The disruption caused to schools by the pandemic has created a greater sense of urgency around the idea of introducing online exams, with the Department for Education apparently changing its attitude towards on-screen GCSEs and A levels.

But how long would it take to introduce high-stakes summative assessments online in England?

Exclusive: GCSEs 2021 - DfE wanted to move exams online

Making the leap: Where have on-screen exams been introduced?

News: Call to replace GCSEs with ‘Covid-proof’ online tests

Colin Hughes, chief executive of the AQA exam board, has suggested that it could only be a few years before on-screen GCSEs and A levels are introduced.

“Let’s say, over the next two to three years, we run a series of pilots, schools get used to using online assessments, they prove to be reliable, then there comes a moment where you can flip the switch,” he said.

GCSEs and A levels: don’t expect online exams by 2022

However, he added that this did not mean a sudden switch to on-screen exams by next year.

“But could you flip the switch by saying, ‘OK, in summer 2022 we’re going to run two or three subjects, full-on national digital capture live for real GCSEs?’, the answer is no, because none of these things would have been trialled and tested, and the risks would therefore be enormous.

“Not so much the technology risks, not so much the assessment issues - we’re confident that we can deal with the assessment issues relatively quickly. It’s actually the readiness of schools and students to be able to do it,” he said.

And Ofqual adviser Professor Rob Coe has said that it “shouldn’t be years” before we see online exams.

“I don’t think this is new technology for [exam boards],” he said, adding that in terms of when on-screen exams could be introduced at scale, “I think that depends on the scale of the project...and what the requirements are for a system.

On-screen exams already a reality in Wales

“It’s hard to answer that in general, but it shouldn’t be years - they’ve done this in Wales and created online assessments for all children - that’s happening just across the border.”

In Wales, on-screen assessments for children in Years 2 to 9 were introduced from 2018 and are completely adaptive, with the level of difficulty in the exam adjusted as pupils answer questions.

However, others have suggested that the process of rolling out on-screen exams in England is likely to take longer.

Derek Richardson, chief executive of Pearson Edexcel, cautioned that any switch to digital exams would need “lead-in” time for assessments to be piloted, as well as investment so that schools are ready for an online exam system.

The need to make sure that technology ‘does not break’

“A lot of the technology is there, but depending on which way you go with it, you just need to make sure that it does not break when you are implementing it, so that means making sure schools and colleges are ready with the infrastructure they have got; for example, wi-fi and connectivity.

“It is not just about the assessment, it is also about how the school systems work, how the communications systems work and then how the assessment systems work as well as the digital platforms.”