Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi
(Picture: PA Wire)Exams will be cancelled this summer only if there is a “public health emergency”, the Department for Education pledged today, with Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, saying he “firmly intends” exams will take place.
The Government said it is “fully committed” to exams going ahead for the first time in three years after GCSEs and A-levels were cancelled in 2020 and 2021.
From today, teachers and teenagers can find out details of topics that will come up in this summer’s exams, in a bid to help focus their revision and mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
Equation sheets will also be available on exam board websites for those studying maths and science to reduce the number of equations they need to memorise. In addition, GCSE and A-level examiners have been told to be more generous this year to account for the disruptions to education caused by the pandemic.
Clare Wagner, head of Henrietta Barnett school in Barnett, said schools are still collecting data for Teacher Assessed Grades in case public exams do not go ahead. James Handscombe, principal of Harris Westminster Sixth Form, said: “One is naturally nervous of a resurgence of the virus that would force a widespread national lockdown and make exams impossible, but that does not seem at all likely and students are glad to have exams to work towards.
“They would inevitably prefer greater precision so they are able to target their revision, but the key thing is that everyone is receiving the same information and will be assessed in a way that allows fair comparison to be made within this year group.”
In a statement, the Department for Education said: “Exams and formal assessments will go ahead as planned this summer. More than 500,000 exam entries for vocational and technical qualifications successfully took place in January, giving confidence in the exams system.” It added: “The Government is fully committed to exams going ahead this summer, and does not expect that to change except in the very unlikely case of a public health emergency which would prevent students being able to physically sit exams.
“GCSE, AS and A-level exams for each subject have also been spread out to maximise the opportunity for students to sit exams this year.”
It comes after an investigation found a huge rise in the number of A* grades awarded at A-level by leading private schools last year, when grades were based on teacher assessment.
The Sunday Times found that at some schools the number of A*s achieved by pupils more than doubled compared with 2019, when exams were taken.
