Keeping up with the Exam Chaos
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'INSENSITIVE' THIRD NATIONAL PROFILE: WHAT DFE MARKETING LOCKDOWN HITS IT TAKES TO CAMPAIGN PROVIDERS HARD REVIVE A UTC Page 12 Page 5 Pages 20-22 In-depth, investigative journalism, determined to get past the bluster & explain the facts for the FE & skills sector FEWEEK.CO.UK | @FEWEEK FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 | EDITION 338 keeping up with the exam chaos Monday: Summer exams cancelled but will go ahead this month Tuesday: Government forced to backtrack and let colleges decide Wednesday: Some scrap BTEC and other assessments while others plough ahead and achieve high turnouts Pages 6 and 7 Go virtual in Visit theskillsnetwork.com lockdown 3.0 Online learning to support your delivery @FEWEEK EDITION 338 | FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 MEET THE TEAM Nick Linford Shane Mann Billy Camden EDITOR MANAGING DEPUTY DIRECTOR EDITOR @NICKLINFORD @SHANERMANN @BILLYCAMDEN [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] JL Dutaut Jess Staufenberg Fraser COMMISSIONING COMMISSIONING Whieldon EDITOR EDITOR REPORTER @DUTAUT @STAUFENBERGJ @FRASERWHIELDON [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] THE TEAM Simon Kay DESIGNER HEAD DESIGNER Nicky Phillips ? 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AND FE WEEK PLEASE CALL 020 81234 778 OR EMAIL FULL INFORMATION ON PAGE 20 [email protected] Please inform the FE Week editor of any errors or issues of concern regarding this publication. 2 Contents EDITION 338 Second national college set to 'dissolve' Labour Party calls for appren wage subsidy Page 13 Page 14 We must steady the ship after the government’s half U-turn this week Page 23 Erasmus was not just some exclusive middle-class scheme Page 24 DISCLAIMER SUBSCRIBE FE Week is owned and published by Lsect Ltd. The views expressed within the publication are those of the authors Learning & Skills Events, Consultancy Stay in the know with an FE Week subscription, from as named, and are not necessarily those of FE Week, Lsect and Training Ltd little as £1 per week. FE Week is the essential read for the Ltd or any of its employees. 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E: [email protected] T: 020 81234 778 Please address any complaints to the editor. Recognise an outstanding colleague for BTEC Teacher or Tutor of the Year Nominate now at btec.co.uk/awards @FEWEEK EDITION 338 | FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 DO YOU HAVE A STORY? News CONTACT US [email protected] GCSE and A-level exams to be replaced by teacher assessments this summer FREDDIE WHITTAKER SAMANTHA BOOTH [email protected] GCSE and A-level students are set to receive teacher-assessed grades in 2021 following the partial closure of schools, colleges and training providers – but the grades won’t be adjusted by an algorithm. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, confirmed in the House of Commons on Wednesday that GCSE, AS and A-level exams will not go ahead this year, and that the government is “going to put our trust in teachers rather than algorithms”. He said he wished “to use a form of teacher- Gavin Williamson assessment grades, with training and support to have these exams this year. students will have an impact on that.” provided to ensure these are awarded fairly “I can confirm that GCSEs, A-levels and AS Questions remain over whether BTEC and and consistently across the country”. level exams will not go ahead this summer. other vocational qualifications will receive It was announced on Monday that schools This year we are going to put our trust in the same treatment as GCSEs and A-levels, and FE providers in England will move to teachers rather than algorithms. but Ofqual’s new interim chief has suggested online learning for all students except those “The department and Ofqual had already the solutions “may not be the same” (see classed as vulnerable, a category that now worked up a range of contingency options. page 11). also includes those who may have “difficulty While the details will need to be fine-tuned Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth engaging with remote education at home” and in consultation with Ofqual, the exam boards Form Colleges Association, said replacing the children of key workers. and teaching representative organisations, I this year’s exams with teacher-assessed Prime minister Boris Johnson can confirm now that I wish to use a form of grades is the “best way to ensure that all acknowledged at the time it would not be teacher-assessment grades, with training and students get the grades they deserve”. “fair” for exams to go ahead as normal. support provided to ensure these are awarded “The Secretary of State said today that Last year, the government was forced to fairly and consistently across the country.” he is putting his trust in teachers rather abandon its system of calculated grades after Ofqual will launch a “detailed” consultation on than algorithms. But this will require the around 40 per cent of centre-assessed A-level the plans next week, Williamson added. It will Department for Education to involve teachers grades were downgraded by exam boards, run for two weeks. at every stage of the implementation of these prompting uproar. Following Williamson’s statement the proposals,” he added. Williamson said this week that the regulator said that they “are not starting from Geoff Barton, general secretary of the government had “learned lessons” on exams scratch”, adding: “We have been considering Association of School and College Leaders, after last year’s fiasco, during which the different scenarios for some time and we have, said it was “frustrating” that there is not an arrangements “did not deliver what they of course, learned lessons from last summer.” “off-the-shelf Plan B ready to go”. needed”, with the impact felt “painfully by A spokesperson said Ofqual is “mindful” “We have repeatedly called on the students and their parents”. of Williamson’s preference for teacher government and the regulator to prepare “Although exams are the fairest way we have assessment to “play its part”. such a plan in the event of exams being of accessing what a student knows, the impact They added: “We are aware of teacher cancelled, and have repeatedly offered to of this pandemic now means it is not possible workload and how teacher assessment of work with them in doing so.” 5 @FEWEEK EDITION 338 | FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 DO YOU HAVE A STORY? Investigates CONTACT US [email protected] January exams on or off? How colleges have responded BILLY CAMDEN [email protected] From front The January vocational exam series descended into chaos at the start of the week as the government passed the buck to colleges to decide whether they go ahead, while telling the rest of the nation to “stay at home” as the new variant of Covid-19 causes cases to spiral. In a live TV broadcast on Monday, prime minister Boris Johnson announced a third national lockdown and that schools, colleges and training providers in England will now be closed to most students until at least mid-February, with this summer’s exams also cancelled (see page 5). the assessments, but left it up to leaders to student and staff safety must come first”. But in a move that caused outrage across the decide. Around 950 students were due to sit exams FE sector, the Department for Education swiftly “In light of the evolving public health at the college over the next two weeks in confirmed that BTEC and other vocational measures, schools and colleges can continue curriculum areas such as animal care, aviation, exams planned for the next three weeks and with the vocational and technical exams that science, carpentry, hairdressing, health and which involve around 135,000 students would are due to take place in January, where they social care, information technology, motor still go ahead.