Ofqual | Schools Week

Advance sight of exam board questions might be ‘good learning experience’ for pupils, says Ofqual chair

Going through materials provided by exam boards to aid with teacher assessment this year might be “a good learning experience” for pupils, the chair of Ofqual has said, following a backlash over plans to publish them online. Ian Bauckham today defended the decision to publish the questions, following warnings that doing so could put more […]

Ofqual chair: Exam grade evidence not a ‘topic for negotiation’ between teachers and students

Evidence used to issue exam grades this year will not be a “topic for negotiation” between teachers and students, the chair of Ofqual has said. Ian Bauckham, interim chair of the exams regulator, told the annual conference of the ASCL school leadership union today it would be “wrong and fundamentally unfair” for teachers’ decisions to […]

Pupils ‘expected to know’ up to 1,700 words under reforms to MFL GCSEs

Pupils will be “expected to know” up to 1,700 different words under proposed reforms to GCSE modern foreign language (MFL) qualifications. The Department for Education has published revised subject content for French, German and Spanish MFL GCSEs alongside a consultation on the changes. Ofqual, the exams regulator, is also consulting on new assessment objectives for […]

2022 exams may need similar ‘adaptations’ as those proposed for 2021, warns Ofqual chief

The government is considering making “adaptations” to exams in 2022 similar to those proposed for this summer’s assessments before they were cancelled, the head of regulator Ofqual has said. Simon Lebus, the interim chief regulator, told MPs this morning that the “thinking at the moment is about adaptations along the line that had been originally […]

Some students may need to repeat a year if they can’t get a grade, says exam board chief

Some pupils may need to repeat a year if they have missed too much learning to be awarded grades this year, an exam board chief has said. Jill Duffy, the chief executive of OCR, said a “small number” of young people might have “lost so much learning that it would be difficult to award them […]

Exams 2021: Heads will have to confirm pupils have learned ‘sufficient content’ for progression

Headteachers will have to confirm GCSE and A-level students have been taught “sufficient content” to allow them to progress to the next stage in their education when submitting teacher assessment grades this year. Ofqual has this morning published its response to the consultation on plans to replace exams with teacher assessments this summer. The Department […]

Exams 2021: Externally-set questions to be ‘optional’ for schools

Schools won’t be forced to use externally-set questions when determining their pupils’ GCSE and A-level grades this year, the government has confirmed. Teacher assessments will be used to issue grades to pupils this summer after formal exams were cancelled following partial school closures. A joint consultation by Ofqual and the Department for Education last month […]

Almost six in ten students improved GCSE grades in autumn exams

Almost 60 per cent of students who took autumn exams in GCSE subjects other than English and maths improved on their grades issued in the summer, new data shows. The Joint Council for Qualifications has published results for all remaining GCSE exams taken in the autumn. English language and maths results were published in January, […]

‘Too slow’: More delays as lost learning expert group ‘refocused’

An expert group promised by ministers to provide solutions to uneven lost learning across the country is now being “refocused”, leaving its membership still up in the air two months after being announced. Before exams were cancelled in December, the Department for Education announced the advisory panel would “monitor and advise on lost and differential […]