Private candidates, of whom many are adult learners, were among those who "lost out the most" when exams were cancelled in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Ofqual has said.

With private candidates in most cases unable to receive centre assessment grades due to the fact that centres held little or no evidence on their performance, only 3,300 of them received A-level grades this year. Their only opportunity to achieve such grades this year now is the planned November exam series. 

Ofqual chair Roger Taylor told today's House of Commons Education Select Committee: “I have huge sympathy with these people – clearly they are some of the people who have lost out most as a result of the decision to cancel exams.”

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“Ultimately, the situation was one in which, once exams had been cancelled, these people had lost the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in a way that would enable them to move forward with their lives. And I agree, it was a very tough situation for these people.”

Christian Wakeford, MP for Bury South, said the only avenue private candidates had was the autumn series. “We are asking them to put their life on hold and be stuck in limbo to do an exam in the autumn to maybe, if they are lucky, start at university. Through no fault of their own, they are stuck in limbo for a year with no real avenue to go down.”

Ofqual's executive director for general qualifications said: “One of the great worries for us was how to bring in those students who didn’t have a relationship with a centre. In the absence of exams, we needed evidence from an exam centre as to the likely performance of a student. For students who had no relationship with a centre, for students who had no work with which a centre was familiar, that was problematic, of course.” 

She said exam boards had identified a couple of “additional centres who were well versed in dealing with adult learners and distance learners”, had extended the deadline for the receipt of centre assessment grades to enable where private candidates did have some work that they could draw upon, to engage with that centre so that centre could get to know them, could set some additional work for them and submit a centre assessment grade.

According to Ofqual's "best data", about 3,300 private candidates did get an A-level grade this year, "fewer than in a normal year", according to Ms Swan.  

She added: “It does seem that perhaps the group of students that most missed out were students who would in a normal year have taken an A level in a community language, a language they perhaps speak at home. They are not taught on that language in school, and therefore there would have been no work on which their school or college could have drawn. It’s been a big worry for us throughout and it was another reason why we were particularly concerned about the mock appeal route, because that could have been a further disadvantage for private candidates.

“We recognise that [private candidates and adult learners] have been in a very difficult situation this year, and the autumn exam series will be available for them and that is one reason why we have said that exam boards must make exams available, even if there is only one candidate wanting to take a paper,” she said.