The external school exam system in the UK has been unchanged for some years. In school year 11, students usually sit their GCSE exams. [These were previously known as O (Ordinary) Levels] In year 13 (Upper Sixth form) students sit A Levels (Advanced). Both are set by a number of national exam boards.The exams consist of written papers, with some subjects requiring one or more elements of course work, practical work and oral examinations for languages. The marking is done by external examiners and moderated. Marks are allocated to a range of grades. Based on mock (practice) exams, teachers typically give students a predicted grade, but this is only an indication of their likely actual grade.
No exams took place in summer 2020 due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. To enabled students to receive qualifications, it was announced that students who were due to sit A level, AS level or GCSE exams this summer would receive a calculated grade. For each student, schools and colleges provided a centre assessment grade for each subject; this is the grade their school or college believed they would be most likely to have achieved had external exams gone ahead, taking into account a range of evidence including, for example, non-exam assessment and mock exam results. This grade was intended to be put through a process of standardisation, using a model developed with Ofqual, to arrive at the final calculated grade.
However the moderation process was flawed and downgraded (sometimes heavily) the marks for many students. The biggest effect was on A level students, many of whom were unable to take up university places, and these were allocated to other students. On Monday 17th August, Ofqual confirmed that there would no longer be a standardisation process for A level, AS level or GCSE exams and instead all students would be awarded the centre assessment grade submitted by their school or college, unless it was lower than their calculated grade, in which case the calculated grade would stand. Unless there was evidence that a processing error had been made, these grades would be final. This U-turn meant that students who had been refused a university place on the basis of the flawed grades, now had no places and universities had to try and sort out the mess.
Tom Brighouse has written about the system of examinations in the UK, indicating that he feels our children are possibly the most tested. He notes that in other countries the system is less stratified, and the English system is unusual in having decisive exams at age 18.
TB has suggested that we need to move to a broader qualification at 18, which is part exam, part record of achievement and part long-term project. Some students might excel in one type of assessment (e.g. open-ended essay, multiple choice questions or oral examination) and do less well at others. Universities use the same methods but add in observation of work by staff, collaborative work and vivas (where the student is questioned individually in an interview).
TB further notes that (a) teachers are not taught how to assess, and want their students to do well, (b) teachers are not immune to unconscious bias and (c) exams are a single day snapshot. Companies who want problem solvers, collaborators and good communicators, are therefore devising their own skills based assessments as part of their recruitment process.
Digitisation may offer ways to track progress, using results over time from different 'tests'. The bigger the variety of assessment methods, the more chance it will be fair.
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