Coronavirus: How Sheffield students may get GCSE and A-level results after schools close

Teenagers affected by the decision to cancel this summer's GCSE exams could be awarded grades based on teacher assessment and the results of their mocks, it has been suggested.

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School leaders said it is thought these proposed grades could be submitted to exam boards to check to ensure ‘consistency and fairness’.

It was announced yesterday that exams will be cancelled this year, although Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said there are plans for students to still receive qualifications.

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Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said the Government will work with schools, colleges and exams regulator Ofqual ‘to ensure children get the qualifications they need’.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday, Mr Williamson said guidance will be issued tomorrow about how pupils unable to sit their exams due to school closures will get their grades.

He said: “We will be doing everything we can do to make sure they get their results in August as they will be hoping to, but we can't predict as to how they are going to unfold.

"It is absolutely vital for me for those children who have put so much work into all their learning over these years working up to their GCSEs and A-levels to get their results, but also making sure that we have a proper and fair system if they dispute that, if they are not content with it, there is some mechanism for them to have redress."

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “We are waiting for details from Ofqual about how GCSEs and A-levels will be assessed and grades awarded in lieu of exams.

"However, we expect that it will be based on teacher assessment supported by evidence of internal assessment that has already taken place such as mock exams, and that this will be submitted to the exam boards which will then check submissions to ensure consistency and fairness and award grades accordingly.”