Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has for the examination or assessment of qualifications in summer 2022.

It is the Government’s firm intention that exams and assessments should go ahead next year.

The Department recognises that those students taking exams next year have had significant disruption to their education and, together with Ofqual, we are proposing adaptations to the exams to take account of that. The Department has launched a joint consultation with Ofqual, to seek views on the proposed changes to exams in summer 2022 in light of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on students entering these qualifications.

The suggested arrangements for GCSEs, AS and A levels includes choices about the topics students will be assessed on for some subjects (optionality) and giving schools and colleges advance information about the focus of content of the exams for other subjects.

The Department has worked closely with exam boards to understand which elements of assessment can be made optional without an adverse impact on student progression within the subject. Where this is not the case, we have not proposed optionality.

We have and will continue to engage with stakeholders throughout the sector who have all called for exams to go ahead. This includes unions, school and college head teachers, teachers, exam boards, higher education, and further education. The Department wants to ensure appropriate decisions are made for each subject.

The Government believes it is important that students cover the curriculum as fully as possible, so that they are prepared for progression to the next stage of their education. We expect that even topics not being assessed will still be taught in most cases.

The Government has invested over £3 billion in a package of measures to support education recovery, including tutoring, summer schools and mental health support, as well as further training and development for teachers.

Whilst the Department remains committed to exams going ahead in 2022, we will also work with Ofqual on contingency plans and announce further details in the autumn term.