Decision

AQA: Special conditions: May 2014

We have placed special conditions on AQA to make sure its processes and procedures for new GCSEs, graded 9 to 1, work as intended.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

Awarding organisation Issue Action taken Case status
AQA Education (AQA) Development, delivery and award of GCSE (9 to 1) qualifications Imposed special conditions (at recognition) Open

On 6 May 2014, we accepted AQA’s application to be recognised for the new GCSE (9 to 1) qualifications.

At the same time, we decided to impose special conditions on AQA for those qualifications. This is because:

  • GCSE (9 to 1) qualifications are important qualifications: they will be used by students moving to higher education and employment and for school league tables
  • the new GCSEs are also fundamentally different from the existing GCSE qualifications (graded A* to G) that AQA currently offer
  • as part of its application for recognition AQA explained how it will implement the development, delivery and award of GCSE (9 to 1) qualifications, but these processes and practices have not yet been fully tested in operation
  • to maintain standards and public confidence in GCSEs, we want to closely monitor AQA’s implementation plan and any changes to it

We will review these conditions on or before 1 October 2016, and will remove them when they are no longer necessary.

Published 6 May 2014