Education Secretary confirms exams will be cancelled

Gavin Williamson has confirmed that A-levels and GCSE exams in England will not go ahead this year, replaced instead with teacher assessed grades.

The exams regulator Ofqual will launch a consultation with the DfE on the options for alternatives to the exams to ensure every young person gets a fair grade for their work, but the expectation is that teacher assessment will be used. Teachers will get training and support to ensure grades are awarded fairly and consistently.

Assessments in some vocational qualifications can still take place in January, where schools and colleges judge it right to do so. The department is working with Ofqual on arrangements for those who do not take their January assessments, as well as for vocational and technical assessments scheduled for February onwards.

"We're going to put our trust in teachers rather than algorithms," Gavin Williamsom said.

Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, said: “In the context of the current lockdown and the level of disruption already experienced by pupils over the last nine months, cancelling exams is the only sensible course of action.
 
“However, we cannot risk a repeat of the chaos that engulfed this year’s exam results.
 
“Pupils and teachers now need urgent clarity and further detail of how the arrangements for teacher assessed grades will work."