{"id":220978,"date":"2024-12-05T17:09:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=220978"},"modified":"2024-12-05T17:12:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:12:24","slug":"exam-boards-plans-for-on-screen-gcse-exams-delayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/exam-boards-plans-for-on-screen-gcse-exams-delayed\/","title":{"rendered":"Exam boards’ plans for on-screen GCSE exams delayed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plans by all three exams boards to introduce on-screen GCSE exams have been delayed, amid disruption caused by the general election and curriculum and assessment review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OCR, AQA and Pearson EdExcel had ambitions for digital exams in 2025 and 2026, in what was marked as a \u201cpivotal moment\u201d by board bosses. All require sign off by regulator Ofqual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But OCR has now said July\u2019s general election and the new government\u2019s curriculum review means they\u2019ll no longer be able to launch the \u201cpioneering\u201d digitally assessed computer science GCSE for first teaching in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson said it has made \u201cgood progress\u201d on the qualification and wants to make sure it works for school \u201cin the long term\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur development includes taking time to ensure the qualification is in line with any plans for the subject and for digital assessment more widely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pearson EdExcel had planned<\/a> to give students the choice to take GCSE English language and English literature on-screen in summer 2025.\u00a0But this is now \u201cunlikely\u201d to happen next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hayley White, assessment vice president, told a Westminster Education Forum this week they \u201cshared\u201d their \u201cintention\u201d with Ofqual to offer the qualification digitally earlier this year, but \u201cthose conversations stalled as we worked through the general election, and we\u2019re picking up that dialogue now\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson said they are now proposing English \u201cis the first core subject to be available as an onscreen exam to all schools within the next few years\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has shared its proposal with Ofqual \u201cfor their initial review and feedback\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Pearson said it sees an \u201copportunity for access arrangements to be expanded\u201d next summer to allow for on-screen assessment for students with additional needs. But it did not provide any further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pearson said it will also look to introduce on-screen GCSEs in history and business from 2027<\/a>. If there was \u201cenough demand\u201d, then most GCSEs and A-levels would be on-screen by 2030, they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofqual to ensure exams can be ‘delivered securely’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AQA has already confirmed a delay<\/a> to introduce on-screen exams in GCSE Polish and Italian reading and listening components in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Colin
Hughes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But Colin Hughes, chief executive, said there has been a \u201cpause, not least because of the pre-election period\u201d. It has been pushed back by at least a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board expects to make announcements in the coming months. It wants a large-entry subject like English going digital by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Ofqual spokesperson said it has not received any formal proposals for on-screen assessments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore any on-screen assessments are accredited, we need to be assured that they can be delivered securely and fairly for students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They confirmed the curriculum and assessment review, which is due to report later in 2025, did not affect its work \u201cwith exam boards as they develop approaches to on-screen assessment\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator who is an observer on the review, told the Schools and Academies Show that the pandemic exposed a digital divide.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t really make sense to put in place the enormous financial investment you would need in schools to equip everybody to do [digital exams] equally, efficiently across the country and not at the same time have a wider project for digitising education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, our research that we\u2019re doing has indicated we would get best value for that investment if digitising exams was part a wider digitisation project right across education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofqual and the Department for Education have been undertaking a feasibility study on \u201cwhat it would take\u201d to make GCSE and A-level exams fully digital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AQA research found teachers’ biggest barrier to digital exams was a lack of infrastructure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proposals from all three exam boards to introduce digital exams have fallen behind schedule<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311127,"featured_media":220944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"post-theme":[],"class_list":["post-220978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t