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Law graduates training to become barristers have called on regulators to cancel face-to-face exams, which have been delayed until August, and to swiftly move assessments online instead.
The Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) is one of the last remaining courses where students must still sit exams in person, as regulators insist they are needed to uphold the “high standards and integrity” of the degree.
But students say that the Bar Standards Board (BSB), which regulates the exams, must prioritise student wellbeing during the unprecedented global pandemic.
In an open letter, signed by 200 BPTC trainees, they urge the BSB to rethink its stance. “In an extraordinary time of a global pandemic […] It is essential that the BSB considers [the] human impact, and […] make adjustments to the format of the exams,” they said.
Universities across the country, including Oxford and Cambridge, have already said they will replace traditional undergraduate exams with online assessments. At Imperial College London medical students have also taken unsupervised exams at home for the first time.
If the pandemic has not eased by August, sitting exams in person could put students – particularly those with underlying health conditions – at risk. International students who have left the UK may also be unable to sit exams in August, students say, and it could make it difficult for others to begin their pupillage and effectively start their careers.
Alex Mullen, a law student at BPP University Law School, says it would be a financial struggle for him to sit face-to-face exams in August. “I have a scholarship designed to pay for my course and the costs of living until the end of the course, which is now longer than when they thought it would be. My tenancy also ends in August, so I could have to find somewhere to live for two weeks in the middle of what is going to be a really stressful exam season,” he says.
Robert Harris, a student at City Law school, says the situation is tense. “We don’t want to overplay our concerns and we recognise this is a difficult time for everyone and others have it worse, but still these are real concerns. For me, the key impact is on when I’ll be able to start my pupillage. It seems strange that the Bar course is the only one to say [moving assessments online is] not possible.”
The BSB says it is exploring a range of contingency plans if restrictions remain in place in August. “We are very conscious that this is a difficult and uncertain time for students,” it said in a comment. “However, there is no secure solution that could be put in place by April to enable us to deliver these exams as normal. The next scheduled opportunity is August and that is what we are working toward.”
However, the Bar Council says it sees “no reason” why exams must be face-to-face in August and that it is “concerned” that this is “not the best solution”. “It creates delay and uncertainty for students. It means students will be sitting exams long after their teaching has finished, and very close to the time when their pupillages would start. And it is unclear how resits can be accommodated,” Nicholas Vineall QC, Chair of the Bar Council’s education and training committee, says. “It ought to be possible to arrange for these exams to be taken online.”
Elsewhere in the legal profession, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) rowed back on plans to delay exams until the Autumn, after students urged the regulator to rethink. They have since asked universities to send proposals on how they would like to do exams instead. “They haven’t said what online things must be used, they’re just saying ‘tell us what you want to do and we’ll consider it’,” Charlotte Parkinson, Chair of the Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society, says.
Legal education is often traditional and slow to adopt online practices. However, individual lecturers are working hard to set up online learning and assessments, similarly to academics teaching other subjects.
Alan East, an assistant professor at Coventry Law School, says the pandemic has meant exams have gone online at Coventry. He has also connected with students over Zoom and Microsoft Teams. “I’ve been trying to push this over the past couple of years and it has been quite slow but I think this period of being confined to our houses and having to do things online will move things along a bit,” he says. “Law has begun to modernise.”
Students say regulators must be creative and find modern solutions, too.
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