 The exam boards have contingency plans |
Many thousands of school students face having to wait another five months to take exam modules if they cannot take them next week because of the snow. Hundreds of thousands of papers in GCSE and A-level exams are due to be taken from Monday but many schools are likely to be shut if the freeze continues. If candidates cannot take the modules, they might have to wait until the next round in June or have estimated grades. Teachers are urging the exams watchdog and boards to take a consistent line. All of the UK except for Scotland would be hit by any delays. Scotland does not have national exams this month. The Nation Union of Teachers is calling for England's exams watchdog (Ofqual) and the exams boards to give clearer guidance. Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT said the exams bodies should not be taking a "business as usual approach" at this time. "The likelihood of a number of examination centres across the country closing is strong given the uniform severity of weather conditions," she said. "I urge Ofqual to secure a consistent approach with the exam boards. It first needs to find out how many centres are likely to close and how many students will be prevented from taking exams. "The decision needs to be made to either delay the exams or award pupils grades on the basis of previous course work." 'Determined' Head teachers' leaders say they are hearing concerns from schools in areas where children might not be able to get in next week. Many affected schools are making special arrangements to open just for exam candidates. At St Benedict's Catholic school in Suffolk, head teacher Hugh O'Neil, is determined pupils will sit their exams. "Regardless of what is happening in the rest of the school, the exams will take place. We will open up, there will be invigilators - the exams will take place," he said. "What we can't ensure is that all students are there to take them. There will be some students who aren't able to make it through the bad weather." The exams watchdog Ofqual has said it has made sure that all the awarding bodies take the same approach and that it will receiving daily reports from them next week. A spokesman said: "There is a tried and tested contingency plan for problems of this kind. It is published on the Ofqual website. "These arrangements are the fairest possible for all candidates - both those affected by the snow and those who are not." The OCR exam board said it had a total of 792,884 entries for GCSE exams and 523,170 for A-levels, plus 3,005 for components of the new 14-19 Diplomas. It was unable to say however just how many individual candidates these involved. Obviously most sit more than one exam. Edexcel said it had about 32,000 candidates registered for GCSE and 227,000 registered for A-levels in the January 2010 session. Figures were not readily available from the other main exam boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: AQA, WJEC and CCEA. Edexcel is advising candidates that currently there are no specific weather warnings in place for next week when the main UK January exam series begins.  |  People are generally unhappy about the fact they can't move the examinations |
"We will continue to monitor the Met Office advice and provide further updates to you based on this. Exams will take place as scheduled." It referred people to the general advice prepared by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), working with all the awarding bodies. Two options The JCQ said there were two options. Where candidates were sitting units that were not in their final examination series, then an approach should be made to the individual awarding body concerned to take the papers in June 2010. But if these were final exams and there was no other opportunity to take them, they should apply for what is known as "special consideration". This is where their final grades are adjusted to take into account what they have done already. A JCQ spokesman said exams could not simply be taken at a slightly later date. "To try to make changes to the arrangements for examinations scheduled for the coming weeks would cause more problems than it would resolve. "The current weather will not affect every school up and down the country. For example, rescheduling examinations to February would eat in to the preparation time for those candidates preparing for their June exams. "The security of the papers would be compromised if some schools sat the exam at the published time and others did not." Malcolm Trobe, from the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "We are picking up a few concerns that there are schools, if the weather carries on, where youngsters aren't going to be able to get in. "Obviously people are generally unhappy about the fact they can't move the examinations." And those who did make it in were going to be "quite stressed", Mr Trobe said. "If they struggle in, they're going to be quite stressed getting into the exam, worried if they're going to get there, and if they are going to perform well."
Here is a selection of your comments: Hi, I'm to take my Law and Politics AS level examinations next week, and I'm quite concerned. If I have to wait until June then an enormous amount of pressure will be placed on me in June because I will have all the rest of my other exams to take then.
Elley Metcalf, Beverley My college, Oldham Sixth Form College have assured us that regardless of the bad weather exams will still go on for those that can make it. In the very drastic circumstances where the weather is very severe then college may have to close, and we would need to re-sit our exams in June. However, that is unlikely as my college are doing as much as they can to ensure that all exams will take place next week.
Hussain Ali, Oldham, Greater Manchester I am a seventeen year old student studying my AS-levels in Hampshire, and I am entered in exams on both Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th of January at 9.00am on both days. I live in the middle of one of the worst snow affected areas, with snow over 30cms deep. I have been told that if I cannot make it into college on Monday then I will have to take my exams in the summer 2010. If there is more snow fall then I will have no available means of transport into college, with the nearest train station being twenty minutes drive away, in good conditions. I don't understand how students that can revise and take half their exams now and students that have to take double the number of exams in the summer, due to re-sits, can be marked on the same basis. The students that can make it to their exams now have a huge advantage over those that cannot, due to no fault of their own. I have been revising hard all holiday, and if I cannot take the exam now then I will have to re-learn everything the have revised in the summer term, along with all the work for the summer module. Whether my college is open or not, if there is more snow fall this weekend, there will no possible way of me making it into college for my exams, and I hope the examining boards realise this and try to either postpone the exam or release a second paper over the next few weeks.
