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15 April 2026

Tag: exams 2021

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 […]

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 […]

‘We’ll help kids rise to the challenge’ – heads contradict Ofsted chief on exams

Cancelling exams in 2021 will not result in pupils becoming disengaged, headteachers have told MPs, as they vowed to work with “whatever system” they are presented with. Six school leaders appeared in front of the Parliamentary education committee this morning to give evidence on left-behind white disadvantaged pupils. Whatever system you give us, we will […]

Pupils in hard-hit regions face exams ‘Covid penalty’

Pupils face a “covid penalty” unless Ofqual takes geographical differences into account when awarding grades next year, a leading academy trust boss with schools in hard-hit coronavirus regions has said. The intervention by Hamid Patel, the chief executive of Star Academies, comes as pressure on the government to ditch exams ramped up this week after […]

DfE warning over early GCSE entries as research shows some pupils do worse

Early entry to GCSEs “does not always benefit pupils”, the Department for Education has warned, as new research showed pupils in some subjects do worse if they take them in year 10. A new “ad hoc” research paper published by the DfE today shows that pupils who take English literature and religious studies a year […]

Restricting exams to core subjects ‘under consideration’, suggests Spielman

Ofqual is considering whether to only have exams in core subjects next year, with centre-assessment grades used for the remainder, Amanda Spielman has suggested. The Ofsted chief inspector, who is chairing Ofqual’s new “recovery committee” formed to oversee the fallout from this year’s exams fiasco, said holding exams only in core subjects was “the kind […]

GCSEs 2021: Teachers CAN use one-off tests for MFL speaking

Teachers will not be prevented from using “one-off assessment opportunities” to test pupils spoken language in GCSE modern foreign language subjects next year, Ofqual has said. The exams regulator has published its decisions following a consultations on changes to the way MFL GCSEs are to be assessed next year. It is part of a suite […]

We fear next summer’s exams, say lockdown heads

School leaders in lockdown areas say their pupils should not be penalised in exams, with year 10s at one Liverpool school already spending four weeks of this term self-isolating at home. Department for Education statistics show about 89 per cent of pupils in state-funded schools across England attended last week. However, levels differ greatly for […]