Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on exam standards of Ofqual’s decision to release optional exam board materials in advance to students.

The optional sets of questions provided by the exam boards are intended to be a helpful tool for teachers to use, if they choose, in gathering evidence to determine their pupils’ grades this year. They are one element of the overall approach to assessing pupils’ performance. These sets of questions are not exams and pupils across the country may complete them at different times or in different formats. They are openly published to ensure there is equality of access to the materials for all pupils at the same time – an approach supported by 66% of respondents to the Department’s and Ofqual’s joint consultation on how GCSE, AS and A level grades should be awarded in summer 2021.

As well as the sets of questions and other support materials, the exam boards have provided grade descriptors to exemplify the established performance standard that is to be applied in grading judgements this summer.

The materials derived from examinations are, thereby, part of a package of measures designed to deliver fairness for pupils given differential teaching experiences caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.