Lisa Nandy MP: Clear plan needed for GCSE pupils

With the North West, and Wigan in particular, experiencing some of the highest rates of coronavirus infection in the country those who have contacted me describe how the prevalence of the virus in our area, along with self-isolation requirements and the closure of school “bubble” groups is having a massively negative impact on our schools and the education they are able to provide.

Some schools have reported having to close entire year bubbles on multiple occasions with thousands of school days being lost as a result of the requirement for self-isolation. Some parents have told me how their Year 11 children have lost up to 35 days of school due to the requirement to isolate and report how their children are being taught by up to five support teachers at any one time.

With GCSE’s fast approaching, teachers, parents and pupils have increasingly serious concerns about the negative impact this disruption is having on our Year 11 pupils’ exam preparations.

Despite the best efforts of schools to try and help pupils continue their learning when they are required to stay at home, not all pupils are able to access the same levels of support. A recent survey by the education charity Teach First revealed that four out of five schools with the poorest pupils do not have enough devices and internet access to ensure all self- isolating pupils can keep learning.

The situation was made even more challenging when on the eve of half term last month schools received an email from the Department for Education informing them that their allocations of laptops for disadvantaged pupils had been slashed by up to 80%.

The impact of Covid-19 since September that has been felt in our schools is not uniform across the country. Many schools in the rest of England which have not had any coronavirus cases and have not had to ask pupils to self-isolate.

As it stands, pupils in our area will be sitting the same examinations as pupils in other parts of the country who have not had significant disruption to their education. This is simply not fair.

Those who have contacted me want the Government to recognise the situation and set out a clear plan for how the impact of coronavirus on Year 11 pupils, and in particular the disproportionate impact on pupils in the North West will be addressed.

We simply cannot have a repeat of last summer, where incompetence and lack of leadership from the Government created chaos in the exams system

Although exams remain the best way to ensure fair grades, the Government has so far failed to set out the steps needed to ensure fairness and consistency in assessments this year, and provide pupils, parents, and schools the clarity and reassurance they so badly need.

The lack of a clear plan from the Government for how exams can go ahead has led to many people calling for next year’s exams to be cancelled all together.

If exams are to take place, as is currently planned, then the Government must ensure that there is a level playing field for pupils and recognise the disproportionate levels of disruption that pupils in some areas, such as ours, have endured.

This could include the consideration of taking a regional approach to grading exams, so that the system is fairer to those pupils in areas that have faced the greatest disruption. Changing exam papers so that there are more multiple-choice questions or exam boards providing advance materials before tests could be other options for some subjects.

This could help to ensure pupils are assessed on what they have been taught not what they have missed through no fault of their own.

There have also been calls for “reserve” papers to be made available in all subjects that could be taken at a later date, so that self-isolating pupils do not lose out unfairly.

Teachers, pupils and parents are crying out for a clearer plan from the Government to ensure that assessments for GCSE pupils in our area, whether exams take place or not, are fair to all pupils. There is still time to ensure that measures are in place that allow exams to go ahead in a way that is fair and accessible to all pupils, but the Government must act urgently to make this happen.