GCSE and A-Level students can sit their exams in the Autumn if they don’t like the grades their teachers give them, the exam regulator confirmed today.
But students’ grades from the autumn series will be based on exams alone with no coursework – except in art and design qualifications, Ofqual said.
This year’s exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and instead teachers will look at previous exams and other work from the past year to give them a grade.
The watchdog has also said today that pupils will not be allowed to challenge the grade their teachers give them, or their position in the school’s rank order.
Ofqual has confirmed that exam boards must make exams available in all the GCSE, AS and A-level qualifications that they had planned to run in the summer – but in the autumn term.
It said: “Any appeal would have to be undertaken by someone better placed than the student’s teachers to judge their likely grade if exams had taken place – in the unique circumstances of this summer, we do not believe there is any such person.”
A school or college can still appeal to the exam board if it believes it made an error.
And exams boards must still look into allegations of “serious malpractice” raised by students who are concerned their teacher was biased against them.
A-level pupils will get their results on August 13 and GCSE students will be given grades on August 20.
All pupils are set to return to school from September.
But it’s likely they will face tough new rules to keep them apart – similar to those which reception, years one and six have seen so far.
In secondary school, year groups are likely to be divided up into “bubbles” and they won’t be allowed to mix with other years, according to reports from the Huffington Post.
Kids in some schools may be forced to stop some subjects if they need to catch up on core subjects like English and Maths, too.
Gavin Williamson is due to reveal the plan to get the nation’s schools back on Thursday.
Previously the Government had said they wanted all primary kids to be back in the classrooms for a month before the summer, but this plan was dropped after an outcry from schools and unions.
Schools in Wales went back yesterday, but only a third are allowed in at once. They are expected to see their teachers for just a handful of times before the summer break.
Kids will return to schools in Scotland from August.
A DfE spokesperson said: “Pupils have been returning to school since 1 June – we’ve already given primary schools the flexibility to invite more children back if they have the capacity, and 1.5 million children were in school at the end of last week.
“We’ve said we want to see all children back at school in September – returning to full primary and secondary class sizes in a safe way.
“We continue to engage with school leaders, teaching unions and the wider sector about our plans and will publish full details later this week.”
