P-04-467 January exams – Correspondence from the petitioner to the clerking team,. 07.06.2013

Dear Sian

Many thanks for your communication and for the previous letter related to our petition. The letter and Ministerial Statement seems to indicate that the Minister for Education is minded not to extend January exams beyond 2014. This will disappoint my students-who have now completed the AS and A Level Course and are sitting their examinations-who were keen for January exams to remain as a permanent  feature of  AS and A Levels. The reason for this surprising enthusiasm for January exams is that they see the benefits of these for developing and enhancing their performance in examinations at A Level i.e. refining their  examination technique. In addition It allows students who are slower to develop a second bite of the cherry thus allowing them to gain better grades at A Level than they otherwise would.

It was my AS Government and Politics  students, from the Crosskeys campus of Coleg Gwent, who actually proposed and submitted this petition to your Committee via the sixth form conference at Ty Hywel in February. It had previously been proposed, discussed and voted upon in class. They are passionate in their belief that AS/AL students in Wales should continue to have the opportunity to sit examination modules in January. I hope that the Minister, NAfW and Petitions committee are able to take into account the views of the 16-18 year olds who are faced with these exams rather than bowing to the commercial imperatives of the examination boards.

Regards

Rob Southall

Lecturer, Government & Politics