Schools Week<\/em> to provide the analysis, the regulator refused. They added it does not routinely publish technical regulatory advice submissions which is \u201cstandard practice for policy development processes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOfqual said it would be transparent about its regulatory approach as the reform programme develops, including through consultation and stakeholder engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Saqib Bhatti, shadow education minister, said: \u201cOfqual must publish the evidence behind Labour\u2019s exam reduction proposals so we can see their full impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The review found students in England typically sit between 24 to 31 hours of external exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only pupils in Singapore, which has topped international league tables for attainment, spend as many hours sitting exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The review points exam time is 16 hours in Ireland, 18 hours in New Zealand and just 10 hours in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘We must maintain reliability’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n The Francis review also said, in combination with its recommendations on curriculum content, they believe it may be possible to go further than cutting 10 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it must be done \u201cwhile maintaining high levels of reliability and without a negative impact on fairness, system resilience, students\u2019 experience, and teaching and learning\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On how it could be achieved, Francis told Schools Week<\/em>: \u201cIt depends, subject by subject to some extent, which ironically will probably mean that in practice, some kids are affected more than others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut Bhatti said the government\u2019s plans to cut exams \u201crisks undermining\u201d fairness \u201cand weakening standards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Phillipson told the Today programme that \u201cmany other high performing countries have fewer hours in terms of exams than we will be at even by the end of this process\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Myles McGinley, managing director at Cambridge OCR exam board, said the plan will \u201clikely mean shorter exams, rather than fewer exams overall\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Claire Heald, chief executive at The Cam Academy Trust, said the reduction will \u201chopefully enable more flexibility, choice and support for learners, particularly the vulnerable\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ofqual told review the reduction \u2013 which works out as cutting 10 per cent of exam time on average \u2013 was ‘feasible with current content levels’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311127,"featured_media":237563,"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-237559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
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