Ofqual grading system and promotion

 Ofqual’s approach to grading exams and assessments in summer 2022 and autumn 2021.Ofqual’s approach to grading for GCSE, AS and A levels to be fair to students: a transition year in 2022

Overview

Ofqual has statutory objectives to maintain standards and promote public confidence in exams and qualifications. We also have a duty to have regard to the interests of learners, which we interpret as fairness. We want to get back quickly to the pre-pandemic standard, but in the interests of fairness, and balancing these objectives, we won’t do so in one jump. Instead, 2022 will be a transition year to reflect that we are in a pandemic recovery period and students’ education has been disrupted. In 2022 we will aim, therefore, to reflect a midway point between 2021 and 2019. In 2023 we aim to return to results that are in line with those in pre-pandemic years.

This approach will recognise the disruption experienced by students taking exams in 2022, over their course of study, and so provide a safety net for those who might otherwise just miss out on a higher grade. Results overall will be higher than in 2019, but not as high as in 202

As usual, our rules will require exam boards to use a range of qualitative and quantitative evidence so that grade boundaries are set in a way that is as fair as possible for all students, across all subjects and exam boards. Grading is monitored by the experts every step of the way. And, as usual, we will review results for every subject before they are issued.Adaptations for 20.

Adaptation in 2022

Arrangements have been put in place for summer 2022 to support students and make exams fairer for them. The government has introduced a choice of topics or content in some GCSE exams and exam boards will give advance information about the focus of the content of exams, designed to provide guidance for revision for students ahead of summer exams, and study aids will be allowed in some examsUCAS predicted grade.

UCAS predicted Grades

Teachers this term will be predicting the grades their students will receive in summer 2022 for use on their higher education applications. In line with UCAS guidance, many students will already have been given an indication of their predicted grades by their teachers

The UCAS guidance suggests that predicted grades should be aspirational but achievable and the guidance considers the risks of inflating predicted grades as well as the risks of suppressing the

It is challenging for teachers to accurately predict grades at the best of times. In recent pre-pandemic years, overall grades have been generously predicted by teachers. For 2022, we recommend that teachers use the familiar 2019 standard as the basis for predicting their students’ grades, giving borderline students the benefit of any doubt. So if a teacher believes a student is likely to be on the borderline between 2 grades, they predict the higher.

Conclusion

For the past 2 years, a higher proportion of students each year received top grades compared to pre-pandemic years. It’s important that we get back to exams and other formal assessments, so that students have the fairest chance to show what they know, understand and can do, with all students taking the same assessments, which are set, marked and graded by the exam boards. And it’s important that we start to move back to the position we were in before the pandemic to make sure we are setting young people up for university, college or employment in the best possible way.

Fairness has been foremost in our minds when thinking about exams this autumn and next year, with students’ interests driving our decisions – both this year’s students and past and future students.

The interests of learners are central to Ofqual’s mandate. For us, that means fairness, and qualifications that stand the test of time, that employers, colleges and universities can trust.

Published 30 September 2021

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