cancels IGCSE and IA levels

Assessment: International schools split on exams plans

March school reopenings: How safe would teachers be?

Last year, we were approaching the end of the courses so students were in a better place to be assessed as we had more “standard” work to go on for assessment submissions.

This year, we are to assign grades to students who have had a far more broken year, having spent a large majority of their courses learning online and who themselves have been adapting to the circumstances and have changed their priorities.

It’s clear this has had an impact on the students.

For example, internal assessments (IAs) in the IB are always important but, given their impact on the last cohort as part of their assessments, this year’s they have developed into an obsession for some of our students as they are the only things they feel they can control. 

University concerns

It’s also causing university applications issues. Final-year students have, in our school at least, deferred in record numbers.

Our inquiries to different universities have led to numerous responses saying that they are unable to make offers and decisions until they hear from the exam boards.

As a school, like thousands of others, our calendar, approach and entire concept of the year for our students has been placed in what seems to be an eternal purgatory.

To a point, this is understandable - it’s a strange time and making decisions that affect thousands of students across the world is no doubt difficult. But what I cannot understand or accept is the lack of consideration for timelines and clear communication on student welfare.

Should have been avoided

Students hate uncertainty, whether it is awaiting their test results, making a decision about their futures or awaiting a decision that will change their future.

As some of them have said, sometimes it is the waiting that kills you. I respect the IB for providing us with a clear date in relation to their communication. It presents a tortuous wait but at least we have a fixed point on the horizon to navigate towards.

The sporadic nature of the IGCSE boards communication, though - with the lack of clear decision dates and lack of cohesion among the boards - has presented us with continual issues with parents, students and our own planning.

As noted, I appreciate it’s a tough situation for the exam boards but, as anyone who works directly with children knows, it is the responsibility of the adult to shoulder the burden, consider their feelings and provide them with a perspective on a situation.

None of this seems to have happened. 

How we assess 

The second consideration must be to the appreciation of assessment.

As someone who has worked internationally for close to a decade, I have had to adapt to students arriving into our international system from a range of different educational backgrounds.

Teacher-assessed grades, holistic reports and different forms of assessment are not unusual for us.

In fact, last year, when the exams were cancelled we, like many schools, took it upon ourselves to ensure the courses all ran to their conclusion and that some form of summative task that could be completed remotely was set up for all students.

We told them it would inform, not determine, their teacher-assessed grades. The tidal wave of creativity that led to unique projects, presentations, videos and other productions was inspirational.

Therefore I am truly amazed, given a further year to think about it, that we as an education community have not come up with a more innovative response.

Perhaps next week the IB will provide us with a truly inspirational and transformational response to assessment but, for the time-being, I feel the impact on the students and the lack of appreciation of different methods to recognise their strengths is disappointing.

Tomas Duckling is director of learning at Aiglon College, Switzerland