Coronavirus updates

The Exams Office will endeavour to support exams officers and centres by providing links on this page to the latest updates from all key stakeholders as information relating to exams and grades becomes available

“We are rapidly working up plans to implement the arrangements the Secretary of State for Education has set out for exams this summer and, with exam boards and teaching bodies, are making considerable progress.

Students understandably want reassurance, and teachers urgently need to know what to do, and when. We expect to publish detailed information about the process and timetable which will apply this summer next week. This will include the steps we would like teachers to follow and more detailed guidance on how to consider the full range of evidence they will have available when submitting their assessment grades. We are talking to teaching representatives to make sure that what we are planning is manageable and appropriate, so that students, parents, carers and teachers can have confidence in the approach.

We will outline by Easter the process we will follow to make sure grades are fair across schools and colleges, as well as our proposals for appeals. We will also say more as soon as possible about the arrangements for additional exams in the new academic year.

We want to reassure students waiting for news that we are doing everything we can to make sure they are not disadvantaged by these unprecedented circumstances.”

(25/03/2020) Statement on vocational and technical qualifications in 2020
(20/03/2020) Update following announcement on exams and grades
(18/03/2020) Coronavirus – a further statement: Our response to Gavin Williamson’s statement on summer exams

Exam system contingency plan: England, Wales and Northern Ireland (last updated 02/03/2020)

JCQ

(20/03/2020) JCQ Response to the Department for Education’s Statement

(18/03/2020) Ofqual have released a statement on the closure of schools and the cancellation of the summer exam series

JCQ Joint Contingency Plan

DfE

Latest from the Department for Education

Collection

Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for schools and other educational settings

Guidance and advice about coronavirus (COVID-19) in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students (last updated 01/04/2020) including:

(updated 31/03/2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19): school closures
(updated 26/03/2020) COVID-19: guidance for educational settings
(24/03/2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19): implementing social distancing in education and childcare settings
(23/03/2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19): maintaining further education provision
(23/03/2020) Coronavirus (COVID-19): apprenticeship programme response

Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19): cancellation of GCSEs, AS and A levels in 2020 Published 20 March 2020

(20/03/2020) Further details on exams and grades announced

“The exam regulator, Ofqual, and exam boards will work with teachers to provide grades to students whose exams have been cancelled this summer, following our actions to slow the spread of coronavirus…

This means ensuring GCSE, A and AS level students are awarded a grade which fairly reflects the work that they have put in. There will also be an option to sit an exam early in the next academic year for students who wish to. Ofqual will develop and set out a process that will provide a calculated grade to each student which reflects their performance as fairly as possible, and will work with the exam boards to ensure this is consistently applied for all students. The exam boards will be asking teachers, who know their students well, to submit their judgement about the grade that they believe the student would have received if exams had gone ahead…”

(18/03/2020) Schools, colleges and early years settings to close

“…We will not go ahead with primary school assessments or secondary exams this summer, and we will not be publishing performance tables.

We will work with the sector and Ofqual to ensure children get the qualifications they need…”

Follow DfE on Facebook, DfE on Twitter

Public Health England and Department for Education

COVID-19: guidance for educational settings (updated 26/03/2020)

Qualifications Wales

Latest from Qualifications Wales Coronavirus – Covid-19 (updated 27/03/2020)

Coronavirus FAQs

(27/03/2020) Education Minister announces exam arrangements for Years 10 and 12
(20/03/2020) Issuing grades for qualifications summer 2020 Information for centres
(19/03/2020) Cancellation of the summer 2020 exams and Decision to cancel 2020 exams

DfES

Latest from the Department for Education and Skills (Wales)

GOV.WALES Education and childcare: coronavirus Guidance and services

CCEA (Northern Ireland)

Latest CCEA news

(27/03/2020) Coursework and Controlled Assessment (Internal Assessment) for CCEA Qualifications
(26/03/2020) CCEA update on the cancellation of the summer 2020 examinations
(19/03/2020) CCEA statement on the cancellation of the summer examinations 2020

Department of Education (Northern Ireland)

Department of Education releases on COVID-19 (coronavirus)

The Exams Office

(30/03/2020) April monthly update: Message to our Members Grade awarding – summer 2020

(24/03/2020) The Exams Office – Coronavirus update emailed to members

(23/03/2020) Update 1 statement issued

(20/03/2020) As a good practice way of keeping students (and parents/carers) informed of information coming out about the arrangements for exams and grades – set up a new page/area on your centre website – include links to all relevant information that is currently available from the DfE, Ofqual, JCQ and the awarding bodies your centre works with. Copy and paste useful links from this updates page. Include any specific arrangements your centre has or will have in place. Update as new information is released and include the date the information was posted on your page. Remove links to any information that may be superseded by updated information.

(19/03/2020) As you will be aware, the government’s announcement that this year’s examinations in May and June will not take place is unprecedented in peacetime.

Over the coming days, weeks and months, we will be working closely with Ofqual, the JCQ, DfE and the awarding bodies to inform how the impact on this decision can be managed.

As you read this, we are working to provide you with more details as soon as is possible and we are committed to supporting our members in every way that we can.

Our thoughts are with you all and we will do everything we can to support you, your centres and your students during this incredibly difficult time.

(18/03/2020) We are closely following the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and guidance from Ofqual, the JCQ, DfE and the awarding bodies. We remain committed to supporting member centres during this extremely difficult time by continuing to signpost to updates and information as this is made available.

Pre-booked in-house invigilator training events will no longer be taking place due to school and college closures.

Course materials will be dispatched to delegates who were unable to attend the new exams officer training event in London (17 March) and senior leader/line manager training event (18 March) in London and we are looking at how we can compensate those who have been unable to attend paid training events.

We thank all our members and the wider exams community for their patience and understanding at this very challenging time.

AQA

Coronavirus and summer 2020 exams (updated 02/04/2020)

How grades will be awarded without exams

Entries, NEA and moderation for summer 2020 exams

OCR

Coronavirus FAQs

Supporting you during coronavirus

(27/03/2020) Exams officers: Top tips to support your home working

(27/03/2020) Exams officer update Supporting you during coronavirus

Coronavirus update (updated 26/03/2020)

Pearson

FAQs COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update (updated 26/03/2020)

United Kingdom COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update (updated 20/03/2020)

International Centres (not including UK) COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update (updated 26/03/2020)

UK BTEC, Work-based learning and Functional Skills assessment arrangements in light of Covid-19

(25/03/2020) Covid-19 Update for BTEC Exams Officers External Assessment

(25/03/2020) May/June 2020 General Qualification Update on late entries and amendments

(19/03/2020) Return of Summer Examination Material

WJEC / Eduqas

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