Teacher-assessed grades (TAGs) are likely to give a “much more accurate” reflection of what students are capable of this year than exams, according to the head of Ofqual.

Ofqual interim chief regulator Simon Lebus said tens of thousands of pupils in England awaiting their A-level and GCSE results can “feel satisfied” their grades are fair despite exams being cancelled for the second straight year,

Pupils are set to receive their A-level results on Tuesday and GCSE results on Thursday, with grades determined by teachers, rather than exams, as they will only be assessed on what they have been taught during the pandemic.

Mr Lebus told the BBC that the watchdog wanted to create a system where every student was given a fair chance to show what they can do.

“I’m very confident that, when they get their grades on Tuesday and Thursday this week, they’ll be able to feel satisfied that that’s happened,” he told the broadcaster.

Mr Lebus said there have been three stages of checks to ensure students can feel they have been “fairly treated”, including Ofqual checking the policies that schools have for awarding grades and exam boards looking over them.

He was asked: “Why is it that this system may see overall a slightly more generous grading than for example a normal exam year?”

He responded: “I think a good way to think of it is exams are a bit like a snapshot, a photograph - you capture an instant, it’s a form of sampling - whereas teacher assessment, it allows teachers to observe student performance over a much longer period, in a rather more complex way, taking into account lots of different pieces of work and arriving at a holistic judgment.

“I think, from that point of view, we can feel satisfied that it’s likely to give a much more accurate and substantial reflection of what their students are capable of achieving.”

An Ofqual spokesperson later clarified that Mr Lebus “meant TAGs will be more accurate this year than exams could have been, were they to have taken place”. 

“In a normal year, our preference would be for exams,” he added.

GCSE and A-level results: ‘Apples and oranges’

Meanwhile, heads have cautioned against comparing this year’s GCSE and A-level results with outcomes in other years, saying it is like “comparing apples with oranges”.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said today that “it would not be surprising” if the grade distribution this year looked different to that in previous years.

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There is growing expectation that A-level grades this year will show more grade inflation than that seen in 2020.

Last week, Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research (CEER) at the University of Buckingham, said that “early signs are that it will be another bumper year for grades”.

“The danger is that the inflated grades, in other words, lower standards, will become the new norm,” he added.

Mr Barton said today: “There has been speculation about the possibility of grade inflation this year.

“It would not be surprising if the distribution of grades is different from years when exams take place, or indeed the grade distribution last year, because this year’s approach to assessment is different from other years and making direct comparisons is therefore akin to comparing apples with oranges.

“This does not represent a devaluing of the grades awarded. On the contrary. This cohort of students has suffered more educational disruption than any cohort since the second world war and their achievements are extraordinary in such difficult circumstances and should be celebrated.”

Mr Barton added: “This will be a results day like no other. The global pandemic and huge disruption to the education system has hugely impacted on learning and caused a change in the way that this year’s A-levels and other qualifications are assessed with public exams cancelled and teachers assessing students instead.

“Students deserve huge credit for their fortitude in such circumstances, and teachers for the enormous amount of work they have put into implementing this system at great speed following the government’s abject failure to prepare a contingency plan for exams being cancelled.”