For the forthcoming GCSE results, we are pleased to see that government is likely to use teacher assessments of each student’s grade; they should then allow individual students to appeal if necessary. Teachers know their students and assess their grades on the basis of mock exams, a student’s previous performance and their current circumstances. These matters cannot all be individually assessed by a computer algorithm.
The colleges and employers to whom the students move on are perfectly capable of understanding the current exceptional circumstances. We believe also that students will need more support than normal as they start their new course of study and work.
Liberal Democrats believe the whole system needs to change to one in which tests and exams first and foremost serve the learning and progress of each student, not the overall performance of a school.
We also believe the system of GCSE assessment at age 16 needs to be replaced. It is no longer the definitive stage from which students move out of education or training and a much more local and less expensive system needs to be in place.
Nigel Jones
17 August 2020