A-level and GCSE exams in England are set to be delayed by three weeks next year, the education secretary has confirmed.
Exams will go ahead in 2021, but the majority of exams will be pushed back to give pupils more time to prepare after schools were closed during the nationwide lockdown, Gavin Williamson has announced.
In a written ministerial statement today, 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.”
He said most exams would take place in June and July next year, rather than starting in May.
English and Maths GCSEs, however, will take place before the summer half term.
Some AS-levels and A-levels with very small numbers of students will also be scheduled before half-term.
Exam results will be given out in August as usual.
The announcement comes following the fiasco around grading of GCSE and A-level students this summer after exams were cancelled amid Covid-19.
Thousands of A-level students had their results downgraded from school estimates by an algorithm, before England’s exams regulator Ofqual announced a u-turn allowing them to use teachers’ predictions.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, warned that a “compression” of the exam series may impact student 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.”
