Exams announcement "could have been handled much better"

Tuesday 09 March 2021

Local students will not sit international exams this year, Education has decided, completing a full u-turn on an announcement just 48 hours earlier that caused "distress and confusion" for sixth formers.

Education stated through the States' social media channels on Saturday that Guernsey students would be expected to participate in international exams this school year.

Within hours, enough negative feedback had piled up that a final decision was put on hold, subject to further consideration by the committee. 

Education has now gone full circle, announcing that affected students will be judged on teacher assessments rather than international exams.

In a statement on Monday evening, Education President Andrea Dudley-Owen explained in greater detail some of the reasons behind the original decision. She apologised for the way it was communicated, saying her committee "could have handled [it] much better".

A number of these Rule 14 parliamentary written questions arose after consulting some of the students who are impacted - and I am most grateful to them for their input. https://t.co/pthF9600qo

— Gavin St Pier ???????? (@gavinstpier) March 8, 2021

Pictured: Deputy Gavin St Pier has submitted written question to Education, Sport & Culture "to establish what went wrong and why". On Sunday, he blasted the committee for showing "breathtaking incompetence" in the way it handled the situation. 

Deputy Dudley-Owen said: "We apologise wholeheartedly for the distress and confusion caused by the announcement of our original decision without students first hearing it directly from their schools. 

"It’s important for people to know that when we looked at this issue on Thursday we did so within the context of whether it is safe to hold these exams or not, as we know the current position of the international qualification exam boards is that exams should go ahead if they are able to do so safely. 

"As with all our decisions we tried to do what was best for our students and if those international exams are going ahead elsewhere we felt our young people would be better placed if they sat them.

"The Isle of Man, for example, was still going ahead with some international exams at that stage, although they too have since decided against doing so."

Pictured: Most public exams overseen by the UK Government have been cancelled and are being replaced by an alternative assessment process based on teacher assessment. However, exams from international organisations are still currently scheduled to take place in June. 

Deputy Dudley-Owen said her committee had sought further advice and feedback since, which had led her committee to change its position. 

"We urgently raised the matter with international exam boards to establish if it would be fair for our students to sit these exams when their peers in neighbouring jurisdictions will be teacher assessed," she said.

"This is a fast-changing situation for those exam boards too, and the feedback we received has supported us in reconsidering the decision. 

"The committee received some excellent well-articulated feedback from students and I want to thank and commend them for that. We got this wrong but have demonstrated that as a committee we can be agile and show a willingness to hold our hands up and quickly revisit issues if needed.”