Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how academic qualifications are given online to students (1) internationally, and (2) in the UK.

The assessment of qualifications in England is managed differently depending on the sector.

As autonomous institutions, higher education (HE) providers are responsible for determining the content of their courses and the manner in which they are taught, supervised, assessed and awarded including determining how online methods are used.

All registered providers in England must meet all the Office for Students’ (OfS) revised registration conditions in relation to the quality and standards of HE, including on course design and delivery, and assessment and award, regardless of how or where teaching is delivered.

The department has made its expectation clear to HE providers in England that all students should be receiving a comparable amount of face-to-face teaching as before the COVID-19 pandemic. While virtual learning is a fantastic innovation, we are clear that it should only be used to complement and enhance a student’s learning experience, not detract from it, nor should not it be used as a cost cutting exercise.

In March 2022, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced he wanted to start carefully considering the potential opportunities greater digital assessment could bring in the qualifications regulated by Ofqual, the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations, and assessments in England.

Ofqual published a report into online assessment in 2020, which included reviewing international examples and identified the key barriers to greater adoption of online and on-screen assessments in high stakes qualifications such as GSCEs and A Levels. Ofqual has also recently announced it will look at whether greater use of technology in qualifications could deliver benefits for students and apprentices in the long term. Ofqual has said it will undertake research into a number of areas as part of its new corporate plan.

The department believes technology has the potential to deliver a range of benefits in the classroom and we plan to work closely with Ofqual as this early exploratory work is undertaken.