Pearson has delayed plans to run digital exams for GCSE English literature and language by at least a year.
The exam board had announced at the start of the year that it wanted to offer both exams to schools next summer as part of a move to offer a raft of GCSE and A-level exams digitally.
However, the exam board has now confirmed in a statement to Tes that this timeline has slipped. “Subject to Ofqual approval, we propose that GCSE English is the first core subject to be available as an onscreen exam to all schools within the next few years,” it said.
“We have shared information about our proposal for onscreen assessment in GCSE English qualifications with Ofqual for their initial review and feedback,” it added.
Despite this delay, it said it was hopeful it would gain approval to offer these from 2026 and then begin offering other major subjects digitally by 2027.
“GCSEs in history and business would be most likely to follow shortly afterwards, and if there is enough demand, then most GCSEs and A Levels could be made available onscreen as an option by 2030,” it said.
The rise in typed responses
Despite the delay, a Pearson spokesperson said the board believes it is important that digital exams become standard within assessments in England, owing to a huge rise in the number of students using the option of typed responses (whereby students input answers using a word processor).
For example, in 2019, Pearson said there were 10,000 typed responses for GCSEs and A levels taken by students in both UK and international schools. This rose to 91,000 in 2024, of which over 77,000 were in the UK.
Of these, GCSE history and English language were the most popular subjects for typed responses (at 13 and 10 per cent respectively), while the scale of the increases means that of the 5,565 exam centres Pearson works with, 4,974 had at least one typed response.
International uptake soars
Pearson also noted that, while the UK is delaying the use of digital exams, international schools are increasingly using this form of assessment, with over 5,000 exams taking digital GCSEs and A levels last year - up from 2,263 in 2023 and around 1,000 in 2022.
It said a big reason for this was the improved access arrangements that digital exams offer. Rather than schools having to contact the exam board long in advance to request arrangements such as a specific coloured paper or increased font size, this can be adapted automatically onscreen.
“Onscreen assessment…improves the exam experience for those students who are eligible and require additional support,” it said.
The delay is the latest setback in the move towards digital exams, after AQA said earlier this year that plans to pilot digital exams from next summer had been delayed, too.
A spokesperson for Ofqual said: “Ofqual has not received any formal proposals for on-screen assessment by any exam board.
“Before any on-screen assessments are accredited, we need to be assured that they can be delivered securely and fairly for students.”
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