GCSE and A-level exams should be scrapped and replaced with a “more flexible” form of assessment, teachers have said.
The cancellation of exams for two years because of the coronavirus pandemic had provided a “golden opportunity” to end “toxic testing”, the National Education Union’s (NEU) virtual annual conference heard.
This summer GCSEs and A-levels grades will be awarded on the basis of teacher assessment.
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On Wednesday, delegates at the NEU conference passed a motion to permanently replace the qualifications with a “wider ranging” and “more flexible” form of assessment.
The motion also committed the union to opposing the return of “high-stakes” Sats tests in primary schools, which have also been cancelled for the past two years.
If the Government does bring back Sats next year, the union could ballot its members to boycott the tests.
Activists at the conference said that the decision not to hold public exams for two years had demonstrated that…