Teachers’ leaders have raised concerns over the fact A-level course content for 2021 will not be cut, despite changes to some GCSE syllabuses.

While GCSE history, ancient history and English literature students will benefit from more choice in their exams, as confirmed by Ofqual today, older students will not benefit in the same way.

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Amanda Brown, deputy general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the union was worried that a lack of changes to A-level course content would exacerbate inequalities created by the Covid-19 crisis.

She said: “We’re concerned that the government has its head in the sand with its approach to GCSEs and A levels in England for 2021.

“The government is going to need to adjust the content in GCSEs and A levels beyond what was announced today. If the content isn’t set at a realistic level, the results will become more a measure of which groups of students lost the most access to learning under Covid.” 

She referred to the fact that education secretary Gavin Williamson had acknowledged that students would not have covered all elements of their courses in the expected depth by next year.

She said the government needed to “Covid proof” exams for next year, but that today’s confirmation of “business as normal” did not make allowances for disruption next year, including a lack of contingency plans for local or regional lockdowns.

’‘The DfE and Ofqual have acknowledged that students have not had equal opportunities to access learning at home but the adaptations published so far aren’t enough to counter that unfairness,” she said.

“Teachers will ask why it is possible to reduce content in many courses to more realistic levels in Wales but not in England. 

“The NEU doesn’t agree that fewer adaptations are necessary for A-level students just because they are older. The same challenge faces A-level students and teachers next year and content must be reduced to manageable and realistic levels if the awards next summer are to be a valid verdict on student’s efforts. 

“It’s sensible planning to reduce content in English literature GCSE but the DfE needs to take this approach and apply it to other subjects so all courses next year are enjoyable, manageable and engaging. Parents will expect courses to be realistic for their teenager and to reflect the disruption from Covid and teachers must be given courses to teach which are manageable and which enable them to support effective learning.”