The cancellation of this year’s exam session for the GCSE and GCE A-levels continues to be confusing and difficult for all involved. It now appears according to this article from The Guardian that not all subject exams will be offered in September (note: This article is refereeing to the GCE A-levels and the GCSE not the International A levels and the International GCSEs).
A row is brewing between examination boards, schools, the government and England’s exam regulator over whether pupils unhappy with their assessed GCSE or A-level grades will have the chance to sit the exams in autumn, as promised.
When the Department for Education and Ofqual, the exam regulator, announced that this summer’s GCSE and A-level exams would be cancelled and replaced with assessed grades, students were told they would have the option to take the exams “as soon as reasonably possible” after schools reopen following the summer holidays.
But that promise – repeated by the education secretary, Gavin Williamson – is in danger of being undermined by a reluctance among exam boards to create a costly set of extra exams if schools discourage pupils from taking part.
The boards also fear that subjects with only a small number of entries, such as modern languages including Arabic and Japanese, would see only a handful of pupils wanting to sit exams in the autumn.
Ofqual said decisions on which exams will be offered is up to individual exam boards, although that could change, depending on a consultation. “Unless we decide otherwise, the default position will be that exam boards will decide which exams to make available to students in the autumn series,” the regulator said.
Failing to hold the extra exams would mean that pupils unhappy with their assessed grades – which will be administered by the exam boards and Ofqual using teacher recommendations – would have no means to improve them until GCSEs or A-levels in spring 2021. Appeals are only allowed against the process followed, not the grades themselves.
We are still waiting for exactly what exams will be available for Edexcel International A-level and International GCSEs will be offered this September.
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