The chief executive of England’s biggest school exam board has said we can’t expect a “leap back to normality” for GCSEs and A levels next year because the pandemic has impacted a “whole generation of students”.

Speaking at the Schools and Academies Show today, AQA head Colin Hughes said: “There is no leap back to normality in 2022 or, for that matter, arguably in 2023, and the reason I would say that is, we’ve got a whole generation of students here who’ve been impacted by this pandemic, and we’ve got to think very carefully about doing the right thing by them.

“Clearly the discussion is already underway about 2022 and beyond, and I think we have to recognise the continuing impact of the pandemic on the entire generation, and what can we do - there is a fair amount we can do but we need to get stuck into the detail in the not very distant future.”

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His comments echo statements made last week by Ofqual interim chief regulator Simon Lebus, who said that the regulator was undecided if we would see a return of “full fat” exams in 2022.

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He added that “some easement” might be needed to take learning loss into account when exams returned - for example, the use of learning aids discussed as an option for the 2021 exams prior to their cancellation.

Mr Hughes said that teachers would need to be consulted on the process and that “it’s not something we can just jump to, instantly - that’s not going to happen”.

He added that it was unsurprising that abolishing GCSEs had been discussed during the pandemic, and said boards should not be “shy” of this debate.

“It’s not even vaguely surprising that the extraordinary situation over this past period provoked an unprecedented public interest in what are exams for, how are they conducted, where are they going to go from here, and I don’t think we should be shy of that. It’s a perfectly legitimate public debate - let’s have it,” he said.

He added that, as the chief executive of an exam board, “we’re in fairly close touch with public sentiment on these things”, and that teachers, parents and students, far from calling for an end to GCSEs, “are basically asking us over and over again when can we get back to what we know and understand, which is regular exams”.

And he said that, given that 70 per cent of students change school at 16, an end to assessment at this age would mean a fundamental redesign of the education system.

Also speaking on the panel was Ian Bauckham, chair of Oak National Academy and a board member at Ofqual, who said he could not comment on when a consultation on 2022 exams might be expected.

“I’m not going to comment on the detail of what we’re going to do next year. I think the decision process for that is still being worked on, so it would be wrong of me in my role to try and pre-empt that in any way,” he said.

“I’m going to make a very slightly flippant remark if I can permit myself that...next year’s A-level students won’t have had the experience of taking formal GCSE examinations.

“There are, of course, many in the system, I’m not necessarily aligning myself with those people, but many who are saying actually perhaps that is the right way forward in future, perhaps we shouldn’t have GCSEs in the future,” he added.

“It’s interesting that perhaps sometimes some of those who are very anxious about A-level students not having taken GCSEs may with another voice be calling for the discontinuing of exams at age 16.”

Mr Bauckham said that students next year “will be all in the same boat” in not having sat formal exams, and that “nobody will be relatively disadvantaged compared with others by not having taken GCSEs before”.