Posts tagged Ofqual
The Times: Open Letter - Rethinking Assessment: Mutant exam system is failing our children
The Times: Open Letter - Rethinking Assessment: Mutant exam system is failing our children

In this letter, leading educators demand urgent action as they launch a group aiming to overhaul the testing regime in schools.

We were told this summer that it was a “mutant algorithm” that had caused the anguish of the exam fiasco. Covid may have exposed the failings, but in truth, something more profound is going on, and it has been brewing for years: we have a mutant exam system.

Created with good intentions — “to raise standards” — it has mutated into something that neither measures the right things nor is very reliable, and leaves in its wake a trail of stress and unfairness.

Many of those who are involved in the exams merry-go-round are reaching the same conclusion — it’s not fit for purpose and needs to change.

This week a new group— Rethinking Assessment — is being launched to do something about it.

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Business, Charity, Education, Exam Results, Family, Interview, Lockdown, Media Article, Pandemic, Self & WellbeingSarah NorrisLando EducationOpen letter, Lando Education, Lando, GCSEs, kill off GCSEs, exam fiasco, Covid, Pandemic, Rethinking Assessment, Independent schools, OECD statistics, PwC, KPMG, EY, Lord Baker, Dame Glenys Stacey, Ofqual, Pisa programme, OECD’s Pisa programme, TechnologyComment
The Guardian: Private and state schools bid to kill off GCSEs
The Guardian: Private and state schools bid to kill off GCSEs

A coalition of private and state schools is expected to launch a campaign to end GCSEs, as growing numbers of schools look at alternatives to the exams following the summer algorithm debacle.

Eton, Bedales, St Paul’s girls’ school, Latymer upper school and several substantial academy chains have been joined by Margaret Thatcher’s education secretary, Kenneth Baker, who created GCSEs, to discuss proposals for replacing the exam system.

The group, Rethinking Assessments, is likely to launch a formal campaign in the next few weeks, forcing ministers into a battle for control of school qualifications.

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Education, Exam Results, Family, Lockdown, Maths, Media Article, PandemicSarah NorrisLando Educationprivate schools, independent schools, state schools, GCSE, Pandemic, Covid19, The Guardian, kill off GCSEs, Eton, Bedales, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Latymer upper school, exam algorithm, Kenneth Baker, Rethinking Assessments, formal campaign, Geoff Barton, Association of School and College Leaders, Gavin Williamson, education secretary, teachers, teacher-assessed grades, Tower College, Microsoft One Note, Zoom, Peter Hyman, Big Education Trust, Cognita, The Inspiring Futures programme, OfqualComment
Independent: Ofqual suggests online exams could be option next summer in wake of this year’s grading chaos
Independent: Ofqual suggests online exams could be option next summer in wake of this year’s grading chaos

‘Some form of examination’ needed for students to feel system is fair, Roger Taylor says.

Roger Taylor has said it was a "fundamental mistake" to believe the public would get behind this year's grading system.

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Exam Results, Education, Family, Higher Education, Media Article, PandemicSarah NorrisLando EducationOfqual, media article, GCSE, A'levels, pandemic, COVID19, school, education, Tories, Conservatives, downgraded, exams cancelled, NAHT, teachers, assessment, logarithmComment
The Guardian: Exam board AQA to pay out £1.1m over rule breaches and errors
The Guardian: Exam board AQA to pay out £1.1m over rule breaches and errors

Watchdog’s reprimand comes after failings such as markers re-marking their own work.

The exam board AQA is to pay more than £1.1m in fines and compensation for a string of rule breaches, errors and failings in GCSEs and A-levels that regulators said could seriously undermine public confidence in the qualifications system.

Ofqual, which oversees school exams in England, said it had levied its largest ever fine on AQA after 50,000 appeals for exam papers to be reviewed or re-marked, spread across three years between 2016 and 2018, were carried out by AQA staff who had already marked the same papers.

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Business, Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisLando EducationThe Guardian, exam board, AQA, reprimand, fines, rule breaches, Ofqual, appeals, examsComment