Lost learning during the pandemic,lost in exam results?

 Students around the world will soon in August receive their A-Level and GCSE results after exams may have been cancelled for the second consecutive year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Have you ever heard of grades being awarded by School Teachers at qualifying exams rather than students sitting at these exams? 

Pupils in UK in 2020 after the fiasco around grading by a controversial algorithm which moderated teachers’ grades and was later “discarded” by the educational authority OFQUAL, are today having to have their grades decided solely by their teachers’ estimation of their standard. 

But simultaneously Teachers in England have been required to consider a range of evidence, including mock exams, coursework and in class assessments using questions by exam boards to make decisions on pupils’ grades.                                        

 Will exams be a thing of the past? Can employers see a better yardstick to measure student attainment?

Teachers' assessment ? what a fudge? 

Students have been forced into remote learning, not attending classes, schools have remained empty  over a major part of time. It is quite natural that students will be at a disadvantage by what their teachers recollect of their ability after 18 months lapse, or so it seems. 

This year 2021 "A Level" and GCSE results were decided via teacher assressment.They are being treated as an anomaly that must be rectified in future. But that denies the legitimate achievements of students as well as teachers. 

But, to ensure that the process by which grades awarded was correct and that they represented a reasonable exercise of academic judgment, all GCSE and A Level grades submitted by teachers have been asked by many Exam Boards to look again at the awarded grades for boards to be prepared to issue students with their certificates. However, we should learn the lessons of an "alogorithm" approach and an "assessment" approach based on multiple forms of evidence of achievement. 

Grade inflation is a term of panic,not fact. The idea that too many students have been awarded top grades perpetuates an elitist view of education that is not based on merit. But students are marked against either lower standards or less rigorously is the issue. The whole system this year is artifically control the number of students able to enter University.

That is not all, Minister of Education, Nick Gibb has stated “we want all students to feel proud of their achievements this year. These results are meaningful qualifications and they will help young people go on the next stage of their life”. 

What achievement?

In the real world students cannot be fobbed off by offering them a higher grade like more "A's"in lieu.  Hardly satisfied,they are more than sceptical, more worried that their grades will lead them nowhere? Will there be a resultant drop out at University? It is anybody's guess.

As a compensation students can sit an examination in October 2021, if they do not like their results? Is it all worth the hassle for a place at Uni? 

Options for a school leaver? 

Once A Levels and GCSE results day is done and dusted, students are free to try something new. They must never forget that they are more than their grades? They can explore their options, from University to Sponsored Degrees, to BTEC or City & Guilds Professional qualifications to Higher Apprenticeships. 

Get a Job? 

The choice of leaving education is indeed a difficult choice. If they are 18 and over they can look for jobs without needing to do any more Further Education.

But, if you are ready to start job hunting, a great first step in my opinion, is to choose a job that you once had a hobby. You can become a young entrepreneur, a young professional.

You can build on five important life and work skills:

Self-Management

Self-Belief

Communication

Problem Solving and

Team Work 

Apprenticeships 

Apprenticeships come in different levels. You can do Higher Apprenticeships if you have A Levels and 3 Vocational qualifications like NVQ and you are not going to University.

The choice between a Job or a Degree is Higher Apprenticeship. You will get training (resulting in an industry-recognised qualification) while earning a salary and getting real like work experience. You can even do apprenticeships that result in a full degree qualification while you work at the same time. It will take you from Level 4 Study to getting a full degree. With Higher Apprenticeships there is no degree fees to pay, so it is a very realistic way to pack in the learning without getting into student debt. 

Sponsored Degree 

Another choice is a Sponsored Degree which is an opportunity to gain work skills and a degree that is associated with one particular employer. Your resulting skills, knowledge and qualification will be recognised by everyone in the industry. 

The easy option?

 After Coronavirus, a new culture of work ethic is brewing and life style has become more important than work.While money is a way to find the security many students seek, others look at money as no longer the sole object. Work style is paramount? Remote working over one and a half years has brought in a new outlook. 

It is so easy to jump at the first opportunity and work say either as a Machinist in a Garment Factory or try finding a job situation abroad. Both these options are fraught with their own difficulties. The first option is the monotony, let alone factory working hours and low wages. The second is due to COVID-19 travel restrictions at present. Who knows what is ahead? 

If however, students want to venture out and start a small business out of an innate interest or a hobby, banks and governments may ber able to fund these ventures, provided they can show viability. So why not become a sole trader, or an entrepreneur, and start your own small business over a 5 or 10 year term and allow yourself time, to gain valuable  person centred relationships to move on to a career, which will require your experience?  My guess is that many will opt for the the tried and tested rather than venturing out? But,hardly nothing comes easy in today's unpredictable world. 

Victor Cherubim