Have you ever heard of grades being awarded by School Teachers at qualifying exams rather than students sitting at these exams?
by Victor Cherubim
Students around the world will soon in August receive their A-Level and GCSE results after exams may have been cancelled for the second consecutive year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Have you ever heard of grades being awarded by School Teachers at qualifying exams rather than students sitting at these exams?
Pupils in UK in 2020 after the fiasco around grading by a controversial algorithm which moderated teachers’ grades and was later “discarded” by the educational authority OFQUAL, aretoday having to have their grades decided solely by their teachers’ estimation of their standard.
But simultaneously Teachers in England have been required to consider a range of evidence, including mock exams, coursework and in class assessments using questions by exam boards to make decisions on pupils’ grades.
What shambles?
Students have not attended classes during the past year are now disadvantaged by what their teachers think of their ability, or so it seems.
But, to ensure that the process by which grades awarded was correct and that they represented a reasonable exercise of academic judgment, all GCSE and A Level grades submitted by teachers have been asked by many Exam Boards to look again at the awarded grades for boards to be prepared to issue students with their certificates.
That is not all, Minister of Education, Nick Gibbs has stated “we want all students to feel proud of their achievements this year. These results are meaningful qualifications and they will help young people go on the next stage of their life”.
However, in the actual world, students are more than sceptical, more worried that their grades will lead them nowhere?
As a compensation students can sit an examination in October 2022, if they do not like their results? All this hassle for a place at Uni?
What options for a school leaver?
Once A Levels and GCSE results day is done and dusted, students are free to try something new.They must never forget that they are more than their grades? They can explore their options, from University to Sponsored Degrees, to BTEC or City & Guilds Professional qualifications to Higher Apprenticeships.
Get a Job?
The choice of leaving education is indeed a difficult choice. If they are 18 and over they can look for jobs without needing to do any more Further Education.
But, if you are ready to start job hunting, a great first step in my opinion, is to choose a job that you once had a hobby. You can become a young entrepreneur, a young professional.
You can build on five important life and work skills:
Self-Management
Self-Belief
Communication
Problem Solving and
Team Work
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships come in different levels. You can do Higher Apprenticeships if you have A Levels and 3 Vocational qualifications like NVQ and you are not going to University.
The choice between a Job or a Degree is Higher Apprenticeship. You will get training (resulting in an industry-recognised qualification) while earning a salary and getting real like work experience. You can even do apprenticeships that result in a full degree qualification while you work at the same time. It will take you from Level 4 Study to getting a full degree. With Higher Apprenticeships there is no degree fees to pay, so it is a very realistic way to pack in the learning without getting into student debt.
Sponsored Degree
Another choice is a Sponsored Degree which is an opportunity to gain work skills and a degree that is associated with one particular employer. Your resulting skills, knowledge and qualification will be recognised by everyone in the industry.
What you may be bound to do?
After Coronavirus, a new culture of work ethic is brewing and life style has become more important than work. Money according to many people is no longer the sole object. Work style is paramount?
It is so easy to try working at the first opportunity either as a Machinist in a Garment Factory or try finding a job situation abroad. Both these options are fraught with their own difficulties. The first
Choice is the monotony, let alone factory working hours and low wages. The second is restricted due to COVID-19 at present. Who knows what is ahead?
If however, you really have an innate interest or a hobby, why not become a sole trader, or an entrepreneur, and start your own small business over a 5 or 10 year term and allow yourself time, to gain valuable person centred relationships to move on to a carrier, which will require your experience? I shudder to think if the latter will ever be your considered choice to bypass the turbulence of the present. Nothing today comes to reality without venture?
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