Changes made to some GCSE, AS and A level qualifications
this year will continue in 2022.
We have decided to carry forward some of the changes to
non-exam assessment and fieldwork agreed for 2021 for
students entering qualifications in summer 2022.
There was strong support for these proposals, as the
Analysis of
consultation responses: Arrangements for non-exam
assessment and fieldwork requirements for students entering
qualifications in 2022 shows. This was particularly the
case for respondents who work in schools and colleges. For
most subjects, 70% to 92% of respondents supported the
proposals for GCSE subjects, and between 60% to 89% for GCE
AS and A levels.
Of those who responded, 9 out of 10 said they could not
identify any impact that would affect students because of
their protected characteristics.
Simon Lebus, Ofqual Interim Chief Regulator, said:
“I am pleased there was such broad support for the proposed
approach to non-exam assessment next year.
“These decisions provide certainty for school and college
leaders, teachers and students if they cannot undertake
assessments as normal, and now students can forge ahead.”
The changes mean that we will allow adjustments to the
assessment and evidence requirements for non-exam
assessment in a range of subjects including dance, design
and technology, food preparation and nutrition, music and
physical education. In the main, we are giving exam boards
the opportunity to allow teachers to decide how to support
and assess their students, in light of any public health
restrictions.
We have also decided to remove the requirement for schools
and colleges to confirm that they have given students the
opportunity to carry out a specified number of fieldwork
activities in geography, geology and environmental science
qualifications. Schools can, of course, organise fieldwork
for their students and we recognise the benefits of doing
so – fieldwork is an important part of these
qualifications. But we know from consultation responses
that the pandemic will make it difficult, or impossible,
for some centres to organise off-site fieldwork. In GCSE
and AS geography, students will still be required to answer
questions on fieldwork more generally, rather than
fieldwork they have done themselves. At A level, geography
students will continue to undertake an independent
investigation but exam boards will be flexible in their
requirements for use of primary data.
As for other decisions outlined in Decisions on
arrangements for non-exam assessment and fieldwork
requirements for students entering qualifications in
2022:
-
for GCSE English language, we will not require teachers
to submit an audio-visual recording of a sample of
students undertaking their spoken language assessments
-
for GCSEs in modern foreign languages (MFL), teachers
and students should prepare for spoken language in 2022
to be assessed in the normal way, through formal
speaking tests - if it becomes clear that the speaking
test cannot take place because of the public health
situation, we will implement contingency arrangements
using the assessment criteria published for 2021 and a
qualification endorsement approach
-
we have also removed the requirement for exam boards to
use vocabulary outside of that included on their
vocabulary lists for GCSE MFL
This consultation, which was open from 14 to 28 May,
attracted 2,663 responses.
