By Gavin Mackintosh-
Pupils taking GCSE and A-level exams in England next year will be given advance notice on the focus of exam papers and more lenient grading than before the pandemic to make up for Covid-19 disruption.
Under the new plans, students will also be offered exam aids and a choice of topics in some exams during the 2022 summer series, the Government has confirmed.
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More pupils are set to be given higher grades next year than before the pandemic in order to provide a “safety net” for the cohort of students who have missed out on learning during school and college closures.
But results are expected to return to normal standards by 2023, according to the Department for Education (DfE) and exams regulator Ofqual.
The DfE and Ofqual have confirmed a choice of topics in some GCSE exams, such as English literature and history, will be offered, and support materials in exams, such as formulae and equation sheets in maths and physics, will be provided.
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In subjects where a choice of topics are not provided, advance information on the focus of exam content will be given in early February to help students with their revision.
The final decisions come after a joint consultation launched in July.
Education unions say giving advanced information about exam content in the spring will be too late for teachers to prepare their pupils for the exams.
Grade boundaries will be set by exam boards reflecting a midway point between 2021 and 2019 results so that more students get higher grades in 2022 than before the pandemic – to reflect the recovery period.
Next summer’s results are likely to be higher than in 2019, but not as high as in 2020.
But the grading standards for students who are due to sit their exams in summer 2023 are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels.
This year, 44.8% of UK A-level entries were awarded an A or A* grade, compared with 38.5% entries which achieved the top grades in 2020.
In 2019, when exams were last run before the pandemic, 25.5% of entries achieved the top grades.
Students will receive their AS and A-level results on August 18 and their GCSE results on August 25, a week apart.
It is the Government’s intention that exams will take place next year, but the Government and Ofqual have also published proposals for using teacher-assessed grades as a contingency measure if exams cannot run.
A consultation on proposed contingency plans will run until October 13.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “We’ve put fairness at the heart of our approach and listened to pupils, teachers and parents.”
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