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Most A-level and GCSE exams in England will be delayed by three weeks next year, Gavin Williamson confirms
Most A-level and GCSE exams in England will be pushed back three weeks next year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gavin Williamson has confirmed.
The exams will take place in 2021, but most tests will be delayed to give pupils time to catch up on learning following school closures, the Education Secretary announced today.
The exams, which usually begin in May, will begin in June and July instead – apart from English and maths GCSE exams, which will still take place before the half-term.
GCSE and A-level results will be released in the same week in August next year due to the change.
The announcement follows warnings from education unions that moving the timing of exams back slightly was unlikely to make any significant difference to the varied learning experiences students have had this year.
In a written ministerial statement on Monday, Mr Williamson said: “We know that exams are the fairest way of measuring a student’s abilities and accomplishments, including the most disadvantaged.
“We want to give our young people the opportunity next summer to demonstrate what they know and can do.”
The announcement comes after downgraded GCSE and A-level results caused widespread uproar this summer after exams were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thousands of A-level students had their results lowered from school estimates by an algorithm, before England’s exams regulator Ofqual announced a U-turn allowing them to use teachers’ predictions.
Mr Williamson has said the 2021 exam series for most A-levels and GCSEs will begin on June 7 and end on July 2.
AS and A-level students will receive their grades on Tuesday August 24 and GCSE students will be told their results on Friday August 27.
One maths and one English GCSE exam will take place before the May half-term to give pupils who may need to self-isolate during the exam period the “best chance” of sitting a paper in these subjects, Mr Williamson said.
Some AS-level and A-level exams with very small numbers of students will also take place before half-term.
The announcement comes after Scotland’s Education Secretary John Swinney announced last week that National 5 exams would not go ahead in 2021. He also said Higher and Advanced Highers would be delayed until May 13.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, warned that a “compression” of the exam series may have a negative effect on students' wellbeing.
He said: “Announcing a delay is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the planning that now needs to be done.
“This step does not address the disparity between different student’s different levels of disruption to learning; much more needs to be done to ensure that the qualification system takes account of this so that students can have confidence that the grades they are awarded in 2021 are fair.”
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