Assessments: Coronavirus

(asked on 18th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish contingency plans for 2021 GCSE and A Level examinations to ensure that schools can be adequately prepared and take account of lost learning time.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 27th November 2020

The changes to assessments in certain subjects that were announced by Ofqual in the summer, alongside the later starting date for examinations in summer 2021, will give schools and colleges extra time to plan teaching, and pupils extra time to study. Combined with the Department’s £1 billion catch-up package, including a catch-up premium worth a total of £650 million, these changes give young people the best chance of being ready for their examinations without undermining the value of the qualifications they receive.

The Department is working with Ofqual and engaging widely with the education sector to identify any risks to examinations at a national, local, and individual pupil level, and to consider measures needed to address any potential disruption. This could be a pupil unable to sit examinations due to illness or self isolation, or schools affected by a local COVID-19 outbreak during the examination season resulting in examination centres not being able to open. More details will be published later in the autumn.

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