Has Christmas come early for public examination students?

I can’t help but feel a mixed emotions about the cancellation of public exams.  I belong to a growing group of education professionals who feel that these outdated exams are actually doing our young people more harm than good. So, part of me feels relieved that these children are freed from the months of competition around learning and revision, the duress of the exams themselves not to mention the seemingly endless wait for the results.  I believe that these exams have a lot to do with the mental health crisis we see in our young people today. But, would I have wished them magicked away in the way they have been? Not in a million years. 

The main complaint about the new measures is that predicted grades whilst accurate for many can be out of line for many students.  This graph, from research conducted by the University of Cambridge for UCLES shows how only 50% of predicted English and Science grades were accurate in 2019, the encouraging news is that 90% were either 1 grade pessimistic or 1 grade optimistic, however, for a lot of students this can be the difference between meeting an offer or not. Undoubtedly students’ futures are in play when we resort to the new measures. I am sure universities will be asked to consider all the factors when making their final decisions. 

However, my main worry is not so much for those 90% who will do pretty much as their teacher expected them to, but for the 10% whose results would have been so out of kilter with the predictions that there is actually no scientific grounding for awarding them grades based on these numbers.  I am worried about these students because, typically, these are the students who are gifted but also suffer with executive function challenges. I have seen time and time again students who managed to get through their GSCEs with relatively little effort, who then find the independent nature of learning at A Level too challenging and they fall behind.  They struggle to see the point of working hard (goal directed persistence), they are often easily distracted (sustained attention), they struggle to get down to work in environments where there are other more stimulating uses of their time (task initiation), they struggle to keep effective notes to revise from (organisation), manage their myriad of deadlines and commitments (time management) and often produce poorly structured and argued essays in timed contexts (planning and prioritisation). They and their teachers/parents often don’t see how much they are falling behind, often because they are very able verbally. It is not until the mocks, when they often perform well below their potential, that the reality sinks in.  Despite this, we have found that often the importance of the impending “real” exams and the shock of performing poorly helps deliver the motivation needed to overcome these challenges in the short term. So they cram for their exams, learn emergency executive function skills coping strategies and somehow manage to pull a miracle out of the bag. Now, I am not for one second condoning this last minute approach, in my opinion we ought to be purposely developing all children’s executive function skills from a young age so that they can avoid this pitfall and all the stress surrounding it. My point is rather that we shouldn’t forget these extremely capable and gifted young people when we award grades or else we will be holding back some of the most creative and driven people in our society. 

What is more, without the motivation of the impending exams it is unlikely that those with executive function challenges will learn the strategies needed to complete revision for their A Levels. Instead they will spend their spring and summer enjoying themselves, living in the moment and we will have kicked the can further down the proverbial corridor. It might not be until their final university exams that they get “the fear” which motivates them to develop these skills and who knows what impact that will have on their achievement and mental health.  Again my preference would be to work with these students early to develop these skills purposefully throughout education so that the last minute approach and its negative impacts are reduced. In my opinion now is the perfect time to work with these students to help them develop strong Executive Functions and reduce the stress and panic of a last minute approach. 

But my concerns don’t stop there, I am also worried about those at the top end of the scale too.  Imagine if you will the high achiever - predicted 4 A*s and sitting on an offer from Cambridge, you may think that they would be best placed to benefit from the emergency gradings. However, it is essential to also consider the typical personalities of these high achievers - especially girls - who suffer from imposter syndrome; historically even with a certificate to prove that they achieved a set grade under timed conditions they question their right to attend a top institution and this has a negative impact on their mental health and their ability to complete their course to their full potential.  Compound this with the possible perception that because of these new measures they “got it easy”, and “only got those grades because they were teachers pet” and the propensity for increases in imposter syndrome and more mental health challenges are concerning. I worry for these students and the mental health services needed to support them. 

I do understand that we live in concerning times and that this is the best possible solution to an unprecedented challenge, however I urge educators and parents to go into this with our ears and eyes wide open: we must listen to what young people are telling us, and support them through this tough time, but we should also remember to observe their behaviour and consider it’s long term impact. We have a social responsibility to equip our young people for the challenges we place in their paths, to ignore the implications is to neglect their needs.

At Connections in Mind we are busy putting together an online learning platform, as well as social media support groups in a project we call: "evolving times, evolving minds". Our aim is to help parents and students to use this challenging time to develop independence and strong executive function skills in our young people so that they can return to their academic career with real life skills which make them more effective life-long learners. We will be relying on contributions from professionals like you so please do get in contact if you are interested in collaborating on this project.