Mr Bauckham, himself a chief executive of a school trust said: “We have all grown hugely in our confidence in remote teaching, and by the 2021 lockdown, in very many cases, it was actually happening very effectively indeed.”
In an important reflection on the role of school trusts during the pandemic, he said: "my own impression is that the capacity trusts have brought to bear has effectively been a ‘proof of concept’.Repeatedly, I hear heads and others who are in schools in good trusts telling me that they have felt confident and secure in their approach, supported and up to date with information and the recipients of shared innovation to manage education in this time of crisis. Great credit is due to these trusts for the work they have done.”
Mr Bauckham has used the speech to outline more detail about the quality assurance and appeals arrangements. Expanding on the quality assurance process for this summer’s qualifications, Mr Bauckham set out factors that would be considered when Boards prioritise centres for closer scrutiny, in the interests of fairness to all. He went on to say: "For centres which are flagged for further scrutiny, the initial sample will be the starting point, but in those cases boards will sometimes need to ask for further evidence, either in a wider range of subjects or a larger number of candidates.”
Mr Bauckham also offers brief thoughts on the future: "We will want to think hard about how we bring together the experience of the pandemic and the wider fast developing evidence we now have in areas such as curriculum design, evidence-based pedagogy and assessment, our growing knowledge of the capabilities of technology, and how all these interact, to ensure we have the best possible system in the future.”
Commenting on the speech, Leora Cruddas,chief executive of CST said:
"School and Trust leaders have gone above and beyond to ensure that education has continued during the global pandemic. In a second exceptional year, teachers and leaders are engaging in a responsible and professional way with the significant challenge of awarding qualifications in the absence of public examinations. We do not underestimate the scale and complexity of this task.
"The important thing to remember, as Ian Bauckham identifies, is that teachers are professionals, trusted by the public. Mr Bauckham is right to say that this means two things. Firstly, that professional judgement is not inappropriately influenced by those outside who may have a vested interest. And secondly that is undertaken following proper training and established policies.
It is most important in this year in which our young people’s education has been so disrupted, that they have confidence in the qualifications they receive. I have no doubt, no matter how difficult, that teachers and leaders will rise to this challenge.”
