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LABOUR called on the government today to postpone next year’s GCSE and A-level exams to give pupils a chance to catch up with classwork missed during the pandemic.
Ahead of children returning to schools in England this week, shadow education secretary Kate Green warned that pupils entering years 11 and 13 have lost up to six months of teaching time and will face “a mountain to climb” in 2021 unless the government steps in.
The party is calling for exams next May to be pushed back until June or July to allow for extra teaching time.
She said: “Alternative systems of assessment must be put in place to ensure that there is no repeat of the last-minute changes to the awarding process which created such chaos this year.
“The NEU has written to [Education Secretary] Gavin Williamson, asking him to slim down the syllabus content of GCSE and A-levels and put a system of robust teacher moderation in place.
“After months of disrupted schooling, it is imperative that students are assessed on what they have been taught.”
