Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether students will be required to sit (a) GCSE and (b) A-Level examinations in summer 2022.

It is the government’s firm intention that exams and assessments should go ahead this year. We regularly engage with stakeholders throughout the education sector and there continues to be widespread support for exams to go ahead.

Together with Ofqual, we have confirmed a range of adaptations to GCSE, AS and A level exams. Students will have advance information on the focus of their exams in most subjects to support their revision. Combined with the choice of content or topics in some GCSEs, and a transition year for grading, this constitutes a package of unprecedented aid and support, reflecting the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In the unlikely event that exams cannot go ahead fairly or safely, we have contingency arrangements in place and have confirmed students would receive teacher assessed grades instead.