01 Apr 2021
In this week’s update, you will find:
- information about component exemptions
- a link to a key dates card
- a reminder of our withdrawal deadline
- a summary of our latest guidance around school-assessed grades.
Component exemptions
You still have until 17 April (23:59 BST/UTC+1) to apply for component exemptions – for more details about the exemptions that are available, and how to apply, see our webpage June 2021 component exemptions.
Once we have approved your component exemptions, we need you to tell us which candidates you would like to exempt from which components. You will be able to submit these details on Cambridge International Direct from Monday 19 April until Friday 30 April. We understand you may have questions about how this process works and can confirm we will share more detailed guidance and support materials with you as soon as possible.
Key dates card
We have produced a key dates card specifically for centres running exams in June 2021 – this highlights the key dates you need to know about for the June 2021 series.
Reminder of withdrawal deadline
You may need to withdraw candidates for Covid-specific reasons and, to support you, we have extended our withdrawal deadline until 17 April 2021. We recommend you keep your entries on Cambridge International Direct until as close to 17 April as possible, to reduce the administration work you may need to do if you withdraw candidates early and then re-enter them. Until 17 April you can withdraw candidates on Direct and still receive a credit.
If candidates miss every component of a syllabus for Covid-specific or medical reasons, you can still withdraw them up to seven days after the last timetabled exam in the syllabus has taken place and you will receive a credit. Please email us to let us know.
Some schools have asked whether they can switch individual candidates to school-assessed grades. We are only switching from exams to school-assessed grades in countries or regions within countries where government directives mean exams cannot take place. We anticipate that directives from national or local authorities apply to all schools within that country or region, so we are not switching to school-assessed grades at the school or candidate level.
Summary of our latest guidance around school-assessed grades
This section outlines the latest guidance we have produced to support schools using school-assessed grades for June 2021. This guidance is just for your information, as schools in your country or region are running exams. You do not need to do anything.
Using evidence to decide student grades
Our new guidance outlines our high-level approach to how schools should decide grades. We understand that it is difficult to consider a portfolio of student evidence and work out what grade students should receive. Our approach gives structure to support this task, and explains how schools can use their professional judgement to combine the pieces of evidence in the way that works best for their students. We will publish additional guidance to grading work, and case study examples of different ways of balancing the evidence, in April.
Updated guidance on avoiding bias in determining grades
We have updated our guidance for avoiding bias and remaining objective in deciding students’ grades since we first published it in June 2020. It is based on research and analysis about how schools can assess students as objectively as possible. We strongly recommend that schools read this and consider the steps they will take to ensure their decisions are objective judgements.
The Rationale Document
We have now published more information about our Rationale Document on our website. Schools using school-assessed grades must complete this document for each syllabus for which they are submitting grades to us.
The Rationale Document will support schools to account for all the areas that they consider while deciding final grades, and it will also serve as a valuable record of their processes and decision-making should they need to refer back to them.
We will publish the final Rationale Document template soon, and as well as examples of completed Rationale Documents to show what level of detail we expect schools to provide.
Staying in touch
You can find all our advice on our Covid-19 information page.
If you have any questions, you can review our frequently asked questions, or contact us via our Help website. For British Council Partner Schools, please contact your local British Council representative.
We wish everyone in the Cambridge International community well at this time.