This year GCSEs, AS and A levels are returning to pre-pandemic standards, with protection built into the grading process to recognise the disruption that students have faced. Students are at the heart of Ofqual’s decisions. It’s important that we get …
Students are at the heart of Ofqual’s work, and thousands take vocational and technical qualifications, such as BTEC Nationals or Cambridge Technicals. These qualifications are a passport for students to move on to further studies, an apprenticeship or employment. Ofqual …
Next week, summer exams start for GCSEs, AS and A levels – the first summer exams for 3 years. More than a million students will sit exams in thousands of different exam centres. More than 70,000 examiners and moderators will …
Foreword by Paul Newton, Ofqual Research Chair. Ofqual has a statutory duty to promote public confidence in regulated qualifications, which means that we need to listen carefully to what people think and feel about them. Never has this obligation been …
As we all know, awarding for some vocational, technical and other general qualifications (VTQs) is going to be different in 2021. The ongoing effects of the pandemic mean that assessment, awarding, and even results days will continue to be far …
The 2020 summer GCSE and A level result period was challenging for everyone, particularly for young people awaiting the outcome that would decide their immediate future. Whatever one thinks of the methods employed to determine grades, of the policy changes …
Today (17 December, 2020) is results day for the AS and A level autumn series (GCSE results days are in January and February). We understand how difficult life has been for students this year, and pay tribute to the resilience …
Prof. Kevin Woods and Dr. Tee McCaldin are both psychologists working at the University of Manchester Institute of Education. They have written several posts on coping with exam anxiety for our blog, and this latest one looks at ways to manage anxious feelings before exam results.
Last week we announced our plans for making sure students taking GCSEs, AS and A levels, as well as extended project qualifications and the advanced extension award in maths, get grades this summer. We published information for teachers, heads of …
The National Reference Test (or NRT) is now in its fourth year, and schools across England are getting ready to take the test in the coming weeks. This test measures the performance of year 11 students in English language and …