By Sir Ian Bauckham
CBE
Growing sense of anticipation as students start the final
push to exams and assessments
As the long-anticipated and eagerly-awaited break for the Easter
holidays arrives, the thoughts of students up and down the
country will be turning to their summer exams.
For many of those studying GCSEs and a range of vocational and
technical qualifications, it will be a new experience. For others
who are sitting A levels, T Levels, or vocational qualifications
such as BTECs and Cambridge Technicals at level 3, it will be
more familiar.
During this Easter break many students who have exams on the
horizon will be devoting time to study and preparation for
qualifications that will open doors to their futures – whether
that's further study, an apprenticeship or entering the world of
work.
As a teacher and school leader I spent many years preparing
classes of students for GCSEs and A levels. In my experience, the
vast majority really want to do their best. Of course, I taught
many students who needed extra support or a boost to their
confidence – preparing for exams is a significant challenge for
some. But I also remember vividly how so many students who go
through a crisis of confidence rise to the challenge, with the
help of their teachers, family and friends. And the pride every
parent and teacher shares with the student when that happens is
worth its weight in gold.
As Chief Regulator of Qualifications at Ofqual I'm committed to
making sure that when students open their results in August, they
receive qualifications that stand the test of time and fairly
reflect their accomplishments.
Having spent more than 30 years in schools, I know how important
it is that young people – as well as their families, future
employers and society – trust the qualifications they work so
hard for.
Qualifications unlock opportunities in life. A student in my old
school who, having come from a family where no-one had studied
beyond the age of 16 before, worked incredibly hard for her
GCSEs, took science and maths A levels, and managed to secure an
apprenticeship with Jaguar Land Rover, conditional on high A
level grades. Those degree apprenticeships are very competitive.
She and her parents could hardly believe it when they opened that
envelope in August. It only happened because she was motivated to
work for her qualifications to achieve a better future for
herself.
As students take their exams and assessments, they can be
confident that the rules are the same for everyone – that's at
the heart of fairness. Everyone sits them at the same time under
the same conditions, and they're marked by expert examiners who
have no preconceptions about a student's ability. In fact,
examiners don't even know the students' names, which schools they
attend or even which part of the country they're from.
We require exam boards and awarding organisations to have robust
quality assurance processes for marking and moderating in place.
Once exam scripts have been marked, highly experienced examiners
agree grade boundaries which reflect any slight changes in the
difficulty of each particular exam from previous years. This
process ensures that year on year it is no harder or easier to
get a particular grade. Each student then gets a grade based on
their own individual performance in that exam. There's no set
quota of grades – I can't stress this strongly enough. Grades are
awarded purely on a student's performance. And if you look back
across the years, there are variations in the number of students
getting any particular grade, from the highest to the lowest.
That's because the performance of students naturally varies a
little from year to year.
A student who needs a grade 4 at GCSE English to enrol on a
college course, for example, or an aspiring medical student
aiming for an A in chemistry to get into university, can rest
assured that, if they perform well enough, they'll get the
qualifications they need.
Studying requires effort and self-discipline, time and energy.
Students who make that investment should find their growing sense
of anticipation being rewarded in August when they get their
results. Qualifications open doors to the future – they are worth
that investment.
I wish all students preparing for qualifications the best in
their studies.
