Ofqual is considering pushing back the start date for GCSE and A level exams next year to account for students’ lost teaching time during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a consultation document on possible changes to the exams, published today, exams regulator Ofqual has said it has asked the boards to consider whether GCSEs could start after the half term next year.

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This would mean exams would not start until 7 June. Ofqual asked the boards whether it would be possible to then issue GCSE results by 26 August 2021, noting that “we recognise that to allow time for marking, GCSE results might also have to be delayed”.

The regulator is also considering whether this change could be applied to A levels. 

Ofqual is also proposing that requirements for pupils to complete some coursework and non-exam assessments are dropped during next year.

“The proposals on which we are consulting would remove the requirement that, for some subjects, non-exam assessments are completed shortly before exams start,” the consultation document says.

“We are proposing that some of the usual non-exam assessments would not be taken at all, for example in art and design, or that the assessments could be taken in different ways and at different times, for example, GCSE modern foreign languages.

“This would free up time immediately before the exam timetables starts, allowing teachers to decide how to use the teaching time available,” it says.

However, Ofqual notes that if the exam timetable were delayed so that the end of the exam period went into July, it would need to change its rules.