Pupils across the UK have received their GCSE results after a year grappling with online learning and the uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
GCSE students and their parents tell the Guardian about the challenges of studying in a year disrupted by the pandemic and their experience of teacher-assessed grades.
‘The teachers were so supportive’
Rachel, 16, from north London is celebrating after unexpectedly achieving six grade 9s and four grade 8s in her GCSEs.
“It was so unexpected, which made the shock a lot greater,” she says. “After a very difficult year, with Covid taking over the ability to study under normal circumstances, my hopes lay low.
“My dad was in hospital with Covid in March [last year] and he has been left with long Covid. But, thank God, he’s doing a lot better. The teachers also were so supportive throughout it.”
Rachel says studying on Zoom was difficult but made easier by the amount of pastoral support provided by her school. But she says the cancellation of her mocks, after students complained it was not fair to take them in the January lockdown, was demotivating.
“It damaged me a lot more than I would have ever imagined. Seeing all my hard work being thrown into the bin, sucked away all the motivation I had for my studies.”
‘I can’t go to any of the schools I have applied for’
Siya, 16, from London, is shocked after receiving much lower grades than she was predicted, meaning her plans to study medicine at university are now in doubt.
“Even though I was predicted grade, five to six and above, they’ve put me as a grade four,” she says. “They didn’t give me those grades that I deserved.
Siya and her father, Gagan, fear she may have been penalised in the teacher assessments because he complained about the standard of teaching in the science subjects, which are those she received lower than expected grades for.
“My dad has tried to rectify the problems in the school but they kept on making excuses,” she says.
She fears she will be left in limbo this coming academic year because she will not receive the outcome of her appeal against the results until September.
“It’s devastating,” she says. “I can’t go to any of the schools have applied for.”
‘People are saying these exams were easier but it is not true’
Maria Francesca Cuevas Anderson, 16, from Birkenhead, Wirral, says she was delighted with her results, six 8s and four 9s in GCSEs, which were better than she expected.
She says: “It has been a really difficult time studying for our GCSEs, but my school, my teachers and our headteacher were amazingly supportive throughout.
“Some people are saying these exams were easier but it is just not true. It was just as hard and we also had the extra challenge of the pandemic to deal with.”
‘Fulfilling her full potential was never going to happen’
Daniel, a property consultant from Lincolnshire, feels that his daughter, Kylie, 16, was let down by her teachers while studying for her GCSEs.
Although Kylie received six grade 7s and one grade 6, her father says she has decided not to do A-levels because the disruption caused by the pandemic has put her off further study.
“Since the Covid-19 school closures, she has given up on her plans for university and now wants to be a trainee hairdresser as no education is required,” says Daniel, who adds that she wanted to pursue a career in the arts before the pandemic.
“Such a bright girl should not have been let down by her school. They were supposed to be going back, and then suddenly, they weren’t. And when they did go back, it was only for a few days, and then one kid tested positive. So they’re off again. Fulfilling her full potential was never going to happen. ”
‘Teacher-assessed grades are a pretty fair system’
Anael Suissa, 16, from London, says she is happy with her results: two 9s, three 8s, two 7s and two 6s.
“Working through the pandemic has been difficult,” says Suissa, who attends Holland Park School. “I hoped that the grade boundaries were generous, to take into account the difficult nature of online learning.
“I felt as though I had little idea of what grades to expect. I think teacher-assessed grades are a pretty fair system under the circumstances. Overall, I felt as though they were fair: not too stringent, yet not too generous. After having to study online for such a long time, I think it has shown how much resilience and strength many students have in order to keep learning.”
