A headteacher has branded this summer’s exam system “immoral”. The head said the way children’s education has been affected by the pandemic varies so much that the first summer GCSEs and A levels for three years will be “massively unequal”.
Claire Armistead, head of Rhyl High, 38% of pupils are eligible for free school meals and some were bereaved, made homeless or went hungry during the pandemic. Ms Armistead said the least advantaged children have been worst affected by Covid and may now have their lives further disadvantaged by not getting the exam grades they deserve.
She is among school leaders, teachers and teaching unions, who have been raising concerns with exam regulator Qualifications Wales, and exam board WJEC since the autumn term. Although content has been reduced to take account of pandemic disruption and grades set midway between pre-pandemic 2019 and 2021’s record-high results, they say this is not enough because individuals and schools have been impacted to such hugely varying levels.
Pupils have also expressed their worries and said they have not had the face to face teaching they need. You can read what they said about exams here.
Ms Armistead, and Huw Powell, head of Mary Immaculate Roman Catholic High in Cardiff, said the least advantaged pupils stand to lose out most in this year’s exam results because they, their communities and schools have been hardest hit by the pandemic, staff and pupil absence. Long term work by teachers to persuade children to aim high could be lost which could affect whole communities across Wales for years to come.
“I am really worried for our children who, through no fault of their own, won’t get the grades they deserve and will make choices for the future which don’t reflect their ability and what they truly are. That’s not right,” Mrs Armistead said.
““This summer’s exams will be massively unequal. We spend a lot of time telling our children to reach out to a better future but it will prove what they believe to be true (that they can’t) if this year’s exams don’t allow them to show who they are. We are taking away from their chances because they are deprived. That’s immoral.”
Mr Powell echoed her concerns saying: “Exams are a huge concern with lots of headteachers and we have commented to the regulator Qualifications Wales.
“They are making adaptations but how are they balancing fairness? How do you have a level playing field when you have middle-class schools with all the advantages and on the other hand those who have lost so much?”
The latest Welsh Government data shows more than one in 10 pupils now miss school on average. That rose to around three in 10 year 13 A level pupils and around two in 10 year 11 GCSE pupils at the end of the last term. The data also shows:
- Pupils entitled to free school meals are less likely to attend school, with the gap being an average of 7.7 percentage points between April 4-8.
- 24.4% of pupils (115,663 pupils) have missed more than a week of face to face learning due to a known Covid related reason since 6 September 2021 (5.5 days or more)
- 79.1% of pupils (374,623 pupils) have missed more than a week for any reason since 6 September 2021.
Mr Powell and Mrs Armistead said the data was there to assess grades alongside how much school individual pupils had missed, or how often they’d been without specialist teachers. That could be used to adjust results.
At Rhyl High, Mrs Armistead estimated her 1,200 pupils have lost more than 7,500 hours of education during the pandemic. Some days 20 of the 60 teachers were off as well as 15 support staff. Some of her pupils have been bereaved in the pandemic, made homeless or gone hungry and she was only able to give out one device per household for home learning. While some pupils in Wales had poor home WiFi, less face to face learning and a lack of specialist teachers others have had specialist teachers and in-person teaching all the way through this academic year .
Mrs Armistead said she has suggested schools provide the regulator with the exact amount of school hours pupils taking exams have missed and what their personal circumstances have been since March 2020. She said that data could be used to adjust grades so that children get results “on cognitive ability not postcode”.
Mr Powell asked for schools to be given their pupils’ grades early to give time for them to be considered side by side with what each candidate has missed and how Covid has affected them, to allow for appeals and adjustments.
Both said they were “very concerned” that this year’s exam results will widen social inequality and aspiration for years to come. Schools will have to re-do much of the work they have already done to persuade communities that education can improve prospects.
Mr Powell said: “Qualifications Wales and the WJEC have made adaptations but how are they balancing fairness. How do you have a level playing field?
“Exams won’t be fair this year, but at least they could give schools results before giving them out to pupils, to allow for internal appeals. The pandemic has impacted schools in deprived areas more -and that is a lot of areas in Wales.”
How exams were graded in 2020 and 2021
When exams were first cancelled by the pandemic in 2020 they were replaced with teacher assessed grades after outcry over an unfair algorithm that disadvantaged higher achieving children from historically less well achieving schools. Last summer results were again graded by teachers based on work done, because of ongoing schools closures and pandemic disruption.
But school leaders have stressed that disruption this academic year has been even worse. High teacher absence, often caused by Covid, has also left some schools with as many as one in five teachers off, with a lack of supply staff to cover for specialisms or face to face teaching. Other schools have had barely any disruption.
“This year's exams system will change mindsets about what they can achieve. We have spent so long telling children they can do things - but now some may get Ds when they should have got Bs," said Ms Armistead.
“How do we get communities to aspire if those in charge of exams don’t take into account the disproportionate effect of the pandemic? That’s not me being over-generous. I don’t know whether people aren’t listening or can’t, but I don’t see that it will change and it’s not right.”
Exam regulator responds
A spokesperson for Qualifications Wales said: “In addition to all the measures in place that are designed to mitigate the ongoing impact of the pandemic, Qualifications Wales has written to further and higher education institutions to remind them of the challenges faced by Welsh learners.
"There have been a range of changes to this year’s exams and assessments to help learners focus their time. These vary across subjects and include changes to coursework, streamlined assessment content and removal of units.
"Where significant changes couldn’t be made, advance information has been shared as another way to help learners focus their revision. We know that some young people have been more affected than others over the past two years.
"Therefore, we have asked universities and colleges to fully consider the impact Covid has had on individual learners when making decisions about places on courses starting this autumn. The usual mechanism for appeals will be in place this summer and more information is available from the awarding bodies.”
The WJEC was approached for comment. When asked about fairness for this year's exams previously the exam board has said: "We recognise that learners will have missed out on teaching and learning time due to the pandemic and have made a series of changes to the way GCSEs and AS/A levels will be assessed in Summer 2022.
"Following the announcement by Qualifications Wales that external assessments will go ahead, in July last year, we published a range of adaptations to our qualifications, which vary from subject to subject, but have included reduced assessment content, reduced NEA (non exam assessment) requirements, and optional questions for some qualifications.
"For other subjects, where we couldn't make significant changes, we've shared advance information as another way to help learners to focus their revision."
Teaching and learning resources have also been expanded to help teaching and revision, the board said. They said: "We are confident that the range of measures that we have put in place will help to mitigate the ongoing impact of the pandemic, ensuring that all assessments are balanced and fair and will enable learners to progress to the next level of education, training or employment.
"Furthermore, Qualifications Wales has confirmed that results in 2022 will broadly reflect a midway point between 2021 and 2019 results, and this will be applied when we determine the grade boundaries during our awarding meetings, which are conducted post assessment."
