What preparations have you been having to make for exams this month?
Weston College has adopted the “business as normal” approach in terms of entering and preparing students for January series exams, we have taken the extra precautions of requesting that students and invigilators take a LFT test the day before in addition to our twice weekly approach (Wed and Sun evening testing).
What have you found challenging about putting on exams and what have you found easier than assessments held in 2020 and 2021?
To support social distancing, we have halved the number of students we would normally have in an exam room therefore doubling our invigilation costs and on occasion have had to displace a timetabled lesson to gain access to an appropriate exam room
Roughly how many students have you had to defer or put forward for special consideration?
12 Jan 2022 was the first day of the Jan series at the college, we had a small number of students absent due to COVID-19 and two special consideration applications have been made due to students being on their first day out of isolation following testing positive for COVID-19. We have not deferred any students from the Jan series.
There is still a lot of work to do in terms of student expectation and understanding of what it is like to sit public exams
How do you rate the government’s help in ensuring this month’s exams go ahead?
The DfE guidance “Exam Centre responsibility for students…” was updated at the start of January and sufficient LFT arrived in college prior to the start of the exam series.
Do you feel well-prepared for the summer series of exams?
Our exams team are taking the “pre-pandemic” approach to preparation for summer series exams in terms of entries and timetabling them. We are seeing a significant rise in external candidates seeking to sit their exams with us at both GCSE and A-levels. There is still a lot of work to do in terms of student expectation and understanding of what it is like to sit public exams and focus for that length of time – many have never taken public exams due to two years of alternative grading methods. As a college we have had to adjust many of our approaches to curriculum delivery including initial assessment, sequencing of delivery and support for mental health. It has become apparent that learners lack of exam experience and lost learning are creating additional anxieties in young people that we are having to cater for.
Will assessments return to normal after this year, do you think? Should they, or what would you like to be held over from the assessments of the past few years?
I think that the public examinations post summer 2022 will return to as close to pre-pandemic as they ever will. Retaining adaptations to syllabuses in terms of extended formula sheets or areas of questioning pre-disclosed will facilitate a more applied assessment of learning and support the ongoing legacy of issues experienced by cohorts of learners who have missed learning and the challenge of exams.