Switching to a numerical system for grading A-level exams is the Government’s preferred way to help tackle grade inflation, the TES reports.
Although the magazine says talks are “at an early stage”, any switch could take place as early as 2023, it says.
More than 44 per cent of entries were awarded an A or A* in England this year, prompting claims that “rampant grade inflation” was devaluing young people’s results in the jobs and higher education worlds.
It is thought that introducing numerical grades in 2023 could reset the A-level grading system so that grade inflation does not become entrenched.
But a number of education leaders have said a switch to numerical grading for A-levels is ill-advised.
An Ofqual spokesperson said the watchdog has “no plans” to change the GCSE or A-level grading system.
It would confirm the approach to grading for 2022 in the autumn term, it said.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, previously suggested that switching to numerical grading would be a “recipe for chaos”.
He said in July: “It would be extremely confusing for pupils, parents and employers, and would inevitably involve rafts of new guidance to schools and colleges at a time when they need to be able to focus on education recovery rather than tinkering with systems.”