Consultation outcome

Arrangements for non-exam assessment for qualifications in 2022

Applies to England

This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

Decisions on arrangements for non-exam assessment and fieldwork requirements for students entering qualifications in 2022

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email publications@ofqual.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Detail of outcome

We have decided to implement all of the proposals we set out in the consultation document. In summary, these decisions mean that for summer 2022 we will regulate to put in place the changes set out below.

Non-exam assessment

We will allow for a range of adjustments to the non-exam assessment (NEA) arrangements to accommodate public health restrictions in dance, design and technology, drama (and theatre), film studies, food preparation and nutrition, media studies, music, music technology, and physical education (PE).

Fieldwork in geography

We will remove the requirement for centres to make a declaration to exam boards confirming they provided all students with the opportunity to undertake a mandated number of occasions or days of fieldwork activities outside of the school or college premises for GCSE, AS and A level geography.

For GCSE and AS geography, the exam boards will not ask questions in written examinations about fieldwork that students have undertaken themselves. For A level, the non-exam assessment will be retained but exam boards should consider how they can be flexible in their requirements for students to use primary data. Of course, schools and colleges can continue to provide fieldwork activities for their students if they are able to do so.

Fieldwork in geology and environmental science

We will remove the requirement for centres to make a declaration to exam boards confirming they provided all students with the opportunity to undertake a mandated number of occasions or days of fieldwork activities outside of the school or college premises for GCSE, AS and A level geology, and AS and A level environmental science. Schools and colleges can continue to provide fieldwork activities for their students if they are able to do so.

GCSE English language

We will remove the requirement for teachers to submit an audio-visual recording of a sample of students undertaking their spoken language assessments in GCSE English language.

GCSE modern foreign languages

Exam boards will not have to include vocabulary that is not on the vocabulary lists for assessments in GCSE modern foreign languages (MFL).

Teachers and students should prepare for spoken language in 2022 to be assessed in the normal way, through formal speaking tests.

We will publish contingency assessment arrangements for spoken language that include assessment criteria, which reflect the arrangements used in 2021. Teachers will be asked to have regard to the assessment criteria throughout the course. If, at any point before the speaking tests begin, it becomes clear they cannot or should not be taken, we will implement the contingency arrangements.

Feedback received

Arrangements for non-exam assessment and fieldwork requirements for students entering qualifications in 2022

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email publications@ofqual.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Detail of feedback received

We received 2,663 responses to the consultation.

Respondents included:

  • academy chains
  • awarding bodies or exam boards
  • employers
  • local authorities
  • private training providers
  • schools and colleges
  • universities and higher education institutions
  • consultants
  • examiners
  • exams officers and managers
  • governors
  • parents and carers
  • students
  • teachers
  • school and college senior leaders

Original consultation

Summary

Ofqual consultation on arrangements for non-exam assessment and fieldwork requirements for students entering GCSEs, AS and A level qualifications in 2022.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

We are consulting on the arrangements for non-exam assessment (NEA) and fieldwork activities in some GCSE, AS and A level subjects that will be undertaken by students taking exams in summer 2022. We are making our proposal in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

We are seeking views on our proposal that we carry forward changes agreed for summer 2021 for some subjects to take account of any public health restrictions relating to coronavirus (COVID-19) that might be in place during the next academic year.

This consultation covers:

  • non-exam assessments in dance, design and technology, drama (and theatre), film studies, food preparation and nutrition, media studies, music, music technology, and physical education (PE)
  • fieldwork activities in geography, geology and environmental science
  • assessment of speaking skills in GCSE modern foreign languages (MFL)
  • assessment of spoken language in GCSE English language

We are seeking views specifically on arrangements for the GCSE, AS and A level subjects set out above, and would invite respondents to confine responses to this consultation to those subjects only.

We are not seeking views on other subjects at this time, although we recognise that students, teachers and exam boards may have views about them. Further information and, where necessary, consultations on any proposed changes to other GCSE, AS or A levels will follow.

We will read all responses to this consultation, but will not include in our analysis any responses about subjects that are not the focus of this consultation.

Documents

Published 14 May 2021
Last updated 16 June 2021 + show all updates
  1. Decisions and analysis documents added to explain outcome of consultation.

  2. First published.