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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... 23:01 - Mar 18 with 3729 viewsunstableblue

My lad has been working his socks off with the exams looming....

And I'm convinced he can add a mark across his mocks assessment... and current teacher view

Also, and this is crucial pupil/teacher chemistry is a massive thing for their assessment...which gets balanced out somewhat by the exams

Also how on earth can you benchmark across schools...my lad's is a professional place and I would imagine they would assess quite pragmatically, but what about major public schools or failing schools?

Also what about the experience of the final exams themselves and then that moment of envelope opening!

Not sure this is right.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 23:03 - Mar 18 with 3279 viewsStokieBlue

It's crap.

But what would you suggest? Lots and lots of text and not a single solution offered.

It's hard times, it's not only your child that's going to suffer. It rubbish for everyone:(.

SB
[Post edited 18 Mar 2020 23:13]

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 23:18 - Mar 18 with 3196 viewsTrequartista

Where has it been decided that teacher assessment will be used for grades?

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 23:26 - Mar 18 with 3178 viewsFixed_It

Maybe it's time people trusted teachers' professional judgements - the people who have most knowledge of a student's educational journey - rather than rely on the lottery of a written memory test over 90 minutes when they might not be feeling well on that particular day or were up all night worrying.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 00:22 - Mar 19 with 3102 viewsunstableblue

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 23:26 - Mar 18 by Fixed_It

Maybe it's time people trusted teachers' professional judgements - the people who have most knowledge of a student's educational journey - rather than rely on the lottery of a written memory test over 90 minutes when they might not be feeling well on that particular day or were up all night worrying.


Listened to a educational specialist clearly stating that teachers do have personality bias to pupils.

Also some parents are going to complain, shout loud and force skew results. For all the obvious flaws for exams, it’s a level playing field.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:13 - Mar 19 with 2924 viewspeterleeblue

Is it not a case that every student finds their level anyway.
I am sure yes the majority will be marked more positively than otherwise. But in the end their A levels or University will find them out anyway over the next year or two. As indeed will employment if they end up in a role they are not cut out for.
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:25 - Mar 19 with 2893 viewsChrisd

Secondary Schools would've been assessing your lad's potential from Y7. Although, they will be using a combination of tools, teacher assessment being one of them, they'll have there own on-going assessment in place too which can potentially measure: academic ability, social skills and emotional intelligence. Some assessment packages are so efficient that they can predict student's flight-path from when they first enter the school and this will adjust throughout their school journey. The staff will have a good idea of his potential too, which could be a real advantage. You're focusing on the exams themselves and not all people are motivated by that experience due to the stress and the pressure they bring, sometimes they don't do as well as expected, so it can work both ways. I was certainly one of those.

In these unique circumstances, it's probably the fairest way to do things especially if students already have offers on the table for courses or university places. They'll want to be moving on with the next phase of their educational life instead of allowing things to drift.
[Post edited 19 Mar 2020 7:48]

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:28 - Mar 19 with 2884 viewsbluelagos

It is a pile of sh1t in many aspects. But it is the best pile of sh1t available, unless you know of a less sh1ttier pile of sh1t.

Far worse imho, is that the next 12 months is going to see middle class wealthy parents ensuring their kids get all the educational support they can, while many others from less knowledgable or less wealthy families will fall further behind. That for me is a far far bigger issue than a few 16 year olds getting their grades from teacher assessment rsther than an examination.

*And i do sympathise, you kid may indeed not get what he would have done, which is a sh1t outcome, absolutely.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:29 - Mar 19 with 2888 viewsChrisd

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 00:22 - Mar 19 by unstableblue

Listened to a educational specialist clearly stating that teachers do have personality bias to pupils.

Also some parents are going to complain, shout loud and force skew results. For all the obvious flaws for exams, it’s a level playing field.


Then that educational specialist is a fool. From my experience, teachers do the job to benefit the students they are teaching and to make a difference. Yes, they might not get on with some of them for one reason or another, but they'll still want to do the best for them and help them achieve their potential.
[Post edited 19 Mar 2020 7:54]

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:33 - Mar 19 with 2877 viewswrightsrightglove

Surely some form of coursework based assessment could take place? Effectively a short dissertation in each subject surrounding a set topic which could then be graded and used as evidence to back up teacher assessments? Pupils will have plenty of time to study at home and it would give them a positive focus over the next few months. Projects can be set and assessed by teachers remotely.

