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3rd Apr 2020 1:29pm News

Ofqual arrangements for GCSEs, AS and A level awards summer 2020

Ofqual provides information on the cancellation of summer 2020 GCSE, AS and A level examinations.

Following the cancellation of all summer 2020 GCSE, AS and A level examinations, Ofqual have provided details of the assessment arrangements that should be followed by centres.

For this summer’s awards, schools and colleges are being asked to provide centre assessment grades for their students. Ofqual have published guidance for centres, students and parents and carersOfqual have also provided additional guidance on making grades as fair as possible .

Ofqual say these should be fair, objective and carefully considered judgements of the grades schools and colleges believe their students would have been most likely to achieve if they had sat their exams, and should take into account the full range of available evidence.

A centre assessment grade for every student in each of their subjects should be calculated: that is, the grade they would be most likely to have achieved if they had sat their exams and completed any non-exam assessment.

Judgements should balance different sources of evidence such as:

  • classwork
  • bookwork
  • any participation in performances in subjects such as music, drama or PE
  • any non-exam assessment – whether or not complete
  • the results of any assignments or mock exams
  • previous examination results – for example, for any re-sitting students or those with relevant AS qualifications
  • any other records of student performance over the course of study
  • the rank order of students within each grade for each subject – for example, for all those students with a centre assessment grade of 5 in GCSE maths, a rank order where 1 is the most secure/highest attaining student, and so on. This information will be used in the statistical standardisation of centres’ judgements – allowing fine tuning of the standard applied across all schools and colleges
  • a declaration from the Head of Centre making the submission.

Schools and colleges have been told that they must not share their centre assessment grades with students, parents or carers, under any circumstances, until after final results are issued.

A standardisation process will be used by Awarding organisations – in the case of GCSE Citizenship Studies AQA, Edexcel and OCR-  which is likely to include:

  • expected national outcomes for this year’s students;
  • the prior attainment of students at each school and college;
  • and the results of the school or college in recent years.

The process of standardisation is subject to consultation by Ofqual which is now open. You can participate online.

If any ACT teacher or member has questions about this announcement please contact us.