Covid: Exam cancellation prompts fears over teachers' workload

A union has expressed concerns that teachers' workload will increase as Wales' GCSE, AS and A-level exams in summer 2021 are cancelled.

On Tuesday it was announced assessments would be done under teacher supervision due to the impact of Covid-19.

They will be externally set and marked but delivered within the classroom.

NASUWT Cymru welcomed the move but warned teachers could not be expected to "come up with, prepare, assess, standardise and moderate".

Speaking on behalf of the teaching union, Sion Amlyn said it was "imperative that as much of that workload is taken off the teachers as possible".

"There are still question marks in terms of what exactly the mechanism will be," he said.

"When you consider what's been happening with this pandemic in general, and when you apply that to a school based scenario, our members are already telling us that they are struggling to finish the syllabus let alone anything else.

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"Any mechanism that they come up with for this continual assessment style approach to give qualifications - the mechanism needs to have the assessment, the moderation and the standardisation done elsewhere because fundamentally we must be able to let the teachers carry on with their fundamental workload, and that is teaching kids to prepare them for whatever lies ahead."

But Mr Amlyn added it was beneficial that a decision had been made so that teachers can now plan ahead.

On Tuesday Education Minister Kirsty Williams said it was impossible to guarantee a level playing field for exams due to the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic.

She said cancelling exams would give time for teaching to continue through the summer term adding that teachers would have flexibility on when to take the assessments, within the "context of results timelines".

'Not straightforward'

Cerys Harris has had to study at home while self-isolating for a total of four weeks since September

A-level student Cerys Harris, 17, from Rhyl, has already had four weeks of self-isolation this term because of cases in her "bubble".

She wants to start a degree next September in England.

Although the education minister said universities are familiar with different qualifications, Cerys said she did not feel reassured, and was looking forward to more detail as to how the system is going to work.

"I've taken from [the announcement] that exams are cancelled, but it's not very straightforward," she said.

'Immediately relieved'

Jess Foster says she has had "stress" taken away by the announcement

Jess Foster, 17, who is taking her A-levels at Bassaleg School in Newport, was "immediately relieved".

"I stress out about things personally a lot. To hear that taken off me instantly just felt really good," she said.