Ofqual has said it will put “appropriate measures” in place to ensure GCSEs and A levels in 2022 are “fair” and “valid” following “disruption to education” caused by the pandemic.

In the regulator’s corporate plan, published today, Ofqual said that it will hold a consultation over the 2022 exams to mitigate risks to fairness caused by learning loss.

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It said it will “consult on the approach to the assessment of GCSE, AS and A levels in 2022 and put in place appropriate measures to mitigate risks to fairness and validity, which may result from disruption to education, taking into account government policy”.

The news comes after Ofqual chair Ian Bauckham said last week that teacher would need to know of any “significant” changes to the 2022 GCSE and A-level exams before the start of the next academic year.

He added that teachers would need to be told if sections were being removed from exam papers, for example, by September.

Headteachers have previously said that they need “real clarity” over plans for next year’s exams by the end of this academic year to avoid another year of “chaos”.

In April, the NAHT school leaders’ union said that plans for this year’s exam series came “very late”, with director of policy James Bowen adding: “It’s really important that, by the end of this academic year, we have real clarity on what it [exams] will look like for next year”.

In today’s document, Ofqual also said that it planned to investigate learning loss “through national and international reviews of research”.