“BACs offer greater choice for teacher and learner” Magnus Bashaarat in The Telegraph
In an article for The Telegraph, Head of Bedales Magnus Bashaarat argues that only a super optimist could envisage a smooth school experience for pupils in 2020/21, and that well-managed and moderated assessment is required if another fiasco is to be prevented.
The decision to allow Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) to stand for this year’s A Level results in place of the OFQUAL calculated grade was justice for candidates whose Year 13 experience had already been blighted so significantly by the COVID closure, says Magnus.
Teacher assessment had to be relied upon because the external exam system failed. Many students felt let down, and Magnus believes that the moment represents an important opportunity for government to look again at the viability of teacher assessment alongside terminal examinations in measuring pupil achievement. He says: “I know schools like mine who have been innovating with alternatives to GCSE and A Level would be happy to contribute to such a process.”
Looking ahead to the publication of GCSE results, Bedales war-gamed what the consequences of an OFQUAL calculated grade distribution on the same scale as the A level process might mean for Year 11s. Magnus explains: “Overall, we were slightly less nervous of the damage any algorithm might be able to inflict on our GCSE results because our students only take a maximum of five of them in ‘core’ subjects, with the other half of the Key Stage 4 curriculum our own Bedales Assessed Courses (BACs).”
Introduced in 2006, BACs are graded according to their own assessment criteria and follow the GCSE convention of awarding 9-1 grades. The level of attainment indicated by these is at least as demanding as for the corresponding GCSE, and in many cases goes well beyond. Each course is externally moderated, with the assessment methodology allowing for group presentations, solo presentations and coursework, as well as two shorter exam seasons in each year – thus encouraging and testing a far-wider range of skills and knowledge than can be done via just a terminal exam.
Magnus concludes: “This year our BACs were just about wrapped up before lockdown, so we know those grades are robust. If a similar assessment methodology had been in place for A Levels, then Bedales would have been in possession of 80 per cent of the data on each student’s performance before lockdown, and the grading fiasco could have been avoided. If in 2020/21 schools find themselves dealing with partial, intermittent or local closure, then embarking on another Year 13 journey with only a terminal assessment exam to evidence achievement will invite the same catastrophe as this year.”
The full article can be seen here (subscription may be required)