Rowan Poulter, Headley Down, England It takes me half an hours drive to get into school and on Monday I've got my maths exam for AS. If the snow continues I'm highly doubting myself being able to get into school on time for my exam.
Hannah O, Bristol, UK The current weather will not affect every school up and down the country. For example, rescheduling examinations to February would eat in to the preparation time for those candidates preparing for their June exams." Candidates not able to make the Jan exams will have a much larger time problem in June than those affected by a postponement surely? Postponing the January exams is the only fair way to manage this situation.
Jane, Henley-On-Thames I have a child about to sit GCSE modules in triple science. I really feel the exams should be postponed, it only needs to be a couple of weeks and hopefully the snow would have gone. Not only is there a risk that they wont get there next week but also that they have missed the final cramming sessions that would have taken place this week. The stress of trying to get a child to an exam and risk slipping either on foot or in a car is not conducive to a calm state of mind that they need to be in to take an exam. It all well and good some schools saying they can open just for exams and the children will be able to do them but if they can not get there then they will be unable to take them. It is just common sense to delay them by a couple of weeks. I do not think it will affect the exams in June as there is plenty of time to study for those.
JAYNE MILLHOUSE, epsom, surrey, england Why cannot all the exam timetables be shifted by say three weeks? The article says they cannot move the dates of the exams. Who says? Why?
Oliver Probyn, London I am a student at a 6th form college and I think it is ridiculous and absurd. Students should set out early in case of delays or cancellations on public transport and because of the icy roads so they can get to school to sit the exams. Most have worked too hard last year for the exams to be either cancelled or missed.
Jordan Philips, staines I've been revising for a while for these exams having to do them in June would be ridiculous. There's enough to learn for these exams let alone having to do both January and June exams in one exam period. My school is going to be running exams whatever the weather and i hope it stays that way.
Anon, Bath I am sitting my A-levels this year and have some exams in the following weeks. I would benefit deeply from a movement as it is hard enough getting into college. Also I myself and other students are not well prepared as missing lessons and stress will make us perform less well. I am also doing a re-sit from my last year which i will have a very big impact on my final grade and university so this is a situation that really needs to be thought about.
Sarah Laverick, Guisborough This is a total copout and failure on the JCQ's part. The best solution is to delay all exams by a month, and where this falls within the half-term break, to move it after half-term. If the exams are delayed until June, then this makes revision tougher for those students. Where this becomes an issue is students holding high offers from universities which were based on there existing a modular system, now find themselves disadvantaged unless the universities are prepared to lower the existing offers, which is highly unlikely. I don't think exam paper security is as big a problem as the JCQ makes out, as long as the schools are vigilant.
Vijay Math, London, UK I feel that it would be a nuisance for the exam to be moved to June, as many students have been revising hard for next week, but I feel I would be too stressed if I attempted to walk to my exam centre, i would not be focused enough to take my exam.
Rebecca Boswell, East Sussex I think it's ridiculous how people expect students to get into college to sit their exams when the roads are treacherous, especially when the school is listed as "closed". If it's closed, this means it isn't safe to be there! I am supposed to be taking modular exams starting from next week but if the snow and ice doesn't melt and the bad weather continues I will not be able to get into college. I rely on the bus service provided for the college and if that doesn't run I can't get in. I think it would be sensible to postpone the exams until a later date. There's no point holding exams if half the school can't get in is there? I just hope the exam boards come to a sensible decision.
Christina Marshall, Leicester, UK Moving the exams back by a few days to a point where it is easier to get into school will cause more problems than it will solve? It may well cause problems for the exam boards, but surely it's more important to think about the problems for us, the students? We've had a week out of school before the exams, so if they go ahead it's likely that people won't reach their full potential. On the other hand, we can wait for months and have to revise again, and in addition to the work for the exams that are meant to be at that time as well! AND the revision we've done over Christmas will have gone (mostly) to waste. I have never held snow in such contempt.
James Pedley, Bromsgrove, England I am a secondary teacher, and I know that most of mine will struggle in, but they have lost all the last minute opportunities to ask us questions or check their ideas. I have been answering e-mails, but it is far more effective to coach somebody face to face.
Stephen Rainsbury, Medway I only re-took the exams so I could do better than I did in my A2 (due to being ill)...if they just "make up" a grade on previous performance this is a waste of the £45 it cost me to re-take!
Sarah, Derby I have a law, politics and history exam this week, all on the same day (which is really nice of whoever made the timetables) and to be honest, I really don't know how to make it to college. I'm a half an hours drive away from my college in the best of weather and no traffic, but I usually get a college bus which will be cancelled if the snow is bad. This means I will have to get three trains (providing they are all running) just to walk up an honest to god LETHAL hill to take my exams. It isn't just 'unfair', it's unreasonable. And saying that we can all retake in June is nonsense, how is it right that we should all sit 7+ exams in the summer due to weather beyond our control. My subjects in particular feel already like a heavy load to remember, revising these modules AND the next ones in June will actually be impossible. Postpone them a week, that's all we ask... :D
Charlie, berks
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