Ofqual has warned exam results could be delayed and students miss out on places if the government relies on slashing marking time to deliver a radical overhaul of university admissions. It is not expected that eligibility for teacher assessed grades will be determined for cohorts of students. Exams are the fairest way to assess what students know and can do. Published: 10 May 2021. You can change your cookie settings at any time. To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. The arrangements for this year are designed so that teaching and learning can continue for as long as possible, so your teachers’ judgement of your work should take place as late in the academic year as is practical. Some exams and assessments, however, will still go ahead this year either remotely, or in person where it is safe to do so. Many of your workplaces may have been closed. The head teacher or principal will submit a declaration to the exam board confirming they have met the requirements for quality assurance. Results for vocational or technical qualifications linked to moving on to further or higher education should also be issued to students either on or before these dates. Published 24 March 2021 Last updated 27 April 2021 + show all updates Not all of you will have covered all of the curriculum content, especially for two-year courses. Ofqual has published its decisions following a consultation on GCSE, AS and A level exams in the autumn. We know that this is a challenging time, but we are working to put arrangements in place so that students, parents, teachers and everyone who relies on these qualifications can be assured of the fairest possible arrangements in this pandemic. These range from entry level qualifications up to level 6 (broadly equivalent to degree level). Log in. In some cases, your assessment may need to be delayed until it can be carried out safely in line with public health guidance. Some tiered GCSEs specify content for higher tier students only, and in all qualifications, centres will need to provide accessible questions and tasks for lower attaining students and appropriately demanding questions and tasks for higher attaining students to support higher grades. They also include Pre-U and core maths. Ofqual’s Student guide to awarding for Summer 2021 11 May 2021|09:39 Due to the pandemic, the government announced that many exams and assessments could not be held fairly because of the disruption students had faced. It covers the arrangements for undertaking assessments, the quality assurance and appeals processes and the awarding process for vocational and technical qualifications and other general qualifications. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Students will be able look up exam board materials that could … And for GCSE English language, GCSE modern foreign languages and A level sciences (biology, chemistry, physics and geology), your school or college should submit a separate grade or result for the spoken language or practical skills tested, based on work that you have completed. student work produced in centre-devised tasks that reflect the specification, that follow the same format as exam board materials and have been marked in a way that reflects exam board mark schemes - this can include: substantial class or homework (including those that took place during remote learning), mock exams taken over the course of study, records of a student’s capability and performance over the course of study in performance-based subjects such as music, drama and PE, records of each student’s progress and performance over the course of study, if concerns have been raised or as a result of whistleblowing, if a school or college’s results are out of line with expectations based on past performance, where there have been significant changes in early entries, where schools have previously received sanctions for malpractice or an investigation is ongoing, are critical to demonstrate occupational or professional competence, can be delivered in line with public health measures. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. Depending on the content they covered, the contribution that the non-exam assessments make to students’ overall grade should in the government’s view remain broadly similar to a normal year. We use some essential cookies to make this website work. The sample of schools and colleges will take into account centre type and other characteristics of the centre and cohort. We know that for some of you, this will be more difficult, especially if you need the specialist equipment at your school or college. This will require your teacher or lecturer to make an informed judgement on the grade you will receive using a variety of evidence, such as performance of tasks or assessments that have already been completed. All exam boards are taking the same approach, as set out by Ofqual. … Centres will be asked to assess candidates based on what they have been taught. Please continue to work on your non-exam assessment (NEA) work or coursework, including for Project qualifications, wherever possible. Ofqual welcomes today’s announcement that GCSE, AS and A level exams will go ahead in England next summer. Exam boards will also provide schools and colleges with support, guidance, and training on how to minimise the risk of bias and malpractice. May/June 2021 teacher support; Exams Admin; Contact Us; Log in ; Latest COVID-19 News Become an OxfordAQA school. The flaws with Ofqual’s 2021 exams plan The government has finally published its consultation revealing the plan to replace exams this year. We want you to make the best choices about your next steps and it wouldn’t be helpful if you started studying a subject at a higher level that you might struggle with. The flaws with Ofqual’s 2021 exams plan He said exam boards could also “sample teachers’ marking as part of the external quality assurance arrangements and look to see how the school or college is using different sources of evidence”. Work done at home can be included as evidence to support a teacher’s judgement if it cannot be produced in the school or college environment because of the pandemic, and where teachers are confident that it is a student’s own work. Many of you will have missed out on teaching and learning due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Ofqual has warned exam results could be delayed and students miss out on places if the government relies on slashing marking time to deliver a radical overhaul of university admissions. 25th February 2021 at 12:01am Today, the Department for Education and Ofqual have set out how qualifications, including vocational qualifications, will be assessed in 2021. Results day for other GCSE subjects taken in the autumn is 11 February. This guidance outlines the decisions taken to support students and teachers following the consultation. This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. In some quarters it has done little to quell the fear that we’re heading for another fiasco … All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, Education, universities and childcare during coronavirus, Closures, exams and managing a school or early years setting during coronavirus, Vocational, technical and other general qualifications, nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3, how best to provide alternative arrangements to this year’s exams, assessment arrangements available for Functional Skills in 2021, Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance and support, Transparency and freedom of information releases, student work produced in response to assessment materials provided by the exam board, including groups of questions, past papers or similar materials such as practice or sample papers, non-exam assessment (NEA) work (often referred to as coursework), even if this has not been fully completed. Students will be assessed by teacher judgements this year. There has been a great deal of uncertainty, and many of you will have missed out, not just on teaching and learning, but on the support offered by face-to-face contact with fellow students, friends, family and employers. An article from Chief Regulator, Simon Lebus, explaining the arrangements for 2021. If a centre does not believe an error had been made, the centre will appeal to the exam board on the student’s behalf, and will be supported to do so. This year there are 3 groups of vocational, technical and other general qualifications (VTQs) each with a different approach to awarding. For GCSE, AS and A level art and design, your grade will be based on your portfolio only, whether or not you have finished it. Ofqual and Simon Lebus Published: 25 February 2021. And we strongly support the revised timetable, with almost all exams now to be sat after the summer half term. Wherever possible, the exam boards will base this material on questions that have appeared in past exam papers. A new fiasco in the making? The Department for Education is working to make sure there are enough centres available, without it costing more than it normally would, and will publish more on this shortly. We are seeking views on how an autumn exam series should run, including on our proposals that: any student who receives a teacher assessed grade in summer 2021 should be able to enter the autumn exams . May/June 2021 Ofqual consultation decisions explained Published on 26th February 2021 How grades will be awarded in May/June 2021. Where this is the case, students should not be penalised. Exam boards will put in place quality assurance arrangements to make sure consistent judgements are being made and your head teacher or principal will sign off all grades. Examples of these types of qualification are: plumbing, hairdressing, electrics, construction and veterinary work. Your awarding organisation will let your centre (college or training provider) know when you are likely to receive your results. Centres should aim to use consistent sources of evidence for a class or cohort that relate closely to the specification requirements. Additional assessment materials provided by exam boards to help teachers award grades this summer will be published online after the Easter holidays, the government has confirmed, prompting fears the move could unfairly benefit more privileged students. Grades would only be changed by the board if they are not satisfied with the outcome of an investigation or malpractice is found.