Which three words would you use to sum up the experience of awarding teacher assessed grades (TAGs)? Teachers were asked to do exactly that in a survey undertaken by Ofqual last month, which sought feedback from those who were involved in assessing and grading GCSE and A-level pupils this year.

The survey states: “Please write down up to three words that summarise how you felt about the experience of judging TAGs.”

While a couple of choice expressions might spring to teachers’ minds here, it is likely that they would need far more than three words to adequately convey their experiences.

Ahead of results day, we asked secondary school teachers and leaders to share their untold stories of TAGs. This is what they had to say.

The headteacher: Vic Goddard - ‘I know what the papers will say’

The lack of consistency of approach from exam boards caused a major headache for lots of us. We were second guessing the whole time; it feels like they’ve reneged on their responsibility.

Heads across the country are all saying the same: we all read everything and did what we thought was the right thing but, unfortunately, that doesn’t mean consistency. Between schools, there will be differences in practice and differences in interpretation.

You’ve only got to look at how many exams students sat to see that inconsistency. My son went back to a very traditional boys’ school and did exams to death. They did more exams because exams were cancelled than they would have done if they weren’t.

Others, like us, tried to get there [to the TAG] through teaching, through having students in lessons doing the best bit of work they can do. We had a final exam because we wanted them to have that sense of finality but that exam didn’t cover everything in the specification.

There was a huge amount of pressure on heads of department specifically, and especially in maths, English and science. It ended up being a huge amount of workload on people who were also expected to be doing remote learning, and doing catch-up lessons and everything else.

I feel really sorry for the middle leaders because the grades had to come from them: I can’t give grades to the children - I don’t know them, I don’t do the assessments - it has to be the heads of department, so they’ve very much earned their summer holiday.

But then there’s the worry about the appeals process and what happens beyond it.

We all know, on results day, that the headline in certain newspapers will be: “Schools cheat and grades go up again!” It’s not a nice feeling to know that’s coming when you’ve done all you can to make the process fair and accurate.

There are some children who have got grades this year who wouldn’t have got grades in a “normal” year because they wouldn’t have come in for the exam.

Now, everyone is going to get a grade in every subject. So, by default, our grades are going to be higher because we haven’t lost the kids who would struggle with the exams. And I’ve got no problem with that. But I know what the papers will say.

Vic Goddard is co-principal of Passmores Academy in Harlow, Essex

The head of department: Laura May Rowlands - ‘I’m proud of how we all pulled together’

The lack of information was the most difficult part. It meant that we were scrabbling around in the dark.

It was horrible seeing stuff in the news or reported in Tes before we, as teachers, knew in an official capacity. For a long time, we weren’t sure about the amount of evidence required or the maths around arriving at a grade.

We aren’t part of a multi-academy trust so we had no real comparison as to what other schools were doing, either. Thank heavens for WhatsApp and Twitter.

My second-in-command and I had some frantic meetings towards the Easter holidays, trying to ascertain what we should do. Luckily, two heads were better than one and we came up with a plan that was workable.

We decided to include the mock grades from our October mock, which had been marked externally. These helped us to ascertain where those pupils who were between grades should sit overall.

We wanted to help our team as much as we could, so my second-in-command and I produced a four-week lesson-by-lesson plan with an unseen mini-assessment at the end of each week. All our weekly meeting time was then devoted to marking and moderating, which gave people one and a half hours to mark a week. This helped to prevent the marking from building up and becoming overwhelming. I also paired up Year 11 teachers as marking/moderation buddies, so people with more experience could support newer teachers.

Once we had gathered all the evidence, my second-in-command and I were given a couple of days off timetable to finalise everything, which was useful.

I’m proud of how we all pulled together as a team. That’s the biggest positive that I can take away from all this.

At the time, it felt awful. I cried and felt very nervous but then, when we had chosen a plan and just stuck to it, the process wasn’t so bad. I don’t want to go through it again - that’s for sure - but if we had to, I know what we would do again.

