This week has been a waiting game…waiting for things to happen over which I have no control.
The main wait has been for GCSE results – and I write this a day earlier than usual, still not knowing those results.
I know the effort was put in – it would be straight A* if it was purely down to effort. And yet its down to so much more than that, including the luck of the draw on the day of the exams!
This particular cohort of Year 11 students have been the guinea pigs for the Government’s new English and Maths GCSEs. This was, allegedly, a well planned and executed project…presumably according to the Department of Education, Ofqual and the Awarding Bodies.
I’m not convinced that anyone in power thought to look at it from the perspective of the teachers, schools or young people…Teachers have had to guess grade bandings, students had no real past papers to practice with and schools have had to manage the consequences of uncertainty.
And with these particular subjects, the waiting game will continue way past today’s results. More questions will be asked and students don’t yet know how these new grades (9-1) will be viewed by Universities or future Employers…
As a Governor and a parent, I feel really strongly that our young people shouldn’t be used as guinea pigs. Why didn’t they introduce and test the new system with other subjects? English and Maths are the two subjects taken by pretty much every single Year 11 in the country and which have the greatest impact on our young people’s future.
Yes, the results from this cohort will be used to make adjustments and improvements to future exams…but what about these young people – their lives will be affected by the results they get in their exams today…they are not that bothered about the bigger picture and the greater good!
Who knows, it might be ‘all’s well that ends well’ – these worries and sleepless nights (mine more than my son’s) may amount to nothing. Everyone may get even better results than they expected, despite the additional challenges they faced this year.
So, maybe I would be much better off if I just played along with the waiting game, accepted there is nothing I can do and sleep at night, trusting that everything will unfold with Divine timing.
Golly, its hard being a mum sometimes!