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Awarding qualifications in 2021

8 February 2021

The Department for Education and Ofqual ran two consultations in January on the proposals for awarding grades for general qualifications and vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) in 2021.

The following principles underlined the UCU response:

  • equality issues are at the heart of our concerns
  • mandatory exam board papers do not overcome the problems associated with holding formal public exams
  • awarding organisations should align their approaches to similar types of qualifications for consistency
  • performance measures and comparisons with other years should not apply
  • the four home nations must be aligned because of cross-border student mobility
  • students need more than a fix for this year. Significant investment is required in the longer term to help all students progress and fulfil their potential
  • the time is right to consider a longer term alternative to the high stakes exam model of assessment.

The full responses can be downloaded below.

UCU consultation response: summer exam grades 2021 [2mb]

UCU consultation response: the award of VTQs and other general qualifications in 2021 [2mb]

Last updated: 25 January 2022