Laura May Rowlands is head of English in a secondary school in Hampshire

The class teacher: Rose Lawson - ‘I am grateful my toddler slept well’

Marking assessments for TAGs was not all terrible. For example, early in the process, I treated myself to a fancy new candle to make the 5am marking more bearable. The candle still has some life left in it, unlike me after this term.

That said, the thought of all the marking and data analysis was worse than the reality for me, although the head of department might disagree. I was lucky that he kept the burden of data entry away from me so, really, all I had to do was more marking.

We did all our marking blind by using candidate numbers to remove any potential bias from the process and, luckily, both members of the department who completed the TAGs marking are current A-level examiners so have had experience and training to feel confident in what was asked of us.

History marking is subjective but we are confident we applied the mark schemes and JCQ grade descriptors appropriately, consistently and fairly.

Of course, there was more marking than there would have been in a normal year, and all clustered at the end of the year, close to key stage 3 end-of-year assessments. This was compounded by the fact that we were unable to conduct the earlier mock exams we had planned for Year 11 and Year 13 owing to the period of remote learning.

It was definitely a challenge of time management that I am sure many teachers felt - perhaps none more so than those of us with young children.

I am grateful that my toddler slept well during this period, which allowed me to do the late nights and early mornings sometimes required and still be focused - and vaguely energetic - when teaching.

I’d say there was one positive outcome to it all: tackling and, dare I say it, triumphing over this challenge has brought us closer as a department.

The pain of late-night marking was shared via WhatsApp groups with some humour interspersed between comments on numbers of scripts marked and methods to stay awake.

It was also great to be able to see what all the students produced in the final assessments - even if we didn’t know who had written what - but it is a privilege I will happily forego next year for all the associated stress it brought and may still bring.

I am not entirely sure why these grades have been rebranded TAGs, rather than CAGs (centre-assessed grades), but I’m concerned about teachers becoming a target of disgruntled pupils or parents.

For this reason, we are not inviting teachers to be present at results day in the way they would normally. Some pupils are disappointed not to have this final opportunity to see and thank their teachers, but it just seems prudent, at this point, to protect teachers from further stress.

Rose Lawson is a secondary school history teacher

The director of sixth form: Claire Green - ‘We have proven that anything is possible’

When the decision finally came from the Department for Education in late February that schools would be required to decide grades for their students again, it’s important to remember that we were in the middle of a national lockdown.

This matters because staff were already being asked to work in an entirely different way. Although our school supported teaching staff by issuing new devices and training to enhance remote delivery, the push from the government to increase the number of “live” lessons being taught resulted in additional workload and anxiety.

While this was going on, senior leaders had to devise assessment plans for Years 11 and 13. The level of planning involved in this process cannot be overstated. Ensuring that a fair and robust system was constructed in a timely way was no mean feat and I salute all senior leadership teams involved in this process across the country.

Staff marking teams, too, committed to a colossal increase in workload; no sooner had one assessment round been completed than the next pile of papers appeared. The efforts of teachers and leaders was nothing short of remarkable, with many marking/moderating Year 11 and 13 papers while still delivering remote or blended teaching, and coping with the return to school and continued disruption owing to students isolating.

For our students, the assessment rounds were also pretty gruelling. We reassured as often as we could, and congratulated our students for the amazing resilience and perseverance they showed. Their tenacity really was incredible to see, especially given that, for Year 13, these assessments will have a real impact on what happens to them once they leave school and whether they will get into their firm university choice or apprenticeship programme.

There has not been nearly enough recognition of this in the media - or from the government - nor has there been any acknowledgement of just how hard teachers and students have worked during these past few months, under intense pressure.

If we face further disruption, will we adapt again and ensure our students have a fair and robust assessment process regardless? Of course. We have proven, this year, that anything is possible when you have so many stakeholders committed to ensuring our young people prosper.

