David Blunkett: Adjust exam grades for disadvantaged schoolchildren

Former education secretary David Blunkett has urged the government to make assessment fairer for disadvantaged youngsters

(PA)

Exams grades must be adjusted for teenagers who “lost out through no fault of their own” because they had no laptops, former Education Secretary David Blunkett said today.

The Labour statesman told the Evening Standard that the “main challenge” now is to be as fair as possible to youngsters who suffered the most disadvantages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lord Blunkett called for clearer guidance for teachers and some form of external moderation to make a level playing field. He called on the Government to give schools more support and guidance.

“The main challenge will be to take into account the very different learning experience of those youngsters who have had both the equipment and connectivity to continue learning out of school and those who have severely lost out through no fault of their own,” said Lord Blunkett.

“This is probably the biggest challenge.”

He urged: “Reassurance to young people that they will neither be discriminated against, nor favoured, by teacher assessment, will be important.”

The former Cabinet minister made his name pushing through Tony Blair’s “education, education, education” programme in the 1990s.

He said it had been obvious for months that written exams would not go ahead this year. “Ken Baker and I, back in the Autumn, suggested that it was highly unlikely that exams could go forward in 2021 and that preparation should be made then for teacher assessment, properly moderated to ensure a degree of consistency between schools.

“Even at this late stage, and it is very late, moderation from outside to ensure equality of treatment really does matter. That is why there needs to be much clearer guidance on the nature of the internal tests to be taken into account, including mocks, the nature of the coursework to be included in the assessment, and of course the appeals process.

“Despite being very late in the day, I think this can be achieved. But on top of the very welcome return of schools to full face-to-face teaching in the week beginning in the 8th of March, the challenge for head teachers and senior staff is enormous.

“They now need, and deserve, all the support they can get.”

Robert Halfon, the chair of the Education Select Committee, also called for action to ensure disadvantaged pupils do not miss out more than others.

He called for a nationwide assessment of every pupil coming up to exams, to assess how much learning each lost and how much catch-up each needs.

“I hope very much that exams will take place next year, at least in the core subjects of English, maths and sciences,” he added.

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