Grades and assessment in summer 2021

• Grades this year should be based on teachers’ assessments of the evidence of the standard at which their students are performing.
• Teachers should make final assessments of the standard of their students’ performance during late May and early June.
• The papers taken by each student will have to cover a similar proportion of the content.
• Teachers will continue to assess any non-exam assessment that a student has undertaken.
• Teachers should draw on a range of broader evidence of a student’s work in making their final assessment.
• Teachers should record the evidence on which they base their decision for each student.

Administration of assessments

• If schools or colleges use exam board provided papers or create their own, it is proposed that they should be used by teachers within a set period of time.
• Students’ performance will be assessed within their school or college. If the pandemic makes it essential, papers could be completed at an alternative venue, including a student’s home.

Support for teachers, and internal and external quality assurance

• Exam boards should provide support materials and training to help teachers objectively and consistently assess their students’ performance.
• Schools and colleges would put in place internal standardisation arrangements, and a procedure for heads of department and then the head of centre would agree and sign off the grades submitted by their teachers.
• Exam boards should require assurance about the internal quality assurance arrangements used and should also sample the evidence on which the submitted grades were based.
• Exam boards could only change submitted grades after a review of the evidence and following discussion with the school or college.

Appeals

• Teachers should not tell students the grade they have submitted to the exam boards. Once results have been issued, a student should be able to appeal to their school or college if they thought an error had been made.
• All students should be able to appeal their grade. A student should also be able to appeal further to the exam board on the grounds that the school or college had not acted in line with the exam board’s procedural requirements.

Private candidates

• Private candidates must be given an opportunity to demonstrate the standard at which they can perform, using the papers provided or should take exams in their more typical form.

Timelines proposed:

• Students would continue with their education during this academic year.
• Students would be assessed by their teachers in a period beginning in May into early June.
• Teachers would submit grades to the exam boards by mid-June.
• External quality assurance by the exam boards would be ongoing throughout June.
• Results would be issued to students once the QA process is complete, most likely in early July.
• Student appeals could be submitted immediately following the issue of results and would first be considered by schools and colleges.

Have your say 

The consultations have now closed and we'd like to thank all the teachers and other stakeholders who have given us their views on the consultation proposals and helped to inform our responses. We're expecting to hear the outcome of the consultations in the week beginning 22 February. 

We know you will have lots of unanswered questions about summer 2021 and we're continuing to work closely with the DfE, Ofqual and the other exam boards to give you the clarity you need. 

You can also read the summary of the VTQ consultation proposals and other general qualification proposals.