IRELAND UK – CU – Even without a return to online learning from home, education chiefs are making preparations for teacher assessed grades as government fears impact of staff shortages could last until Easter
Head teachers have warned school students could be facing another year of cancelled exams as absences due to the rapid spread of Omicron infections continue to impact the education of hundreds of thousands of pupils. Even without lockdown restrictions forcing pupils back to online learning from home, a leading education union has told i that schools across England are already making preparations for a third year of cancelled GCSE and A-Level exams in the spring and summer of next year.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “With soaring Covid-related absence rates this term, schools are aware that education could look very different in January, and we could be talking about a very different type of provision at the start of next year. That has huge implications for things like exams and assessment. School leaders will therefore be making contingency plans in case the situation gets worse. That is just the sensible and responsible thing to do.”
A local council education chief in the South West added: “We’re not necessarily talking about schools being forced to close due to another lockdown here. A combination of a huge amount of staff and student absence due to Covid is having a severe impact on education. It’s a question of whether it would be fair on those students who have already missed weeks and weeks of schooling to put them through the full exam process. If schools are forced to close again to the pandemic that would be the final straw, and make the cancelling of all exams again a near certainty. But, even without a return to online learning, we’re heading in that direction.”
On 9 December, 236,000 pupils did not attend school for Covid-related reasons, up from 208,000. A further 3,000 were absent due to school closures. The figures are still below a peak recorded before the half-term break on 21 October, when 248,000 students were off because of Covid, and 7,000 were absent as a result of school closures.
Education Secretary Nadim Zahawi has called on retired teachers to help plug the gaps. Mr Zahawi is calling on former teachers to apply on the Get into teaching website before Christmas Eve, so they can join the workforce in January.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education, said: “As the Secretary of State has said, exams are the best and fairest form of assessment, and we fully intend for them to take place next summer, with adaptations to recognise the impact of the pandemic on students’ learning. Contingency plans were published in November to ensure that whatever the course of the pandemic, students would be able to gain their qualifications and progress to their next stage of education or employment.”
