I have often heard about how children whose parent has died, or dies, during their GCSE exams...the most they can get in terms of support is a 5% uplift to their grades. It's wrong. I am supporting this girl.
Teen forced to take GCSEs days after her dad died calls for exam change (msn.com)
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Teen sitting GCSE exams while parent is dying
Decompressing2 · 06/07/2024 09:02
MSN
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/teen-forced-to-take-gcses-days-after-her-dad-died-calls-for-exam-change/ar-BB1ps5dg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=37343d60c37b4c69b05d899665c30983&ei=20
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 11:12
Permission to know she could have not done the exams but would have been allowed to resit a bit later…or yes teacher awarded grade.
Both English and maths have a November sitting, but teacher awarded grades are not allowable under JCQ regulations.
It's not a school issue or an exam board one. It's a regulatory one.
DelurkingAJ · 07/07/2024 11:48
I’ve seen this elsewhere and the child’s determination to sit the exams (having already done one paper in that case) was their undoing. The school explained in painstaking detail the implications (if they had been absent the board could have used paper 1 but once all papers have been sat they must be taken into account) but the child was determined. It was awful all round but the rules are very clear.
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 15:25
Teacher assessed grades are a terrible idea.
Mickey79 · 07/07/2024 15:42
I’m not sure what the answer is. It is awful for teenagers having to sit GCSEs when they have just lost a parent, with the alternative being to drop back a year. Not great choices. But I don’t think increasing the percentage allowance is the answer either. Perhaps the importance of mock exams really needs drilled into teenagers and then these results, alongside tag’s could be the alternative option.
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 15:47
Mock exams would have to be standardised across the country for that to work, though.
I'm not unsympathetic to the students in this situation - I've taught for a long time and seen a lot of terrible situations - but it's not as easy as people would like it to be.
Mickey79 · 07/07/2024 15:42
I’m not sure what the answer is. It is awful for teenagers having to sit GCSEs when they have just lost a parent, with the alternative being to drop back a year. Not great choices. But I don’t think increasing the percentage allowance is the answer either. Perhaps the importance of mock exams really needs drilled into teenagers and then these results, alongside tag’s could be the alternative option.
Mickey79 · 07/07/2024 15:51
It’s what they had to do during Covid though- an extremely unexpected circumstance. Which is what having a parent die right in the middle of your GCSEs is.
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 15:47
Mock exams would have to be standardised across the country for that to work, though.
I'm not unsympathetic to the students in this situation - I've taught for a long time and seen a lot of terrible situations - but it's not as easy as people would like it to be.
Mickey79 · 07/07/2024 15:42
I’m not sure what the answer is. It is awful for teenagers having to sit GCSEs when they have just lost a parent, with the alternative being to drop back a year. Not great choices. But I don’t think increasing the percentage allowance is the answer either. Perhaps the importance of mock exams really needs drilled into teenagers and then these results, alongside tag’s could be the alternative option.
Decompressing2 · 07/07/2024 15:44
maybe - or they could increase the 5% to 10% as one previous poster suggested.
I am not suggesting a method - I do not have an educational background - I am merely saying I think a 5% uplift for children whose parents dies is not compassionate enough.
I am very surprised I seem to be in the minority though. It must be a horrific thing to lose a parent during childhood but especially during your GCSE period.
The importance the UK education system puts on GCSEs is just nuts. My son broke his writing hand just before his GCSE exams - panic panic - I was so mortified. But he unexpectedly ended up with all 9s and 8s...which seemed amazing at the time, but as he does his A levels and it means very little because if he can't get the predicted grades he needs for uni applications...all his 9s and 8s will not help him get there.
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 15:25
Teacher assessed grades are a terrible idea.
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 15:56
It isn't.
Schools basically did what they liked and the exam boards signed off on it because they - we - had no choice. It was an extreme situation which affected the whole cohort.
There was no standardisation, no moderation, no consistency. And that's why the results went insanely high in some places.
TAG workload was insane and unsustainable.
The death of a parent is not the same. That's not to say there shouldn't be some recognition of that in awarding - which there is - but it would be extremely unwise to have a system based on TAGs.
Mickey79 · 07/07/2024 15:51
It’s what they had to do during Covid though- an extremely unexpected circumstance. Which is what having a parent die right in the middle of your GCSEs is.
MrsHamlet · 07/07/2024 15:47
Mock exams would have to be standardised across the country for that to work, though.
I'm not unsympathetic to the students in this situation - I've taught for a long time and seen a lot of terrible situations - but it's not as easy as people would like it to be.
Mickey79 · 07/07/2024 15:42
I’m not sure what the answer is. It is awful for teenagers having to sit GCSEs when they have just lost a parent, with the alternative being to drop back a year. Not great choices. But I don’t think increasing the percentage allowance is the answer either. Perhaps the importance of mock exams really needs drilled into teenagers and then these results, alongside tag’s could be the alternative option.
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