For decades, two Thursdays have loomed large in the teaching profession's calendar. They are marked by photographs of teenagers jumping for joy, throwing superfluous brown envelopes into the sky. There are cheers, celebrations – and commiserations.
This year, results days are likely to look very different. Politicians aside, most of us have had to make significant changes to our routines and schedules this year. Some have had to completely rethink their business models, with innumerable cancelled concerts, recitals and events. Arguably, among those who have suffered the most, are the GCSE and A-level students whose lives have been plagued by uncertainty. For better or worse, exam results are social currency. Entire systems depend on their existence, from the examinations boards to university entrance processes, job applications and league tables.
When it was announced that exams would be replaced by teacher-assessed grades, many pupils and teachers were concerned. This was understandable, given that assessment has recently refocussed efforts away from coursework and back on to exams; the latest in a series of bewildering policy developments. Plenty of pupils were worried that the grades would not accurately reflect their achievements. In my local community, one 17-year-old was so overwhelmed by A-level anxiety that he went missing; tragically, his body was found in the woods some days later.
Ofqual has announced that teacher-assessed grades will be moved downwards by up to 12 percentage points this year so results are not ‘significantly undermined’, although grades are still expectedly to be ‘slightly better’ than last year. We'll crunch the statistics for Music GCSE and A-level in the next issue.
For now, our focus is on the new academic year. MT's experts share advice on licensing a musical (p38), managing large casts (p35) and staging a socially distant nativity (p41). We also reflect on the wildly successful workshops held by violinist Nicola Benedetti (p18), hear how one Birmingham team overcame the recent challenges (p61) and give a toot for accessible woodwind (p55).
