Ofqual has published 2 reports about how it monitored awarding
organisations’ delivery and award of qualifications to students
and learners in 2020 and 2021.
One report covers general qualifications (GCSEs and A levels) in
summer 2021 and the other covers vocational and technical
qualifications (VTQs) for the 12 months from September 2020.
The GCSE, AS and A level
summer report 2021 outlines how Ofqual monitored exam board
processes that allowed students to be awarded teacher-assessed
grades. Delivery and award of
vocational and technical qualifications in 2021 details how
students and learners were awarded qualifications through
assessments or alternative arrangements including
teacher-assessed grades.
Ofqual introduced the General Qualifications Alternative Awarding
Framework after the government’s decision in January 2021 that it
would not be fair for exams and assessments to go ahead in the
summer. This required exam boards to support teachers to assess
their students for GCSE, AS, A level and other general
qualifications using a range of evidence, focusing on the content
they had been taught. The framework took effect in April 2021.
The GCSE, AS and A level summer report 2021 shows that, despite
the difficulties posed by the pandemic, summer 2021 saw more than
6 million general qualification results issued on time to 1.2
million students. Compared to 2020, GCSE entries increased by
0.4% while A level entries rose by 3%.
Ofqual Chief Regulator Dr Jo Saxton said:
Schools, colleges and training providers, together with exam
boards and awarding organisations, worked hard so that millions
of qualifications could be awarded to students and learners in
exceptionally difficult circumstances. These efforts enabled them
to progress to the next stage of their lives.
Ofqual regulates 4 exam boards that award GCSEs, AS and A levels
in England, and, as of August 2021, we regulated 174 awarding
organisations offering more than 17,000 different regulated VTQs.
Ofqual also put in place the Vocational Contingency Regulatory
Framework, which gave awarding organisations the flexibility
needed to award qualifications in these exceptional
circumstances. VTQ awarding organisations issued 4.6 million
certificates, which is a 9% increase on the previous year. For
58% of these qualifications, results were determined on normal or
adapted assessments, while 32% were based on a combination of
assessments and teacher-assessed grades.
Learners took VTQs in colleges, schools, training providers or
via employers. These qualifications gave some people a licence to
practise, and others an opportunity to progress to further or
higher education.
