Assessment
The latest news and analysis on exams in the UK, including key dates, timetables, results and statistics for Sats, GCSEs and A levels
Monday
21st Jun 2021
SQA to be replaced, education secretary reveals
And Education Scotland will no longer run inspections, with an independent body taking over that role
OECD review paves way for qualifications overhaul
Report finds ‘misalignment between Curriculum for Excellence’s aspirations and the qualification system’
Friday
18th Jun 2021
Exclusive: New GCSE 2021 grades website problems
Data on WJEC site ‘not displaying correctly’ on deadline day for entering GCSE and A-level grades. Yesterday, OCR’s site crashed
GCSE grading: ‘Government should be utterly ashamed’
Exam grades didn’t need to come at the expense of teachers’ wellbeing – that was the government’s choice, says Kevin Courtney
Revealed: Huge differences in GCSE grading approaches
Teachers’ leaders criticise ‘burdensome’ system as 91¶¶Òõ poll reveals wide range of methods to grade GCSEs and A levels
Exclusive: 2021 GCSE grades not ‘fair’, say teachers
Two-thirds of A-level and GCSE grading teachers say national process won’t give all students the results they deserve
10 questions with... Mark Priestley
The man who led the independent review of the 2020 results fiasco talks to 91¶¶Òõ about his own school days, his experiences as a teacher and his aversion to what he calls “evaluationitisâ€
Thursday
17th Jun 2021
GCSEs 2021: Schools can’t submit grades as site crashes
Major exam board says problems with portal for teacher-assessed grades may take the rest of the day to fix
‘No evidence’ of school data used to change grades
Teacher judgements are not being changed ‘on the insistence of schools’, says education secretary
GCSEs: ‘The mum didn’t threaten me explicitly, but...’
The status of teachers has dipped – pitting them against parents over grades is just the next step, says Paul Read
Leaked exam papers used to ‘determine’ Higher results
Exam papers shared widely on social media are ‘main source of evidence’ for some subjects, finds SQA