A-level exams should be cancelled in 2021, schools should keep teaching content until July and government should ask exam boards to develop a “robust” system to moderate teacher assessment, two vice-chancellors have urged.
Writing in The Times, Sir David Eastwood, from the University of Birmingham, and Sir Chris Husbands, from Sheffield Hallam University, argue that it would be “simply wrong” to make sixth-form students sit exams rather than focusing on lessons.
In the letter, they argue: “The danger is that next summer’s results will be as chaotic as this year’s, with students having had much less time to learn.”
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“Our proposal is simple: extend learning throughout this academic year, until July, and not sit exams. Trust teachers; give students time to learn; let schools do everything they can to make good the effects of Covid on young people.”
Should A levels be cancelled in 2021?
They also propose that exam boards are asked to create a robust moderation system for teacher assessment. “It’s a method which works in almost every other advanced educational system,” the vice-chancellors argue in the letter.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Sir Chris said that the 2021 student cohort will have a much bigger problem than their precedessors because the coverage of the syllabus will have been much more patchy, with more Covid disruption likely coming our way.
He said: “Learning is much more important than assessment.”
He also insisted that the development of a moderation process across schools and colleges would be critical - but with “no algorithm”, he added.
Commenting on calls to consider cancelling next year’s exams, Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the government was “sticking its fingers in its ears” over the issue.
“As the situation develops, it may become inevitable that what we have to move to is a system of centre-assessed grades,” she added.
“Everybody appears to agree that this is a real possibility, that we won’t be able to do exams.
“The only body which is sort of sticking its head in the sand, sticking its fingers in its ears, is the government.”
She said that the two vice-chancellors were voicing “absolutely real concerns”, adding that the government should react.
“The last thing we need, but the danger [of it] is increasing, is that we end up with another fiasco next year because the government has believed that it can will something which hasn’t worked to achieve,” she added.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We expect exams to take place next year and continue to work with Ofqual and the exam boards on our approach, recognising that students will have experienced considerable disruption to their education in the last academic year.
“There are a range of measures proposed by Ofqual following a public consultation, including a possible short delay to the exam timetable and subject-specific changes to reduce pressure on teaching time. We will continue to work with school and college stakeholders, Ofqual and the exam boards, to ensure that exams in 2021 are fair.