I know some would say that this is open to parental help etc etc but that's the case with any coursework and if the coursework is linked with teacher's assessments then the teacher would be able to ascertain just how likely it is that the pupil had extensive help with the projects.

Seems like the fairest way to me.
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:48 - Mar 19 with 2828 viewsMullet

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 00:22 - Mar 19 by unstableblue

Listened to a educational specialist clearly stating that teachers do have personality bias to pupils.

Also some parents are going to complain, shout loud and force skew results. For all the obvious flaws for exams, it’s a level playing field.


Strange how it's always the teacher at fault in these scenarios. Why would a teacher have "a personality bias" against a pupil who works their socks off and deserves a higher grade according to you? The studies which show this sort of thing are generally flawed or have their own outdated bias about things like class norms and values between middle class teachers and working class students.

They also don't tend to indicate professional sabotage by teachers to score points on a teenager or two. You're more likely to find it manifests itself in everyday interactions rather than some sort of self-inflicted grade ceiling.

Our profession has been screwed over in the last few days, used as a political football and an example of double standards when it comes to health and safety at this time and now we're about to face a slew of this sort of thing.

In less than two hours my colleagues had set up and resourced a whole school of 1400 kids as best they could and spent yesterday trying to make, print and distribute stuff so that kids who work their socks off can carry on doing so.

The government have made an almighty mess of it, and in some respects it was unavoidable or maybe inevitable. To suggest that a teacher or teachers are going to vindictively screw over a kid is vile.

I've averaged about 4hrs sleep the past few nights trying to figure out how to protect the GCSEs of this cohort, I've got kids who deserve top grades or in their case their highest grade in my subject and there is no suggestion they will still get them. 3 years of work down the swanny for everyone, and there are thousands out there without the home life or structure who will lose months of learning and the knock on could affect them and their children beyond.

Go on twitter and have a search through a few teacher accounts and get back to us.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:51 - Mar 19 with 2816 viewsPlums

We’re living (hopefully) through a historical event. These kids (my son is also Yr11) will be the COVID19 year forever. They may not sit exams but they won’t be disadvantaged. It’s a shame for them all but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a sideshow.

IMHO, those with an A_level/ college/ 6th form place should start their course in September and sit English and Maths in the Autumn. The others can be done on predicted and benchmarked against those. If you’re not going to college, you can sit your GCSEs in the autumn.

A-Level is a completely different matter and I really feel for those students, but some sort of entry to University needs sorting if the HE sector isn’t to collapse. The system is geared to work on predicted grades (although the problem of UCAS gathering data from 000’s of schools and loading it into their systems to push out to Universities won’t be an easy one to resolve - lots of contract resource needed). The predicted grades can be wildly inaccurate as shown by the clearing system. Some creative thinking is needed here.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:53 - Mar 19 with 2806 viewsChrisd

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:48 - Mar 19 by Mullet

Strange how it's always the teacher at fault in these scenarios. Why would a teacher have "a personality bias" against a pupil who works their socks off and deserves a higher grade according to you? The studies which show this sort of thing are generally flawed or have their own outdated bias about things like class norms and values between middle class teachers and working class students.

They also don't tend to indicate professional sabotage by teachers to score points on a teenager or two. You're more likely to find it manifests itself in everyday interactions rather than some sort of self-inflicted grade ceiling.

Our profession has been screwed over in the last few days, used as a political football and an example of double standards when it comes to health and safety at this time and now we're about to face a slew of this sort of thing.

In less than two hours my colleagues had set up and resourced a whole school of 1400 kids as best they could and spent yesterday trying to make, print and distribute stuff so that kids who work their socks off can carry on doing so.

The government have made an almighty mess of it, and in some respects it was unavoidable or maybe inevitable. To suggest that a teacher or teachers are going to vindictively screw over a kid is vile.

I've averaged about 4hrs sleep the past few nights trying to figure out how to protect the GCSEs of this cohort, I've got kids who deserve top grades or in their case their highest grade in my subject and there is no suggestion they will still get them. 3 years of work down the swanny for everyone, and there are thousands out there without the home life or structure who will lose months of learning and the knock on could affect them and their children beyond.

Go on twitter and have a search through a few teacher accounts and get back to us.


