Teacher assessed grades were "stressful" and "time consuming", finds Ofqual

Ofqual has published a report into the student and teacher experiences of teacher assessed grades (TAGs) for GCSE, AS and A levels and some VTQ qualifications in summer 2021.

Summer 2021 exams were cancelled due to the pandemic and students’ grades were based on teacher judgments.

Ofqual conducted a survey in 2021 after TAGs were submitted and before students got their results in August. A total of 1,785 teaching staff and 550 students completed the survey. Researchers also interviewed 39 teachers and 14 students to find out more about their experiences and opinions.

The issues of pressure and workload affected teachers, the research showed. When asked to provide three words summarising their experience of judging TAGs, the most commonly provided were “stressful”, “time-consuming”, and “exhausting”. Teachers also reported that they had spent around twice as many working days completing the TAG process compared to the Centre Assessed Grades process in 2020 – likely due to the requirements around actually assessing students, rather than making a prediction.

In several of the open-ended questions, the respondents noted the extraordinary amount of effort required to undertake the TAG process. Many stated how they felt that they had to “do the exam boards’ job for them” whilst still attempting to teach their students during an unprecedentedly stressful time.

Students also noted feeling pressure, though this more commonly took the form of anxiety and stress, perhaps relating to the fact that they were not yet aware of their final grades. Common across both teachers and students was wanting to return to normal assessment as soon as possible. Some teachers, however, did indicate that at least some of the elements of TAGs, such as empowering teachers to make judgments, could be useful and some students appreciated that they were given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities over time rather than being judged based on just one exam.