Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of pupils taking a different form of end-of-year assessment due to the covid-19 outbreak at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.

Exams and assessments are the best and fairest way of judging students’ performance, and the Department expects next year’s exam series to go ahead. The Department is working closely with Ofqual, the exam boards and groups representing teachers, schools and colleges to ensure that this happens as smoothly as possible. Ofqual has already consulted on a range of possible adaptations to GCSE, AS and A level exams and assessments next year, on a subject by subject basis, and has announced some changes that will reduce pressure on teaching time, and help to ensure that the young people taking exams next year have the same opportunities to progress as the students before them.