Well said Mullet, couldn't agree more!

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 07:57 - Mar 19 with 2789 viewsGlasgowBlue

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 00:22 - Mar 19 by unstableblue

Listened to a educational specialist clearly stating that teachers do have personality bias to pupils.

Also some parents are going to complain, shout loud and force skew results. For all the obvious flaws for exams, it’s a level playing field.


Trust the teachers who know these children based on a long period of working with them and mentoring them. An assessment from a teacher can ell a whole longer about a pupil than a one off exam.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 08:33 - Mar 19 with 2745 viewsOxford_Blue

I’m sure there are a lot of people in the world right now who aren’t happy.

This is what happens in a crisis.

Get a sense of proportion - for some this is life and death.
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 09:15 - Mar 19 with 2640 viewsEly_Blue

I feel your pain, my son is in the same situation, he takes his GCSEs and he had some poor predicted grades and some areas for work from his mocks which he has been making good progress on.

Also he has had several changes of teacher in some subjects, how can these teachers truly assess and grade pupils on supposedly knowing them better?

I fear if it were down to predicted grades he may be worse off as some of the more recent mocks he has done better than the predicted grades, so what gets precedent?

How can this be monitored and benchmarked across the country as there are different levels and skills of teachers from the best schools to the worst, unlike a set of exams where there is a right and wrong answer and a standardised set of answers of what is right and wrong.

A prime example is my son is set on doing a particular course at 6th form, he has been offered a lower course on his predicted grades but is determined to get higher grades to do the higher course at 6th form, both us and he can see that he is on course to achieve this but if they go on offers already made he can’t get on the course he wants without resits for exams he never took in the first place.

Worrying times for us parents and anxious times for our kids.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 09:20 - Mar 19 with 2629 viewstractordownsouth

My sister's in the same boat. Her mock exams weren't very good but she's been putting the hours in since and was due to get better grades than she did in the mocks, which i assume will now be one of the biggest factors in determining her final grade.

As Stokie said though, I don't really know what alternatives there are.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 09:29 - Mar 19 with 2619 viewsWarkTheWarkITFC

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 23:03 - Mar 18 by StokieBlue

It's crap.

But what would you suggest? Lots and lots of text and not a single solution offered.

It's hard times, it's not only your child that's going to suffer. It rubbish for everyone:(.

SB
[Post edited 18 Mar 2020 23:13]


Exactly my view. Horrible for these students.

But what about the ones who left last year and went into work. Jobs they will possibly lose as they may be the first to go and they’ll struggle to get other jobs.

So many people will be losing jobs that you’ll have a huge pool of applicants for each vacancy that comes up.

This is terrible for students, older teenagers, pensioners, middle aged people. Literally everyone is suffering and there’s no good solution to any of it.

Can’t see what more the government could do. Perhaps the only other option would be to ask students to choose between repeating a year and having results generated for them but even then you’d end up with a problem next year with too many students.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:03 - Mar 19 with 2580 viewsBrixtonBlue

It's interesting that the parents in this thread who have kids with exams looming have all said their mocks weren't great but they were definitely improving for the real thing.

Therein lies the rub. Everyone's going to say that.

There's no obvious solution.We all get dealt rough hands in life at some stage, this is there's. My grades could've been better were it not for mental health issues at that time, but there was no help for that sort of thing back then. It sucks but you have to just get on with it, work hard and try to improve your lot that way.

I bet Bloots will downarrow this.
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Exactly.... on 10:20 - Mar 19 with 2549 viewsunstableblue

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:03 - Mar 19 by BrixtonBlue

It's interesting that the parents in this thread who have kids with exams looming have all said their mocks weren't great but they were definitely improving for the real thing.

Therein lies the rub. Everyone's going to say that.

There's no obvious solution.We all get dealt rough hands in life at some stage, this is there's. My grades could've been better were it not for mental health issues at that time, but there was no help for that sort of thing back then. It sucks but you have to just get on with it, work hard and try to improve your lot that way.


... it will be which parents shout loudest, which will disadvantage kids with less engaged parents.

I have the school report with my lads grades pre Christmas, in the supporting report text it states "XX has the ability to achieve X+2 in his exams if he focusses in the remaining time", that gives me a big shout to kick up a fuss if he gets X or X+1. It will be mayhem.

