The recent announcement that all January modules for AS and A-Level examinations will no longer to exist has caused outrage amongst parents, teachers and students alike. The move will mean that students will no longer be able to retake modules they underachieved in the June before, and that all modules students learn throughout the year will have to be sat in June, resulting in huge increase in workload for several students. Yet there are some benefits to this change, and perhaps these outraged students are just unable to see past the workload and look to how they will benefit.
Yet there are undoubtedly benefits to this system for certain students. Those who are expected to achieve higher than the majority of students will be more likely to benefit from the lack of retakes, as the gap between them and the rest will remain wide. Additionally the change will reward those students who are motivated and work hard enough the first time round, instead of needing a wake-up call of bad results to spur them to action.
However the change could also result in a number of students who have the intelligence and the attitude to achieve high grades, but may have simply had a bad day, not being able to repeat unless they choose to retake at the same time as their A-Level exams. Additionally this change will dramatically increase the workload for the summer for many students around the country. It will mean that modules they may have finished months ago will need to be dragged back into their memory and revised, whereas before they would have been able to take their exams on the back of learning about the topic.
Ultimately it remains to be seen what the full effect of the change will be, although at Tiffin school the mood is unmistakeably anger and outrage.
