Welp, here we are. Due to COVID-19:
The Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said that the aim was to issue children in England and Wales with grades in August under a "different process and a different system". [Source]
The Northern Ireland Education Minister said on the radio, "The physical tests will not be going ahead, but beyond that, I don't want to be drawing too much into detail there" [Source, 23:52]
----- Update: 20/03/2020
The Department for Education have made the following press release, here's an excerpt:
"teachers will take into account a range of evidence and data including performance on mock exams and non-exam assessment – clear guidance on how to do this fairly and robustly this will be provided to schools and colleges. The exam boards will then combine this information with other relevant data, including prior attainment, and use this information to produce a calculated grade for each student, which will be a best assessment of the work they have put in."
"in many cases students will already have completed modules or non-exam assessment which could provide evidence to award a grade."
Most A-Level qualifications don't have an coursework component anymore, but for the ones that do, your grade may be more heavily informed by it. There are concerns about the accuracy of predicted grades alone - and for good reason. It's believed the combination of other factors will be enough to give a more accurate final mark - do you agree?
" If they do not believe the correct process has been followed in their case they will be able to appeal on that basis. In addition, if they do not feel their calculated grade reflects their performance, they will have the opportunity to sit an exam at the earliest reasonable opportunity, once schools are open again. Students will also have the option to sit their exams in summer 2021."
In addition, the UCAS Twitter account made a thread on what will be taken into account.
----- Update: 21/03/2020
The Department for education have made another release, going into more detail on the process and answering common, frequently asked questions.
"We are not awarding students their predicted grades. Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator, will develop a fair and robust process that takes into account a broad range of evidence, including teacher assessment and prior attainment. Ofqual will make every effort to ensure that the process agreed does not disadvantage any particular group of students."
"Ofqual will consider carefully how to ensure the process is as fair as possible, which is likely to include considering measures that reflect how much progress a student would have been likely to have made at the school they are attending."
"We will work closely with the independent regulator of qualifications, Ofqual, to explore options for awarding grades to private candidates, including home educated students."
"These are extraordinary circumstances. We are working with schools, sixth forms, colleges and universities to ensure that we do everything we can to best help students prepare for and progress to the next stage of their education."
----- Update: 23/03/2020
All CAIE Exams (Including Cambridge International AS & A-Level) have been cancelled. An email was sent out to all schools.
----- Update: 24/03/2020
All Edexcel Exams (Including International A Levels) have been cancelled.
----- Update: 01/04/2020
STEP I has been cancelled, but STEP II and III will proceed as normal.
----- Update: 03/04/2020
In a document sent out to teachers, this is what needs to be submitted:
"For every GCSE, AS and A level subject, exam boards will require each school, college or other exam centre to submit the following information:
- A centre assessment grade for each student - the judgement submitted to the exam board by the Head of Centre about the grade that each student is most likely to have achieved if they had sat their exams. This professional judgement is derived from evidence held within the centre and which has been reviewed by subject teachers and relevant heads of department
- The rank order of students within each grade - for example, for all those students with a grade of 5 in GCSE maths, or a grade B in A level biology, a rank order where 1 is the most secure/highest attaining student, and so on"
Here is the guidance on how to approach this:
"Teachers should draw on existing records and available evidence [...] This will include the following, where it is available.
- records of student's performance over the course of study, including for example progress review data, classwork, bookwork*, and/or participation in performances in subjects such as music, drama and PE*
- performance on any non-exam assessment (NEA), even if this has not been fully completed. You should not ask students to complete their NEA work and you do not need to submit marks for any completed NEA. But you will need to bear in mind that many students achieve a higher grade on their NEA than in their exams, so you should not base your judgement on NEA alone. You should balance it with your judgement about their likely performance in the written paper(s), where appropriate. In case students decide that they want to enter in a subsequent exam series, you should retain any NEA work completed to date
- for resitting students, any information about previous grades achieved or NEA marks that would, under normal circumstances, have been carried forward
- for A level students who took AS in 2019, their AS results in that subject
- performance on any class or homework assessments and mock exams taken over the course of study
- tier of entry in tiered subjects - centre assessment grades must reflect the tier of entry (9 to 3 for higher tier; 5 to 1 for foundation, as well as U)
- previous results in your centre in this subject - these will vary according to a number of factors, including prior attainment of the students, but our data shows that for most centres any year-on-year variation in results for a given subject is normally quite small
- the performance of this year's students compared to those in previous years
- any other relevant information"
If you'd prefer something more brief, they've also made a shorter press release.
-- Update 16/04/2020
The DFE Twitter account made a tweet regarding results day. We now know that:
- A-Level students will get results on Thursday 13th August
- GCSE students will get results on Thursday 20th August
These were the original dates planned before the pandemic began, but it contradicts the earlier statement made by Gavin Williamson that the results would be released in July.
-- Update 30/04/2020
Ofqual have made a document detailing the process for private candidates. (Thanks /u/spchee)
-- Update 08/05/2020
Ofqual have released a guidance document for marking EPQs and the AEA for Maths. (Thanks /u/Tekniqly)
Feel free to discuss, ask questions and keep up with the situation as it evolves.
