Ofqual is yet to decide whether A-levels and GCSEs will return in their usual format in 2022, the watchdog’s interim chief regulator has said.
Simon Lebus told the i newspaper: “It’s not yet decided whether we will be back to full-fat exams, as it were.”
Next year’s cohort would have suffered quite a lot of disruption and the A-level students would never have sat public exams before, Mr Lebus said.
He added that it was “still under discussion exactly what is going to happen next year”.
Mr Lebus said Ofqual was investigating different options about what should happen in 2022.
“Obviously, a lot of it is going to be dependent on the policy determination within the Department of Education and the secretary of state’s views,” he added.
He said that while there was an appetite for exams to return, it was also recognised that the return of exams must be considered in the context of learning loss and disruption caused by the pandemic.
Mr Lebus said that “some easement” might be needed to take learning loss into account when exams returned.
This summer’s results could also influence plans for next year, he added.