results | Schools Week

The Future of Assessment

A free FE Week and Schools Week supplement in partnership with NCFE, diving into assessment reform

School leaders form pact not to show off A-level results

Some trust and school chiefs are avoiding ‘tempting’ PR about A-level and GCSE grades, warning Covid makes comparisons ‘ridiculous’

AQA staff to strike on A-level and GCSE results days, Unison confirms

But union claims of results disruption branded ‘scaremongering’ by schools minister

Minister promises to get tough on exam board mistakes – again

Ofqual could take ‘regulatory action’, but previous ministerial criticisms and watchdog fines do not appear to be preventing problems

GCSE Results 2021: Business Studies

Here are the trends in the latest business studies GCSE results for summer 2021. The proportion of grade 9 results achieved by students, equivalent to a high A* under the old GCSE system, rose to 8.5 per cent, compared to 6.1 per cent in 2020 and 3.1 per cent in 2019. You can find […]

GCSE results 2021: Top grades rise to 30%, while disadvantaged gap widens

Three in ten GCSE results handed out this year were top grades, with the number of pupils scoring a flush of 9 grades having quadrupled since 2019. But Ofqual found there was a “slight widening” of the “longstanding” results gap between students on free school meals and their better-off peers. Today’s increase in top grades […]

Next year’s exams could be statistically contentious if we don’t act now

Clear conversations about next year’s exams are needed right away, writes Sharon Witherspoon The last two years have been a rollercoaster when it comes to exams. While last year the government abandoned their poorly considered plans to use an algorithm to award individual grades, this year they took a different approach and delegated responsibility to […]

‘Permanently rebase’ exam grades to 2020 levels, says former DfE adviser

Exam grades should be “permanently rebased” to 2020 levels despite fears about “baking in” grade inflation, a report by a former government education adviser has recommended. The Institute for Government’s Covid tests: school exams in 2022 and beyond report, written by former Michael Gove aide Sam Freedman, also called for a “full review” of secondary assessment. […]

DfE set to pay majority of £10k medical school move incentives

The Department for Education is set to stump up most of the cash for a scheme which will pay would-be medicine and dentistry students £10,000 to take up an alternative place if their chosen medical school is over-subscribed. It is understood the government expects to shoulder £6,500 of the cost of each payout under a […]