School grades in 2021 'should be set by teachers'

Calls have been made for next year's GCSEs and A-levels to be based again on teacher assessments.

A row over how A-level results were set following the cancellation of exams led to ministers deciding last week to use teachers' estimates instead.

Plaid Cymru said students should not have to rely on exams next summer "following such a disrupted education journey".

The Welsh Government warned relying on assessments alone can enshrine bias.

This month's A-level results were initially put through a process of standardisation, which saw 42% of A-level grades downgraded.

After an outcry, the Welsh Government abandoned the results and awarded grades assessed by the students' schools and colleges. Wales' Education Minister Kirsty Williams later apologised.

Sian Gwenllian, Plaid Cymru's education spokeswoman, called for "reassurance" that next year's A-level grades would be based on teacher assessments, "rather than students having to rely on an exam performance following such a disrupted educational journey", and with candidates possibly without AS results to fall back on.

Ms Gwenllian called for reform of the way students are assessed, in preparation for the new Welsh curriculum.

Citing comments from Ms Williams that the curriculum will help students evolve into "creative and critical thinkers", Ms Gwenllian said: "My concern is that this disconnect between teaching and assessing will only widen when the new curriculum is passed.

"No matter how progressive a new curriculum is, all the while Wales clings to an outdated form of exam-based assessment, the same inequalities that were so horribly exposed during the A-level fiasco will continue to hang over the heads of our learners."

The education minister promised a further statement last week on an independent review following the cancellation of this year's exams.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: "Any proposal to abolish exams risks putting greater pressure on teachers and teacher assessment.

"Studies by University College London and others show that relying solely on teacher assessment risks enshrining bias and prejudice and extending the disadvantage gap."