From bad to verse: Schools are given the OK to drop poetry from GCSE exams as syllabus is pared back in the wake of coronavirus shutdown Regulator Ofqual yesterday unveiled a slimmed-down English literature syllabus All students will be assessed on a Shakespeare play but can swerve poetry It comes after pressure from teachers grappling … Read more
An imaginary barrier cast with a toy wand is enough to stop children from cheating during exams, a new study shows. In experiments, psychologists demonstrated that a theoretical line was enough to prevent kids from sneaking a look at answers to a maths test on an adjacent table. Researchers tested hundreds of children in several … Read more
Secondary school pupils with GCSE and A-level exams next year are returning to classes today, but only a quarter of Years 10 and 12 are allowed on site at one time due to social-distancing. The Government wants pupils to have ‘face-to-face’ support before their exams next summer, but the amount contact time will vary considerably across … Read more
Four British universities have today distanced themselves from a radical Islamic preacher – who was banned from the UK for his extremist views – after they were listed as ‘approved exam centres’ for an online college he runs. Loughborough, Surrey, Gloucestershire and Cranfield in Bedford are listed on the website of the International Open University, … Read more
Students doing Oxford exams on videolink from their bedrooms complain that invigilators and tutors should NOT be allowed to see their ‘private space’ Oxford classics students say room sweeps and web cams are ‘intrusive’ Faculty confirmed exams would be taken over Microsoft Teams starting Friday Invigilators will undergo mandatory ‘camera sweep of the room’ before test … Read more
Most vocational students whose exams have been cancelled due to coronavirus will be graded on previous work, under plans from regulator Ofqual Many students will receive a calculated result based on predicted achievements Judgments will take into account students’ previous assignments or modules Students taking qualifications that signal job competence won’t be included Ofqual says … Read more
Listening to classical music during lectures and throughout the night while sleeping may help us perform better in big exams, a new study suggests. US economics students who listened to Beethoven and Chopin during a lecture and again later in the night performed 18 per cent higher in exams the next day. This compared with … Read more
Exams will be graded ‘as if pupils had sat them’, say education officials as coronavirus leaves teenagers taking their GCSE and A Levels in limbo Teachers to give grades according to what they believe students would have got Appeals system will allow students who dispute grades to resit exams next year Department for Education said … Read more
Britain’s third coronavirus patient died from the disease last night as the UK reported its biggest daily jump in cases yet. The male patient, aged over 60, died at the specialist unit for infectious diseases in North Manchester General Hospital. Health chiefs said the man, who had recently returned from Italy, had ‘significant underlying health conditions’. … Read more
Teenagers could be forced to sit exams during the summer holidays if coronavirus temporarily shuts schools, education sources warned last night. But their grades could be inflated to compensate for missed lesson time, according to one teacher trying to answer parents’ creeping concerns over the fate of their children’s learning. As the health crisis escalates, … Read more