A-level and GCSE pupils in UK to benefit from ‘generous approach to grading’

Exam boards in the UK will take a “more generous approach” to grading to give a “safety net” to students whose education has been disrupted due to the Covid pandemic.

Providers setting exams in England and Wales on Monday published broad details of topics or skills areas to be assessed in GCSEs and A-levels this summer, when national exams return for the first time since the start of the health crisis.

Scottish pupils will receive advance information next month.

The guidance is designed to mitigate the educational disadvantage that has emerged during the pandemic, said the Department for Education, after millions of pupils had their learning disrupted to curtail the spread of the virus.

For the past two years exams have been suspended in favor of teacher-led assessments while the nation has grappled with bringing the virus under control.

Regulator Ofqual called the current academic year a “transition year”. Grade boundaries will be adjusted to allow fewer top grades than last year, when record numbers of students received A and A * s, but more than before the pandemic.

Jo Saxton, Ofqual’s chief regulator, said: “We are also ensuring there is a safety net for students with a generous approach to grading.”

Pupils in England will from this week revise for GCSEs and A-levels with the help of advance information about the subjects they are to be examined on.

“Students have shown so much resilience during the pandemic and we know they are seeking certainty,” said Saxton. “Advance information published today is one of the ways we are supporting students to have that certainty as they prepare to show what they know and can do.”

The DfE confirmed exams would go ahead this year, except in the “very unlikely case” of a public health emergency that physically prevented students being able to sit exams.

“Exams are the best and fairest form of assessment, and we firmly intend for them to take place this summer, giving students a fair chance to show what they know,” said Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary.

Having access to advance information will allow students to more clearly focus their revision, the DfE said, with online materials to be published by exam boards throughout Monday.

The regulator said it was publishing advance information for most subjects in February, halfway through the school year. Pupils will also be given a wider choice of questions in some subjects and the option to bring in formula sheets in subjects such as maths or chemistry, said the DfE.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the advance guidance had come “too late”.

“The rem intention of releasing this information only in time for revision and not to aid teaching and learning [earlier in the year]always carried with it a critical flaw, ”she said.

“If one of the topics you see on the list today is one you couldn’t cover at all or in as much depth through no fault of your own, due to Covid-related disruption, what do you do now?”