GCSEs and A levels for 2022

The CEO of England's biggest school exam board AQA, has said not to expect "leap back to normality" for GCSEs and A levels for 2022.

AQA head Colin Hughes said at the schools and acemdemy show: "There is no leap back to normality in 2022 or, for that matter, arguably in 2023, and the reason I would say that is, we’ve got a whole generation of students here who’ve been impacted by this pandemic, and we’ve got to think very carefully about doing the right thing by them".

Colin goes on to say:

"Clearly the discussion is already underway about 2022 and beyond, and I think we have to recognise the continuing impact of the pandemic on the entire generation, and what can we do – there is a fair amount we can do but we need to get stuck into the detail in the not very distant future."

We strongly hope that they scrap coursework and non exam assessment.

“some easement” Colin said might be needed to take learning loss into account when exams returned – for example, the use of learning aids.

Mr Hughes said that ongoing consulting on the process and that "it’s not something we can just jump to, instantly – that’s not going to happen".

Should GCSEs be abolished?

Colin said it was unsurprising to hear of the demands to scrap GCSEs all together. Colin said boards should not be shy to discuss the abolish of GCSEs all together. (There share and stakes holders might have other ideas).

"It’s not even vaguely surprising that the extraordinary situation over this past period provoked an unprecedented public interest in what are exams for, how are they conducted, where are they going to go from here, and I don’t think we should be shy of that. It’s a perfectly legitimate public debate – let’s have it," he said.

Colin went on "we’re in fairly close touch with public sentiment on these things", and that teachers, parents and students, far from calling for an end to GCSEs, "are basically asking us over and over again when can we get back to what we know and understand, which is regular exams".

While he said given that' 70 per cent of students change school at 16, an end to assessment at this age would mean a fundamental redesign of the education system.