Ofqual\u2019s chief regulator has issued his first formal “rebuke” to an exam board for “serious failures” over a six year period.<\/p>\n
The exams watchdog said WJEC failed to collect and monitor centre declaration forms for four of its Eduqas GCSE, AS and A Level qualifications between 2019 and 2025, which are offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
The rebuke<\/a> was first introduced as an enforcement tool in October 2025. It is used for cases that are serious enough to be publicly held to account, but do not warrant a fine<\/a>.<\/p>\n A WJEC spokesperson said they regretted the instances of non-compliance and had strengthened prevention measures.<\/p>\n The declaration forms are required to show that centres have complied with the subject content requirements.<\/p>\n The exam board admitted it had failed to make the relevant staff aware of the requirements related to the declaration forms.<\/p>\n Affected qualifications include GCSE drama, AS and A Level drama and theatre, GCSE geography, and GCSE computer science.<\/p>\n Chief regulator Ian Bauckham said the rebuke \u201cdemonstrates our commitment to\u202ftaking action to protect\u202fstudents\u202fand uphold public confidence in qualifications\u201d.<\/p>\n He added:\u00a0\u201cIt enables\u00a0us to hold an awarding organisation to account publicly for serious failings when\u00a0a fine\u00a0is not\u00a0warranted.<\/p>\n “The circumstances of this case\u202finclude that\u202fthere\u202fwas\u202fno evidence to\u202findicate\u202fany\u202factual\u202fadverse\u202feffects on\u202fstudents.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, these\u202ffailings\u202fby WJEC\u202frepresent\u202fserious breaches of Ofqual\u2019s\u202fconditions across multiple subjects and years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u202ffailures had the potential to\u202fprejudice\u202fstudents\u202fand undermine\u202fpublic confidence in the validity of regulated qualifications.\u201d<\/p>\n Ofqual acknowledged that WJEC had \u201ctaken steps to rectify its processes and prevent reoccurrence\u201d, but the failures” undermined essential assurance mechanisms\u201d.<\/p>\n It added the rebuke serves as a \u201cformal expression\u201d of concern and sets an expectation for WJEC to ensure it has \u201ca strong regulatory compliance culture, systems and oversight to prevent similar incidents recurring in the future”.<\/p>\n A spokesperson from WJEC said that the instances \u201caffected a small number of subjects\u201d and they were \u201cconfident that there is no evidence to\u202findicate any\u202factual\u202fadverse\u202feffects on learners\u201d.<\/p>\n They added: \u201cHowever, we take full responsibility and acknowledge that we did not meet the high standards expected of us.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have cooperated fully with Ofqual throughout this process and have undertaken a comprehensive review of our procedures.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have implemented strengthened measures to ensure this does not happen again, and we want to reassure learners and centres of our ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest standards.\u201d<\/p>\n WJEC has entries for more than 4,200 centres in England, and accounts for 7.1 per cent of GCSE exams and 6.2 per cent of A Level exams in 2024-25.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The new power was introduced last October and is meant for cases that are not serious enough for a fine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316072,"featured_media":245201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[463,147],"post-theme":[2345],"class_list":["post-245196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-assessment","tag-ofqual","post-theme-assessment"],"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‘No evidence for adverse effect on learners’<\/h3>\n