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It’s Groundhog day. Again. Lockdown part three has implications for higher education now and for the next academic year, so strap in.
The expectation now is that most students will “remain where they are wherever possible, and start their term online“. This state of affairs will continue until mid-February.
The exceptions are for students training and studying on the following courses:
Though it is not clear, this appears to be a similar list to the one used by Michelle Donelan in her letters of 30 and 31 December.
There’s an admonishment not to move between your permanent home and university home during term time – with the implication that if a student moved back to rented accommodation early (maybe for a clandestine new year’s party, or just to be with friends) they are stuck there until the February half term.
On exams (by which we are thinking A levels) there’s one of those paragraphs in a slightly different font that always suggest to me a late addition:
In the circumstances, we do not think it is possible for all exams in the summer to go ahead as planned. We will accordingly be working with Ofqual to consult rapidly to put in place alternative arrangements that will allow students to progress fairly.
That suggests A levels (and GCSEs) will not (in the main) be assessed via exams, but pending clarification from Ofqual and DfE we don’t know how these courses will be assessed. You would expect a request for teachers to begin gathering evidence of student performance and potential to follow soon – though this of course will be far more difficult than last year because of the sheer amount of in class time the current year 11 and 13 have missed.
It also puts paid to any suggestion that post-qualification admissions will take place in 2021 – the available results are likely to be controversial and contestable.