Pupils sitting their GCSE, A-Level and vocational exams next year look likely to get advance notice of the topics and study areas that will be on their paper, as an attempt by the government to ensure that students are not unfairly disadvantaged by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UK government has set out a series of proposals for exams taking place in summer term 2022, which includes allowing schools and colleges some choice over the content that their pupils are to be assessed on in subjects like English, history, ancient history and geography. The scheme also includes an initiative to give schools advance information on exam content to help students focus their learning and revision, as well as potentially providing expanded exam aids like formulae sheets in subjects like maths and physics.
The Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual (the UK exams regulator) have launched a three-week consultation on the proposed exam modifications, asking for views from educators and teaching professionals as well as students and parents. Ofqual are also looking into ways of grading qualifications in 2022 in a way that keeps fairness at the centre of the process, and tries to understand the conditions that students have been working and learning under.
The proposed changes have been a move largely welcomed on social media by young people all over the country, with many students citing that although it doesn’t make up for the ways in which their education has been interrupted by the effects of remote learning since the global pandemic, it’s a step in the right direction. Speaking on Tuesday, the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said that “Exams will always be the fairest way to assess students, which is why they will take place next year, but it’s right that next summer’s arrangements take into account the disruption young people have faced over the last 18 months.”
Although it’s been a move that’s received positive feedback from the online student community, some education professionals are worried about the short notice with which they’re foreseeing having to implement these changes. Nick Brook, the deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers commented to the BBC that “In reality, all of this should have been put to bed weeks, if not months, ago – we are only days away from the end of term. School leaders wanted decisions for adaptations and contingencies made before the summer break, with details before the start of term in September, not least because August will be a busy month supporting students with their results and working on reviews and appeals.”
Whatever the outcome of the proposed changes, it’s been a dramatic eighteen months to be in education and supporting students through the examination process has to be handled with sensitivity and student welfare kept at the heart of the process. You can read more about the assessment changes for 2022 at the BBC here, as well as find a more in-depth look at the new proposals here.