The fall-out from the exams debacle during the pandemic lockdowns continues, with news that English students face stricter grading in their exams this year than students from devolved parts of the UK. Ofqual, England’s exam regulator, has decided to return to 2019 grading levels, but Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland’s regulators won’t. It means that…
I was recently interviewed by the Daily telegraph about a story in which Lord Kenneth Baker – a former Education Secretary – said GCSEs ought to be abolished. As the person who introduced the exams this is quite a U-turn, something his Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was not keen on doing. Lord…
Progressive educationalists and the education unions are again attempting to abolish GCSEs – they really don’t want to test at all. The National Education Union said it will be debating a motion at its Easter conference to abolish the exams. This would be disastrous for children’s education. GCSEs have been in place for many years…
An imminent U-turn by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson might well see exams re-instated this year. In a letter to the chief regulator, Williamson said he would like to ‘explore the possibility of providing externally set tasks or papers’. I said at the time of cancellation that it was a decision made too early and that…
Exams are the best and fairest way to judge a child’s progress – so cancelling them in Scotland next year will do major harm. The Higher and Advanced Higher exams – the equivalent of A-Levels – will not go ahead, and neither will the National 5 exams – the equivalent of GCSEs. Instead, results will…