Anyway, the other point is teacher assessment is flawed, it just is. I am not being negative about teachers the vast majority are just fantastic. But some simply are not. A teacher was swapped out at my lads school first term, A) she was poor, B) she had a major issue with two boys in the class (of course they would have been partly to blame), she neglected them and gave them X predicted grade, a new teacher had come in and understood them and transformed them both and they are now X+2.

The main issue though is schools are driven by performance, and some teachers will assess more accurately than others. So there is no benchmark.

However, as someone rightly points out, this is just a parent upset for his child, and in the grand scheme of things and the deep crisis the country faces, are GCSE's really that important in these worrying times?! as long as he can squeeze onto his A Level course (and it will be a squeeze) then he can go again. AND AS LONG AS THERE IS A SEA CHANGE IN ATTITUDE TO SECURING AND IMPROVING GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT so there is a chance for future A Levels.. and then career or further education.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:28 - Mar 19 with 2527 viewsBlueNomad

Award results based on predicted grades and if people are unhappy with it let them take a freebie exam when things return to normal.

I dislike the criticisms of teachers on this thread. I joined the profession in my 50's and have never encountered so many dedicated professional people who want the best for all their pupils, regardless of their behaviour / attitude. Try it and find out!
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:37 - Mar 19 with 2507 viewsunstableblue

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:28 - Mar 19 by BlueNomad

Award results based on predicted grades and if people are unhappy with it let them take a freebie exam when things return to normal.

I dislike the criticisms of teachers on this thread. I joined the profession in my 50's and have never encountered so many dedicated professional people who want the best for all their pupils, regardless of their behaviour / attitude. Try it and find out!


Agree the majority of teachers are dedicated and excellent.

How did you become a teacher in your 50s? Did you have to take another qualification? Very interested.

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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:39 - Mar 19 with 2497 viewsBlueNomad

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:37 - Mar 19 by unstableblue

Agree the majority of teachers are dedicated and excellent.

How did you become a teacher in your 50s? Did you have to take another qualification? Very interested.


Retired from a long career, already had a degree and did the Graduate Teacher Programme. Hardest year of my life!
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 10:57 - Mar 19 with 2474 viewsPrideOfTheEast

Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 23:03 - Mar 18 by StokieBlue

It's crap.

But what would you suggest? Lots and lots of text and not a single solution offered.

It's hard times, it's not only your child that's going to suffer. It rubbish for everyone:(.

SB
[Post edited 18 Mar 2020 23:13]


I haven't read in detail the proposals but if the plan is not to sit exams it would have been a disaster for me as I never did any work until the end. My mock results for GCSE and A level would have been decidedly average but when it came to the exams I'd have been in top 5%.
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 11:01 - Mar 19 with 2465 viewsmikeybloo88

My son is, sorry, was taking A levels this year and my wife is an A level teacher. She’s still waiting to hear how grades will be determined but it sounds like a combination of predicted grades, teacher assessment and any already submitted coursework. My son’s predicted grades and general work in year 12 and 13 have always been at the entry requirements for his uni choices so fingers crossed. I think generally what they come up with will be fair for the vast majority but inevitably some may be disappointed. GCSE students who want to do A levels will not really suffer, they can pull it back at A level. It’s the kids in year 12 who miss at least a whole term of proper teaching who might feel it most. Anyway, it’s a valuable lesson for future students...give your best at all times and perform consistently, and don’t coast for a year thinking you can cram in the final few months and pull it out of the fire at exam time.
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Not happy about teacher assessment for GCSE.... on 11:05 - Mar 19 with 2453 viewsBloomBlue

Teachers do an amazing job, but we're in a situation like this Country hasn't seen since WWII and people are struggling with the fact their lives aren't 'planned' as they always are. People criticise the government for not doing this or that but they are trying to develop plans which work best for all in a rapid changing situation.
Watching BBC and listening to the radio loads of parents are complaining about the fact the Gov are shutting down schools and have made a big mistake about shutting down. Others are phoning in and moaning they should've shut them down 2 weeks ago. Other's are phoning in and moaning the exams will be cancelled, others are phoning in and backing the exams cancellation

Everyone is thrown out because they cannot plan. Sorry but that's the situation we find ourselves in you can never please 100% of the population at any one time but when you're having to react you certainly cannot.
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