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The GCSE and A-level exams in England will take place next summer, but “most” of them will be delayed three weeks, announced the Secretary of Education.
Gavin Williamson said the measure “would give students more time to prepare and the opportunity to catch up on education missed due to COVID-19“.
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“We know that tests are the fairest way to measure the abilities and achievements of a student, including the most disadvantaged,” he said.
“We want to give our young people the opportunity next summer to show what they know and can do.”
The core set of exams will begin on June 7 and run until July 2, in addition to the GCSEs for English and Math, which will take place before the May semester.
Some AS-level and A-level with a small number of students will also take place before the semester.
The results days for the A and GCSE levels will fall on August 24 and 27 respectively.
On the prospect of exams being interrupted by coronavirusWilliamson said schools and colleges “have shown that testing can be done, even in locally restricted areas” during the current fall test suite.
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“Next year’s exams will be backed by contingencies for all scenarios,” he added.
“Today I wrote to Ofqual to ask the regulator to support the government in developing these agreements, working closely with school and higher education leaders, teachers, examination boards, unions and the higher education sector. .
“The results of this planning and ongoing discussions with the industry will be released later in the fall.”
Reacting to the announcement, the NAHT school leaders union said it was “just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the planning that now needs to be done.”
Secretary General Paul Whiteman said: “This step does not address the disparity between different levels of disruption to learning for different students – much more needs to be done to ensure the grading system takes this into account so that students can be confident. in which the qualifications that are awarded in 2021 are fair “.
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The Education Secretary was pressured to resign this summer due to a controversial algorithm used to grade students whose exams were canceled due to the pandemic.
Ultimately, it was discarded in favor of teacher-assessed grades, after nearly 40% of A-Level grades were downgraded.
Williamson said he was “incredibly saddened by the anguish” the dispute caused the students and that when “it became clear there were anomalies,” the government changed course.
Ofqual’s director told deputies that it was a “fundamental mistake” to believe that the algorithm “would ever be acceptable to the public.”
Roger Taylor also told the Select Committee on Education that the body advised the government not to cancel exams this summer due to the coronavirus.
