I write from University Technical College South Durham, a specialist STEM school for 14 to 19 year-olds in the North East of England, in response to communication from OCR about level 2 and level 3 technical qualifications.
Following Awarding Body discussions with Ofqual on assessment requirements for this Covid-disrupted year, we have been told that students are expected to complete all units as in a normal year.
However, the real impetus behind my letter was a deeply moving conversation with a class of Year 11 students yesterday about their experiences of the last nine months and their thoughts for the future. One of them wrote to me last night:
Generation on mute
Two hundred and thirty-one days, we have had reducing hope and no voice. Our generation is on mute. Nothing is dearer to us than our future; a future that is now unstable. We have been given something of a life-line – a three-week delay to exams. But does anyone really think that’s enough to steady our course?
Who is the head that decides our fate, my fate and the fate of many others? As far as I know, they are not just about to take the exams that are set to determine their future.
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