Why the playing field needs be levelled for this years exams

Dennis Johnson suggests a fairer system that will take into account lost learning over the pandemic, while Bernie Evans says the power of private schools needs to be reined in

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Guardian

As a retired economics teacher who served for 10 years as an examinations officer, and a further decade as an exams inspector, I feel able to comment on the current fiasco (Students and teachers in England decry ‘virtually useless’ exams previews, 17 February).

The disparity across the student population, both in terms of face-to-face teaching and individual circumstances, such as computer access and home environment, requires a different approach. Announcing a restricted list of topics four months before the exams is an enormous disadvantage to those who have not yet been able to cover those topics.

A much fairer system would be to set a choice of questions within each of the topics across the whole syllabus. Students and teachers would then be able to choose to answer questions on those parts of the syllabus they have been able to cover.

Students who have been able to study the whole of the syllabus would still have an advantage, but it would not be so great.

This system would not wholly compensate in those subjects where there is progressive learning (e.g., foreign languages); nor would it compensate for the lack of opportunity to develop skills, such as essay writing – but it would be a lot better than what is currently being offered.
Dennis Johnson
Kempston, Bedford

Managing to avoid the highly regulated and recently reformed A-levels by using Pre-U exams, largely set and marked by teachers in the independent sector, private schools have repeatedly inflated their results, and neither the DfE nor Ofqual seems sufficiently bothered about maintaining even the appearance of a level playing field to intervene. If we want a ‘system that benefits society as a whole’ (Editorial, 20 February) it needs to focus attention on reining in the power of private schools.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool