A-levels | Schools Week

The 2021 summer exams plan: everything you need to know

Exams regulator Ofqual has this afternoon published its proposals for replacing exams this year. In short: the regulator is proposing grades for this year will be determined by teachers and, following “quality reassurance”, results will be issued by exam boards, who will “remain accountable for the results”. Exam boards will record the grades on certificates […]

Ofqual publishes 2021 summer exams consultation

The exams regulator Ofqual has published its consultation on alternative arrangements for the awarding of GCSEs and A-levels this summer. It follows a decision last week to cancel exams due to take place in 2021 amid partial school closures. The consultation document proposes that students’ grades in each subject “will be based on their teachers’ […]

Teacher assessment grades to replace GCSE and A-level exams in 2021

GCSE and A-level students will receive teacher assessed grades in 2021 following the partial closure of schools – but the grades won’t be adjusted by an algorithm. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, confirmed in the House of Commons today that GCSE, AS and A-level grades will not go ahead this year, and that the government […]

Exam appeals soared in 2020 following process change

The number of appeals against GCSE and A-level exam grades soared this year as a result of the exams fiasco and a change to the appeals process, while the proportion upheld also increased, new data shows. However, exams regulator Ofqual has cautioned against “direct comparisons” with previous years, which it said were “not valid” due […]

Broken promises: DfE snubs exams transparency request

Gavin Williamson has snubbed demands from the education select committee to provide details of key meetings his department held with Ofqual in the run-up to the exams debacle, despite promising transparency. The education secretary had been ordered by committee chair Robert Halfon to provide the information by Monday, after missing an earlier deadline. It is […]

Exams 2021: What’s on the table as deadline looms

Despite waiting for months, Schools Week understands the government will fall short of its pledge to communicate the plans for next year’s exams to the sector in November. But an announcement is getting closer. We spoke to insiders to see what was on the table. The exams announcement will contain policies that address a few […]

Exams 2020: ‘No evidence’ poorer pupils disadvantaged, concludes Ofqual

There is “no evidence” that the system for awarding GCSEs and A-levels this year systematically disadvantaged poorer pupils or those with protected characteristics, an analysis by Ofqual has found. But 6,300 GCSE entries, most of them from private schools, may have received “disproportionately overestimated grades”, the exams regulator said. Ofqual has published a technical report […]

Private schools got biggest top A-levels boost after grade U-turn

Private schools still saw the biggest boost in top grades at A-level following this year’s exams fiasco, despite the decision to issue centre-assessment grades. The Department for Education has published analysis of A-level grades issued this summer, following the decision to let school-provided grades stand if they were higher than calculated grades issued by exam […]

Comparable outcomes won’t help all pupils in 2021, admits Ofqual

Applying comparable outcomes to exam results in 2021 will not be enough to compensate for learning loss for all pupils, Ofqual has said, admitting it would only be a “partial compensation strategy”. The exams regulator has published research today on maintaining standards and the so-called “sawtooth effect” – which describes when outcomes dip following changes […]