Coronavirus: Exam students need clarity as schools shut – The Yorkshire Post says

MINISTERS do find themselves in an invidious position over Covid-19 as Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is now discovering with regard to the schools shutdown.
All schools will be shut from today due to efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.All schools will be shut from today due to efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
All schools will be shut from today due to efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
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Answer these questions about our exams and grades – A Level student Sam Day

Yet, while no amount of contingency planning could have prepared for the current scenario, it does not excuse the Scarborough-born Minister’s lack of clarity when he made the announcement.

A more astute politician would have foreseen the many legitimate questions about the consequences for pupils, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and had answers at the ready.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson leaves 10 Downing Street.Education Secretary Gavin Williamson leaves 10 Downing Street.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson leaves 10 Downing Street.
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All that Mr Williamson’s utterances, like his statement that exams have been cancelled, have done is prompt more questions – still unanswered – and cause unnecessary unease to those students who were preparing for potentially career-defining A-level and GCSE exams.

After a decade – or longer – of study and application, they have been left in limbo, through no fault of their own, and are now fraught with worry because they have little idea how their work, effectively their passport to the future, will be graded.

Yet, just as students are taught about personal responsibility, the same applies to the Secretary of State who will stand guilty of letting down a generation of children if he offers them no clarity by the time the school gates shut today.

It’s the same with teachers – and all those families – having to make contingency arrangements in the event that schools do not reopen until the new academic year begins in September. Mr Williamson’s duty of care extends to them, too, and it is time that he faced up to this.

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