Claire Green is director of sixth form at Northampton School for Girls

The Sendco: Sara King - ‘The TAG process was not all bad’

In some ways, students with special educational needs and disability (SEND) have been at a disadvantage this year.

While many have been allowed to attend school throughout the pandemic, learning has not necessarily been face to face, nor has it always included their usual support systems.

Additionally, some students with SEND decided not to attend owing to understandable fears around the virus, which may have put them at a disadvantage as their learning was solely virtual for the best part of key stage 4.

Some students found the whole remote learning experience daunting, as their usual interactions with teachers and peers was limited. This made the process of gathering evidence for TAGs even more difficult.

When it came to the assessments, all of the usual adjustments for students with SEND still had to happen. However, ensuring students had their access arrangements was more of a challenge than it would usually be, as we were still in bubbles, which meant that roomings were sometimes an issue.

Another problem was that some students were reluctant to return after lockdown and needed time to readjust. However, the timings of the TAGs left us with no time to help with reintegration, as students were straight into assessments. This was incredibly difficult for some, especially those with social, emotional and mental health problems.

Staffing has been another challenge. We tried to keep our support staff in bubbles as much as possible but, staffing has not been consistent because of the need to self-isolate.

However, the TAG process was not all bad for all with SEND. For some, it took away the pressure of being made to sit a final exam that judges you on your performance on the day.

It has allowed teachers to adopt a holistic approach when awarding the grades. If the TAGs process was something that schools adopted during normal circumstances then it might just help to recognise the achievements of pupils with SEND, something for which the current assessment system does not allow.

Sara King is a trained Sendco working as an assistant Sendco at Walkden Co-Op Academy in Manchester

The senior leader: Jonathan Mountstevens - ‘TAGs put teachers in an invidious position’

I will always shudder when I think back to the summer term of 2021 and the process of awarding TAGs.

With fellow teachers who went through the same experience, a shared glance and a raised eyebrow will be enough to communicate the mutual feeling, but what would I say to anyone else to help them understand why it is not something I ever want to repeat?

First, I would try to explain why Gavin Williamson’s promise to “trust teachers” was so much less appealing than it sounded.

All teachers I know want to be trusted but only to do things that are in their power to control. In this case, the “trust” was placed in teachers to award valid and reliable grades in a national qualification, which would require, at the very least, the same assessments to be held for all candidates, an overview of national attainment and consistent grade boundaries.

None of these elements was in place.

In these circumstances, the public claim of trust in teachers has been made all the more galling because it looks like little more than a way for ministers to distance themselves from responsibility for results, leaving nobody to blame but those who awarded the grades: teachers.

Second, I would point to the knock-on effects of basing exam grades on teacher assessment, which were felt by all staff and students. After returning to school from lockdown, most students in Years 11 and 13 faced a series of assessments, which would provide the evidence for TAGs. This meant that many lessons for exam classes were devoted to revision, with students being prepared for questions on specific topics rather than teachers ensuring that the whole curriculum was being covered.

Meanwhile, the high workload created by TAGs limited teachers’ ability to provide much-needed support for other year groups as they readjusted to school after lockdown.

My final point would be that TAGs put teachers in an invidious position. Under normal circumstances, our job is to get our students ready to produce their best. To use an Olympics analogy in a sporting summer: if a student is a diver, the teacher is their coach. We do all we can to prepare them but, when they climb up to the platform, ultimately it is over to them. Yet TAGs put us in the position of also being the judge who has to award the scores.

This has not been lost on students or their parents and, as a result, many of us are anticipating a fractious post-results period.

Teachers want the very best for their classes, but it is not fair to expect them to determine what their students deserve. When they do, grade inflation is inevitable.

Teacher-assessed grades were a bad idea, poorly implemented. Next summer, we owe it to students, teachers, universities and employers to ensure that a proper set of public exams takes place.

Jonathan Mountstevens is deputy head and chartered teacher programme lead at Beaumont School in Hertfordshire

This article originally appeared in the 6 August 2021 issue under the headline “Tales from the TAG team”