Ensure fair grading for GCSE and A Level students in 2023

We want the Government to work with Ofqual to ensure that students are graded as generously in 2023 as they were in 2022, to reflect the disruption caused by covid-19 and upcoming strikes.

Please give our children a chance at success and don’t penalise them for situations beyond their control.

Y11 pupils had their education disrupted during Y8. Y7 was their last full year of teaching on-site. Now in Y11, with examinations imminent, teaching is being curtailed before these pivotal exams.

As well as all the turmoil, bereavements and SEMH issues navigated in light of Covid, I feel it highly unfair that they are expected to perform as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. We now face lost teaching due to strikes and many families are experiencing trials and tribulations due to the mounting Cost of Living crisis.

In September 2021, when students began studying their GCSE and A level course, the independent regulator for qualifications, Ofqual, set out a two-year plan for grading.

Last September, Ofqual confirmed that, as had been announced in 2021, there would be a return to pre-pandemic grading in 2023, with protection in place for GCSEs, AS and A levels against the impact of disruption, including from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year grading will include an allowance for disruption which means that overall results are expected to be similar to those pre-pandemic. The grading protection for GCSE, AS and A level students will see senior examiners making allowances where national performance is found to be a little lower than before the pandemic.

This means that a typical student is just as likely to achieve a particular grade this year as they would have been before the pandemic, even if their performance is a little weaker.

There is no limit or cap on the number of students who can achieve each grade. Students will be awarded a grade that reflects their performance. As always, exams will be marked by independent examiners, using the agreed mark schemes. Grading happens after marking, and grade boundaries are set each year because the question papers change from one year to the next.

The Department has updated its guidance to schools on how to handle strike action in their schools, in order to minimise disruption to children and families. If schools needed to restrict attendance as a last resort, the guidance that schools prioritise vulnerable children, children of critical workers and pupils who are due to take public examinations (like GCSEs and A levels) and other formal assessments. The guidance also encourages schools to consider what action they could take to ensure pupils due to take their GCSEs, A levels or vocational qualifications were supported and prepared for their exams. For example, offering catch-up lessons or arranging additional revision sessions.