‘GCSE, A-level exams in UK should be held in July’

LONDON: Next year’s A-level and GCSE exams in England should be pushed back to mid-summer to help cope with the impact of coronavirus, Labour has said, foreign media reported.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green said students starting Year 11 and 13 in September had "a mountain to climb", having missed months of schooling. Exams scheduled for May should happen as late as July to allow more catch-up teaching time, she added.

The government said it would "consider" its approach but exams would go ahead. Chaos dogged the exams system this year, leaving teachers, parents and pupils calling for a major re-think of next summer’s exams. Nearly 40% of A-level grades awarded to students were below teachers’ predictions, with disadvantaged students particularly badly affected.

Days after results were announced, and following widespread criticism, the government performed a U-turn and decided to base grades on teachers’ estimates instead. But many pupils were left in limbo, having already missed out on university places for this year’s intake. GCSEs and A-level exams are expected to take place as normal next year, but Ms Green said: "It’s so important that the government starts to make contingency plans now so we don’t see a repeat of the fiasco that we saw over the last few weeks."

She said students heading into year 11 and year 13 - the GCSE and A-level exam years - had seen "a lot of disruption to their education" and "our first priority must be to give the students every possible chance to demonstrate their learning, their attainment and their potential".

"Young people have never been front of mind when the government has been managing its way, or failing to manage its way, through this Covid crisis," Ms Green told BBC Breakfast Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said Labour’s plan was "worthy of serious consideration". But he added: "A delay is not without its problems. A consequential delay to the publication of results will put pressure on higher education providers such as universities and colleges, as well as employers."

Year 11 student Hemlata told the BBC that "the 2021 exams staying the same is unthinkable". But Amber, who is in year 13, said that the delay could be a "false hope" unless there were clear plans to provide results and confirm university admissions in time.

Mary Curnock Cook, former head of the university admissions body Ucas, said a delay to exams would create "massive ripples of impact" on entrance to university, sixth form or progression to apprenticeships.

She said markers already had to read five million GCSE scripts and two million A-level papers on a tight schedule, making it hard to shorten the marking period. Meanwhile, Conservative MP Robert Halfon, who chairs the Commons Education Select Committee, said there was only a "50:50" chance of A-level and GCSE exams taking place at all next summer, despite the government’s promise.