Pupils may ditch pens and paper for on-screen A-Levels and GSCSEs by 2030
Pupils could ditch pens and paper to do their A-Levels and GCSEs on-screen by 2030.
Pearson – the UK’s largest exam board – is ramping up plans for digital assessments to allow students to sit on-screen History and Business Studies Edexcel GCSEs by 2027.
The body already offers computer science digitally and will seek approval from the exams regulator to offer English and English Literature. The board told the i newspaper: “If there is enough demand then most GCSEs and A-Levels could be made available on screen as an option by 2030.”
Last year exam board OCR also said it would offer digital exams for computer science for pupils starting their course from 2025. But the exams regulator in England, Ofqual, has not yet approved the latest plans.
An Ofqual spokesman told The Mirror: “Ofqual has not received any formal proposals for on-screen assessment by any exam board. Before any on-screen assessments are accredited, we need to be assured that they can be delivered securely and fairly for students.”
In the summer the regulator warned the large-scale roll out of digital exams should be treated with “extreme caution”.
Speaking in August, Ofqual chief Sir Ian Bauckham said this was to ensure schools are at the point they are able to offer a digital approach “fair to everybody”.
Sir Ian said: “Of course, I’m not saying never. There may well be a day when there is much more digitisation in exams and assessment than there is now, but we will need to go at a pace that gives us assurance that this is fair for everybody and is also actually implementable for everybody.”
He added: “We’ve got a school estate that may have been underinvested in over the years.We’ve got schools that have weak connectivity, weak wifi systems, weak system security, weak system resilience.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education told The Mirror: “Expanding digital access is critical to breaking down the barriers to opportunity that hold children back and we are working with schools to support them to do this.
“We have been working closely with Ofqual to build our evidence base on the potential opportunities, risks and implications of on-screen exams in England. Any proposals to move GCSE or A Level exams onscreen are subject to regulatory approval from Ofqual.”
