Ofqual and the Department for Education have announced a consultation on proposed changes to GCSEs and A levels in 2022 today.
The proposals suggest that advance notice of topics in exams will be part of the picture for exams next year. But here are what the considerations will mean subject by subject:
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GCSEs and A levels 2022: The DfE and Ofqual’s exam plans by subject
Art and design
For GCSE and A-level art and design, as in 2021, students will only be assessed on their portfolio work, as an examined piece would require access to specialist equipment in school.
History and English literature
In GCSE history, ancient history and English literature, Ofqual is consulting on a choice of topics “beyond the common core” that students would answer questions on in exams.
Because they will have a choice of topics, Ofqual suggests that students studying these subjects will not have advance notice of exam content, as “we believe the combination of the two measures would have the effect of giving students taking those subjects an unfair advantage and making the qualifications less rigorous”.
GCSE English literature pupils will not have access to their poetry anthology in the exam under the proposals.
“If the proposal to allow students a choice of topics on which to answer questions in GCSE English literature is agreed, students who opt to do the poetry element would be unfairly advantaged over those who choose an alternative option if they had access to the poetry anthology in the exam,” the consultation says.
Geography
At GCSE, students will also be offered a choice of content, and, as with history and English, advance content will therefore not be given.
Students will not have to answer questions in GCSE geography exams about fieldwork that they have undertaken themselves.
At A level, coursework will be retained but “exam boards should consider how they can be flexible in their requirements for students to use primary data”.
Maths and science
Ofqual proposes that students sitting maths GCSE should be allowed to access formulae sheets in the exam. This could also be the case for GCSE physics and combined science, but not for chemistry or biology, where “there are no clear or useful equations that can be provided”.
But Ofqual notes that if formulae sheets are provided in science, “it would also benefit higher tier students to a greater extent than foundation tier students as equations are usually provided as part of questions for students on the foundation tier”.
If all equations were provided, “the exam boards would not be able to include questions that required students to recall the equations and would need to replace these with other low-tariff questions”.
It adds that as students are normally given an equations sheet in their exam, there was a risk of confusing students if this sheet were changed or added to.
“Nevertheless, in the circumstances of the pandemic, we think that it is right to consider providing additional support to students by providing all relevant equations on the equations sheet and would welcome views on this,” the consultation adds.
In GCSE sciences, provision for students to observe teachers carrying out practical work, perhaps by watching online, will remain in place for 2022.
And in A-level sciences, teachers are allowed to assess the Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC) across “the minimum number of practical activities required for the student to demonstrate competence rather than being required to complete at least 12 practical activities as required by the DfE subject content”.
