Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure that the GCSE exams are (a) fair and (b) accessible to students in 2021 in the context of the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department recognises the challenges faced by schools, teachers, and students, and knows that disruption has been felt differently across the country and between schools and colleges in the same area and between students within individual institutions.

In recognition of the challenges faced by students, the Department has announced a package of measures that will ensure students have a fair chance of demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of a subject in exams. A link to this package of measures can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-support-the-summer-2021-exams. These include grading that is more generous than previous years and adaptations to exams (for example, giving students advance notice of topic areas and exam support materials). These adaptations will allow students to use the remaining time before the exams more effectively, which will be of particular benefit to those most affected by learning loss.

The Department has also confirmed the launch of an expert advisory group to consider the differential impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on students and to recommend mitigations for these impacts, in support of the measures already announced. To ensure a successful delivery of the 2021 exams, and to ensure exams are accessible to all pupils, we are consulting with key stakeholders such as unions, schools and exam centres to discuss the logistics around this series and we will provide additional detail in the New Year.