Teachers will decide exam grades

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Pupils will get the GCSE and A Level results they deserve.

That's the message today as exam body Ofqual rolled out advice to schools following the scrapping of public examinations.

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Schools and colleges have been told to provide a grade for each student which reflects a ‘fair, reasonable and carefully considered judgement’ of their most likely grade had they ‘sat their exams this summer and completed any non-exam assessment.’

They have also been also instructed to rank students from the most, to the least secure in each grade, for each subject.

What has been billed as "pragmatic guidance" by school leaders, follows detailed discussion with exams bodies, schools, college and university leaders to try to find an acceptable solution to pupils not taking exams which usually determine the next stage of their education.

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Schools have been waiting anxiously for the guidance since they were closed in March.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: " Whilst there is not a perfect solution, this is pragmatic and the fairest approach to take in these exceptional circumstances."

He added: "We are pleased to see that there is no requirement for teachers to set additional tasks for students; schools will have enough knowledge and evidence prior to the school closures to make their decisions. We also welcome that there is no requirement on schools and colleges to collate or provide any evidence to awarding organisations to support their judgements, a near impossible and needless task at this time.

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Schools and colleges have been told that are not to share grades or any other information until a specific date just as they would be announced under normal circumstances

A spokesman for the National Education Union added: ""It is absolutely right that teachers’ grade judgements should be based on work which was done before schools and colleges shut down. Anything else would be unfair.

"Setting formal assessments for pupils to carry out at home would only demonstrate the inequalities of remote learning for students.

"We will encourage members to use Ofqual’s guidance that no student should be disadvantaged by work set for the purposes of determining a grade after schools and colleges closed."

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