A STUDENT who fears she may lose out on vital qualifications has called on the Prime Minister and Education Minister to help all those in her position.

Thea Higham, 15, is home educated.

The teenager from North Hill, like many thousands of others across the country, feels she was totally left out of the conversation around GCSE and A Level exams last summer – and let down by the Government.

The decision to use Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) to award exam results left many students who are outside the mainstream secondary system – known as ‘private candidates’ – without any results at all, and unable to progress to the next stage of their education.

Private candidates include not only those young people who are home educated, but students living abroad, and older students wanting to gain qualifications.

As a home-schooled student, Thea does not have a teacher in a position to assess her progress: her mother, in the role of teacher, is not allowed to award an assessed grade.

She was able to sit her Maths GCSE in November thanks to the readiness of her local secondary school to host the autumn series examination session, but she fears that this year, as she prepares to take Biology, English, and Geography exams, this won’t be an option.

Thea and her family are worried that her plans to study at the Royal Veterinary College could be put in jeopardy unless the Government caters for private candidates.

“It’s a very stressful situation,” she said.

“I’d like them to keep the GCSEs going, if not in the summer then by doing the autumn series again.

“Home schooled students work very hard but slightly differently to schools, and our work cannot be assessed in the same way.

“Any further discriminatory actions and neglect by the Government could be detrimental to our whole lives and the careers we are working so hard to achieve.

“Until a solution is found I am once again sitting in limbo, anxious and worried for my future.”

Thea’s mother Max explains that adding to the worry for home schooling families is the lack of access to exam centres, especially for those in rural areas, meaning they could be obliged to make a journey of hundreds of miles. As schools shut, external centres have also made significant increases to fees for independent entries, she says, citing a rise from £120 per exam to £500 in one instance. Many families such as the Highams already plan for spreading the cost and the preparation for GCSEs across several years.

With the news that the 2021 exams would be cancelled and CAGs used once more this year, the home educated community is now coming together to push for recognition and support for this group of students.

Jeremy Yallop founded HEQA (Home Educators’ Qualifications Association) in October in order to speak with one voice and avoid the “disaster” that befell private candidates in 2020. The campaign has made good progress so far: HEQA mat last week with the exams regulator Ofqual and exam providers to discuss the way forward.

“At the moment it’s not clear what the replacement system will be: the DfE is keen on teacher assessment, and Ofqual has made clear that it considers exams the fairest approach,” said Mr Yallop.

“Whatever system the government decides to adopt, we’d like it to consider home-educated candidates from the start. Last year the government settled on standardised teacher-estimated

grades without taking into account the fact that many candidates don’t have teachers who can provide estimates.  This year things are a little more promising. Several MPs have raised the issue of private candidates in Parliament this week, and the Secretary of State said that

he thinks it’ll be possible for them to receive grades this year. Ofqual’s Chief Regulator mentioned the need to consider independent learners in his statement recently.”