Universities could receive results after students in order to give more time for appeals
A-level results could be published earlier this summer to ease pressure on appeals procedures and university admissions, according to the exams watchdog Ofqual.
In its consultation on this year’s exams, published 15 January, Ofqual said it would seek views on “whether results day(s) in 2021 should be brought forward” as it could benefit students and universities.
It also asked for views on whether, if A-level results day is brought forward, “we should seek to decouple when a student is informed of their results, and universities are informed of their formal result for the purpose of admissions decisions”.
A-level exams have been cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid-19—this summer, teachers will assess students and give them their grades. Exam boards will be responsible for quality assurance, and they will check that schools are complying with the guidance on how to award grades.
In the consultation, Ofqual explained that students should not be given their final grades until exam boards had carried out external quality assurance, giving students the chance to appeal their grades.
“If there is an appetite for results to be brought forward we will consider the interaction between the timing of students receiving their results and the results becoming formal for the purpose of university admissions, working with the further and higher education sector to ensure no delay to existing admissions timelines,” it said.
The consultation is being held jointly with the Department for Education and it is open until 29 January. In a blog post published with the consultation, Ofqual interim chief regulator Simon Lebus said the next stage of the consultation would be published in February.
“Students and learners will carry these grades with them for life, so we must make sure they are as fair as they can be in these difficult circumstances,” he said.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson promised that no algorithms would be used to moderate results after the one used in 2020 pulled down almost 40 per cent of the grades awarded by teachers, affecting students from schools with historic poor performance the most.