Are UK Learners Ready to Take Exams Again?
It’s a familiar story: it’s the end of March 2020, and the learners in your family have been sent home from school with piles of books, new, confusing software, and some online meeting link details scribbled down in the back of their planner. Neither your educators or either of you know when they’ll be heading back to the classroom, but all the papers and politicians seem to think it’ll be around three weeks to a month.
If we flash forward to Summer 2020, things don’t look all that different on a day-to-day. Learning is taking place remotely, and most of us are getting to grips with the new way that we’re seeing education take place, even if there are some fairly serious downsides building in terms of dipping rates of skill acquisition and a gap emerging between actual and expected reading age. The big change is that in the UK, exams are cancelled, and students are instead about to be graded on teacher assessments (after a short, stressful debacle involving a results element based on a school’s past exam performance).
2021 was subject to similar changes and disruption: most students in the UK were graded on a similar teacher-assessed basis, with grades agreed between educators and senior leadership using evidence from what got taught that year between the school closures and the learning disruption. It’s not a perfect way of doing things, but it keeps education ticking over until this year, where it’s been deemed safer to be in classrooms and exam halls again and we’re back to the exam system we know.
And that’s great – with testing back on track, we can use tried-and-tested support systems, prepare properly and get back to business as usual. But as standard as this exam season looks like it’s shaping up to be, it remains that there’s a cohort or two of learners sitting GCSEs and A-Levels that haven’t sat a big, graded end-of-year exam in quite a while. And that’s a problem.
What the Exams Gap Means to Students
Although it may not seem like much of a hitch when we first think about it- things are back on track now, so what’s the issue?- losing out on exams for the past two years can have a few knock-on effects. Learners might be dealing with increased anxiety as these events aren’t something they’re that used to any more, and many will be worrying that they’ve ‘lost the knack’ or they’re ‘out of practice’ with the whole exam-hall setup. This could be especially so for learners sitting GCSEs and A-Levels, as these are important in accessing the next stages of study or opening up the world of employment.
There may also be extra pressure too as some learners will feel as if they’re playing catch-up- perhaps their teacher-assessed grades were lower than they feel they should have been, and they mourned the loss of an exam last year to demonstrate their skills in, so the final stages of these assessments carry even more weight. Some learners perform best in exams, and they may be feeling like they’re going in at a disadvantage.
And that’s before we take into account that learning hasn’t exactly been… ideal for the past two years. Stress has been high for both students and educators.
What’s being done about it?
There’s a support package in place in the UK for all students taking GCSE, AS and A-Levels in Summer 2022. It’s a government-backed Ofqual measure, and it looks a little like this:
You can find a complete breakdown of the changes made to individual subject exams at the .GOV portal, but some of the major changes are:
· Students will be assessed on less information in 2022 in the GCSE subjects of English Literature, History, Ancient History/Classical Civilizations, and Geography
· There is advance information available for all other AS and A-Level exams
· GCSE Mathematics will be supplied with a formulae crib sheet showing common equations
· GCSE Physics / Combined Science will be supplied with a formulae sheet showing common equations
· Science subjects have more flexible guidance on how practical skills are taught
· GCSE, AS and A-Level Art and Design (Fine, Textile and Ceramics) students will be assessed on their year’s portfolio of works only, with no need for a board-assessed final.
What can Parents and Educators Do?
Educators have been working full-tilt to prepare students for these Summer exams – there’s been a fair amount of learning recovery taking place, as well as the usual garnering of new skills and information. Many will be worried about the year groups that they’re sending into the exam hall for reasons other than the results they might achieve, as they’re well aware of the stresses that these learners have been trying to work under… as they’ve been doing it too. It’s a great idea to practice mindfulness activities, and foster an atmosphere where students are comfortable being open about stress and mental health if you’re still in the classroom at the moment. For those whose students are off on study leave, it’s a good idea to conduct a mental health check-in sometimes, either via email or within a scheduled meeting online- not only is talking about exam anxiety with an educator a good way to allay fears, they’re also well-placed to point you in the direction of last-minute resources and support.
Parents should try their best to understand what learners are going through this year – although things are back to normal (mostly, anyway), the past two years of stress and uncertainty haven’t gone away. They’re still very present in the educational mindset of our children and young people, and they mean that learners may not have the confidence of past years when walking into these end of term exams. They know they’ve likely missed topics, they know they’ve been playing catch-up, they know that the style of learning they’ve had to practice might not necessarily have been working that well for them. That’s why accommodations have been made for 2022, but many of them will still be feeling anxiety about what’s going to turn up on the paper and what lies ahead on results day.
If they’re open to the idea, try talking about it. Many will be looking for a chance to open up about what’s worrying them, and might not feel confident broaching the subject themselves. And take time out to chat to them about destinations too- although it might feel a little defeatist to chat about what happens if a learner doesn’t achieve their target grades, it can actually be a very positive thing and help them beat the anxiety by reaffirming the idea that there are multiple paths available on results day. Just because one college or university or apprenticeship needs certain results, it doesn’t mean that they all do – and it helps stressed learners realise that a different path doesn’t mean a wrong or inferior one.
Looking Forwards: How the ExamReader Can Make a Difference
The Scanning Pens ExamReader is an exam support that can be used for hours at a time, across multiple exam seasons, and requires no ongoing costs or maintenance save for charging the long-life battery. It can provide a central, constant touchpoint in any reading support toolbox, and can go a long way as to supporting anxious and struggling readers when it comes to exam season.
You can find out more about the Exam Reader and Normal Ways of Working at our blog.