Welsh exam regulator urges for 2021 GCSEs to be cancelled

Next year's GCSE exams in Wales should be cancelled, with grades awarded based on coursework and common assessments, Qualifications Wales has said.

For A levels, in addition to coursework and set tasks, the exam watchdog said that learners would need to sit one exam per subject – but with a backup opportunity to take the exam if the pupil is ill or is self-isolating.

This summer saw exams cancelled because of the Covid-19 lockdown, and grades were instead awarded by an algorithm. This was then scrapped and replaced by teacher assessments.

An independent inquiry into what went wrong this summer was commissioned by Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams.

In response, Qualifications Wales is recommending that external assessments are retained for GCSEs, AS and A levels next summer but that there should be no timetabled exams except for A levels.

Grades for GCSEs and AS levels would instead be awarded based on coursework and a set of common assessments taken during the year.

The exam regulator is also recommending that schools and colleges are given windows of opportunity for when assessments take place within which there will be some flexibility.

For A levels, in addition to coursework and set tasks, students would need to sit one exam per subject but with a backup opportunity to take the exam if the pupil is ill or is self-isolating.

Qualifications Wales is also working on plans with fellow regulators in England and Northern Ireland for how vocational qualifications serving the three nations will be awarded next year.

They have said that whichever model is adopted for next year, it is likely to impact on 2022 as well, and conclude there is not a “sufficiently robust mechanism of moderation that can be put in place effectively for next summer”.