Awarding of GCSEs, AS and A levels in summer 2020

On Friday 3rd April, Ofqual set out details about how GCSE, AS and A levels will be awarded this summer and published further guidance for teachers, students, parents and carers. Sally Collier, Ofqual's chief executive has stated, "Our overriding aim in this is to be fair to students this summer and to make sure you are not disadvantaged." Schools will not be allowed to tell students the grades submitted to exam boards or how they are ranked and, in an attempt to ensure grades are as fair as possible, exam boards will put all centre assessment grades through a process of standardisation developed by Ofqual. In relation to students who have agreed reasonable adjustments or access arrangements, the guidelines state:

“Schools and colleges will judge the grade that these students would most likely have achieved if they had been able to sit their examinations with the intended reasonable adjustment or access arrangement in place.”

Official information for Heads of Centre, Heads of Department and teachers, Guidance for teachers, students, parents and carers and a Letter to students is available to read on gov.uk. 

Summary of key information:

Exam boards will be contacting schools, colleges and other exam centres after Easter asking them to submit, no earlier than 29 May 2020, a centre assessment grade for every student in each of their subjects. This should reflect the grade they would be most likely to have achieved if they had sat their exams and completed any non-exam assessment.

Judgements should balance different sources of evidence such as:

• classwork
• bookwork
• any participation in performances in subjects such as music, drama or PE
• any non-exam assessment – whether or not complete
• the results of any assignments or mock exams
• previous examination results – for example, for any re-sitting students or those with relevant AS qualifications
• any other records of student performance over the course of study
• the rank order of students within each grade for each subject. This information will be used in the statistical standardisation of centres’ judgements – allowing fine tuning of the standard applied across all schools and colleges
• a declaration from the Head of Centre making the submission

Ofqual are also urgently exploring whether there are alternative options for students who need results this summer to progress and for whom a centre grade assessment is not possible. FE Colleges and Universities have been asked to consider private candidates when making admissions decisions this summer.