Exams fiasco: Class of 2021 deserves better than this – Stephanie Peacock

Barnsley College, which serves my constituency, said that, overall, 63 per cent of pupils were downgraded against teacher predictions.

This was in sharp contrast to pupils in more affluent areas and those who were in private education, whose grades were reported to have risen overall.

Fortunately, the pressure that followed let to a Government U-turn, but young people should never have been subjected to such an injustice, which in turn led to so much uncertainty regarding their university places and next steps.

The Government’s mishandling of this was nothing short of disastrous – a fiasco. Young people and their families were put through days of anxiety just because our Prime Minister and his Education Secretary were too stubborn to accept that using their algorithm was unfair and discriminatory.

At the time, teachers reported to me that they were left feeling undervalued and ignored after their predicted grades were overruled. I accept that these are unprecedented times, but this should never have been allowed to happen, and I fully support calls for an investigation of what went wrong and how to ensure it is never repeated.

However, any investigation should take place alongside planning for exams in 2021. Our Year 11 and Year 13 GCSE, BTEC and A-level students face enormous pressure, trying to cram the lost six months of learning into an already crammed curriculum.

Unless there is a rethink (beyond delaying next summer’s exams by three weeks), they will have to complete up to 18 months of work in nine short months.

I fully support the move to get students back into the classroom, but the Government has to acknowledge that this is so different from any other academic year, and our teachers’ calls for a rethink in how exams take place this school year should not be ignored.

As we realised from August’s fiasco, no one is better placed than our teachers on the frontline to judge what will happen if the Government fail to step in and make the required changes, before we hurtle headlong into another educational catastrophe.

Pupil attendance is already significantly lower than in previous years, mainly due to bubbles collapsing, pupils isolating, suspected and confirmed Covid cases, and rising anxieties and mental health challenges.

Teachers are reporting fatigue such as they have never felt before in October, because of the stress of managing their and their pupils’ health and safety, and the added workload.

However, one of ​the most important factors, which the Government appear completely to have overlooked, is the disparity between pupils from affluent areas and their less affluent neighbours.

Young people from more deprived areas are more likely to do worse in the 2021 exams if the Government do not step in with a sustainable, fair plan.

As many schools and colleges begin to move back to online learning, it must be acknowledged that this disproportionately affects pupils who may not have the internet at home, who do not have access to a laptop, or who simply have a chaotic home life, so that finding a quiet space to work is almost impossible.

I welcome the Government scheme to provide laptops for disadvantaged children, but it does not go anywhere near far enough to ensure that no student or young person will miss out on vital learning as a result of the crisis.

There are many students who are outside the Government eligibility criteria, who will simply fall through the cracks if the scheme is not extended.

In July, it was reported that 80 per cent of private schools were offering a full online suite of lessons, in contrast to just eight per cent of state schools. The outcome of the pandemic cannot be one where the richest survive. Steps must be taken to equalise the life chances of all who are due to take exams next summer.

I pay tribute to the hard work of teachers across Barnsley East and the whole UK. These are unprecedented times and they call for unprecedented measures. The Government must listen to the professionals and act quickly to ensure that the life chances of the class of 2021 are not reduced.

Stephanie Peacock is Labour MP for Barnsley East. She spoke in a Parliamentary debate on 
exams – this is an edited version.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson