By A-level and GCSE results to be decided by teachers.
GCSEs and A-levels cancelled in England by the pandemic will be replaced by grades decided by teachers, the exams watchdog Ofqual has confirmed.
There will be no fixed share of grades – and schools will not be expected to keep in line with last year’s results or any earlier year.
Instead teachers will be expected to award grades based on their professional judgement, drawing on whatever evidence is available.
Schools minister Nick Gibb said the government had devised “the best system possible to ensure there is consistency and fairness in how teachers submit grades for their students”.
Asked whether he accepted grades would be inflated this year, he told BBC Breakfast the government had put in place “different checking mechanisms” to ensure there was “consistency”.
He added ministers had devised the “best system possible” to ensure “fairly awarded grades at a time when we don’t think it’s fair for [students] to sit the exams in the normal way.”
The decision to cancel exams this summer due to the Covid pandemic was made earlier this year, with it now announced that schools will instead determine students’ grades by using a combination of mock exam results, essays and coursework.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted on Thursday that “no child should be left behind as a result of learning lost during the pandemic”, which was why government had devised a “fair and flexible system” that would ensure all young people “can progress to the next stage of their education or career”.
