Gavin Williamson has said that students could sit “shortened” papers in the autumn in order to have the opportunity to “get the grade they truly believe is what they can achieve”.
Responding to questions from MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee, in a session held online this morning, he said that he felt the “best form of assessment is an exam” and that this was why the Department for Education was working closely with Ofqual to create an autumn exam series.
Coronavirus: Some GCSEs could have no autumn exams
Covid-19 GCSE grades: No checks for bias within schools
GCSEs: DfE and Ofqual accused of not addressing bias
“For me, the best form of assessment is an exam, and any other form of assessment is not going to be as good as a proper exam serial, but that wasn’t an option that was going to be open to me,” he said.
He added that the government had needed to outline the process for awarding grades this year because of the amount of “uncertainty and worry” that students, parents and teachers would have felt if the DfE had not recognised that there could be no exams series during May and June.
“I particularly wanted children - if they did not think that the grade was a true and fair reflection on the work or what they were able to achieve - to have the opportunity to take an exam, and that’s why we’ve been working with Ofqual and the exam boards to provide an autumn serial of exams,” he said.
“Because I think if people do not feel as if this is the right qualification that they truly deserve, the best way is giving them the opportunity to sit a shortened exam paper and have the opportunity to sit that exam paper, to get the grade they truly believe is what they can achieve.”
Mr Williamson also said that he hoped organisations representing disadvantaged and black and minority ethnic pupils were using Ofqual’s consultation process, closing today, to “make their voices heard” regarding concerns that BAME pupils would be disadvantaged by the process of awarding teacher-assessed grades this year.
“Right at the start of the process we highlighted this as a particular area of concern and…in everything that Ofqual did in terms of the creation of the system of the awarding of grades, they had to be conscious of the fact that there was evidence that a number of youngsters within those communities were in danger of not realising the grade that they would have been achieving if there’d been a traditional exam,” he said.
“But that’s why they’ve come up with the system that they have - the ability to have a say on this is why they’ve done the consultation which is closing today, and I would hope that those communities and organisations that specialise in this area are using the opportunity of the consultation to make their voice heard, so that Ofqual and the exam boards can properly take on board those concerns in terms of what they do and make sure mitigation is put in place to make sure that no one is disadvantaged.”
