Coronavirus lockdown: From the demise of GCSEs to technology and AI, how the crisis has changed education – inews

NewsEducationAt some point, schools will reopen but many people think education in the UK may never be the same again

Saturday, 18th April 2020, 7:00 am

At some point, schools will reopen but many people think education in the UK may never be the same again.

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Some people are already predicting the demise of high-stakes exams such as the GCSE. Others think coronavirus will lead to classrooms being revolutionised by technology. With exams not taking place, a new way of awarding grades using teacher assessment has been invented from scratch.

In England, teachers have been asked to predict GCSE and A-level grades, which will be moderated by the exam boards. It is a remarkable volte-face. Under reforms introduced when Michael Gove was education secretary, the majority of teacher-assessed coursework was scrapped, with grades awarded almost purely on the basis of exam performance.

School's out for ever

Many teachers have been critical of this system, arguing that it puts too much pressure on teenagers.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, believes the crisis could be a transformational moment for education, proving that putting children through 30-plus exam papers was a whole paraphernalia of assessment that we really didnt need, he says.

Magnus Bashaarat, the head of independent Hampshire school Bedales, agrees. His school became so dissatisfied with GCSEs that it created its own alternative qualification, the Bedales Assessed Course. Mr Bashaarat thinks the Gove reforms were motivated by mistrust. The reason why Conservative ministers moved away from coursework towards terminal assessment is because they havent really trusted teachers, he says. Covid-19 has forced them to place their trust in the profession again whether they like it or not.

'If Covid-19 leads to the demise of GCSE... that would be a positive thing'

GCSEs are seen as more vulnerable to change or even abolition because they were designed in an age when many left school at 16. With young people now obliged to stay in education or training until 18, people have questioned whether they are still relevant.

Mr Bashaarat would not mourn their passing. If [Covid-19] leads to the demise of GCSEs and a much fairer assessment criteria emerging from it, that would be a really positive thing, he says.

Changes to assessment

It will certainly be difficult for the Government to put the teacher assessment genie back in the bottle. The Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has repeatedly said that grades will be as valid this year as any other.

Dr Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, thinks the Government will struggle to return to its exams only mantra. Now theyve admitted that teacher assessment is valid and reliable, how are they going to get out of that?

She thinks that, at the very least, exams taking place in 2021 including primary-school Sats will have to be slimmed down to reflect the teaching time that has been lost. Any idea that GCSEs and A-levels in 2021 canjust be the same as they were in 2019 is profoundly wrong, she says.

However, some people think that reports of the death of exams have been greatly exaggerated. Tom Bennett, who advises Westminster on pupil behaviour, argues that claims that the lockdown will usher in an education revolution have been overcooked.

The solutions weve come up with to cope with the current crisis are absolutely necessary, but theyre not optimal, he says. Teacher assessment is bedevilled by enormous levels of bias, he contends, and testing is important for student motivation. He does not accept that GCSEs are irrelevant, because they help inform admissions to sixth forms.

'Opportunity' to change education

Technology is another area of education where change is predicted. As with other professions, teachers have had to adapt to remote working. Mr Bashaarat has been marking his students work using an online platform. I can help them edit their work and make comments in real time I wont be going back to bits of A4 with differing levels of legibility.

As well as video conferencing and online collaboration, some schools have been experimenting with artificial intelligence. Robert Halfon, the Tory chair of the Education Select Committee, believes that lockdown provides an incredible opportunity to evaluate these approaches.

Century Tech is one of the firms providing AI. Its platform gives a lesson that constantly changes to match the students ability and sends an analysis of their work to the teacher. Century has offered free access to the platform during lockdown, and Priya Lakhani, the firms chief executive, says several hundred schools have come on board.

But Mr Bennett is sceptical about technology, too: The experience of distance learning has entrenched what we already know that it is not superior to face-to-face classroom learning. When we put students in front of a screen, we massively dislocate the impact that teacher can have because so much more of what the student does relies on the students own desires, motivation and opportunities to work.

He is not alone in predicting that attainment gaps between rich and poor students will grow during lockdown.

Perhaps the most profound legacy of coronavirus will be how we view schools. Teachers have come in over their Easter holiday to look after the children of key workers. Others have walked miles to deliver free meals. In a crisis, schools have carried on doing what theyve always done, which is being a major support hub, Dr Bousted says. The idea that we can go back to Government ministers saying schools are about academic excellence and nothing else, thats really been shown for the lie it is.

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Coronavirus lockdown: From the demise of GCSEs to technology and AI, how the crisis has changed education - inews