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Exams for Welsh pupils easier than for English

A-levels and GCSES will be graded higher outside of England as devolved education boards diverge

By Louisa Clarence-smith EDUCATION EDITOR

A-level and GCSE pupils in Wales will be graded more generously than their English counterparts next year, in a move education experts warned would be “bewildering” for teenagers and universities. Qualifications Wales said its regime would reflect the “long-term impact” on learners of Covid-19. However, in England, Ofqual, the exam regulator, said grading would largely return to 2019 levels after record grade inflation during the pandemic when teachers allocated grades.

A-LEVEL and GCSE pupils in Wales will be graded more generously than their English counterparts next year, in a move education experts warned would be “bewildering” for teenagers and universities. Qualifications Wales said its regime would reflect the “long-term impact” on learners of Covid-19.

However, in England, Ofqual – the exam regulator – said grading would largely return to 2019 levels. Kit Malthouse, the Education Secretary, said that England’s decision would ensure “fairness in exams”. It follows record grade inflation during the pandemic when teachers allocated grades.

In a move that threatens to further confuse the UK education system, Qualifications Wales announced proposals to reform GCSES in 2025 and reduce its emphasis on traditional exams. The regulator has proposed the proportions of a combined English language and literature course, and Cymraeg language and literature GCSES, assessed via examinations are reduced from 80 per cent to 60 per cent.

Tom Bennett, the Government behaviour tsar, said on Twitter that the approach would put “less emphasis on fairness and reliability” in a “shock move towards systems that privilege the already privileged”. He added: “Please do not do this.”

Dr Mick Walker, president of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors and former government adviser on education, said: “Fifteenand 16-year-olds must look at the adults in the room and say, ‘what’s going on?’ We had teacher-assessed grades, we had the mutant algorithm… When you look at what’s happening in Wales and Northern Ireland and Scotland, and the different approaches, it’s bewildering.”

Divergence in the school systems of England and Wales has widened since devolution in 1999.

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said the widening inequality between grades in England and Wales could be “disastrous”. He added: “Teachers and pupils need to be confident about the meaning of different grades and the best way of achieving this is to re-establish the precovid standard.”

Prof Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research, said: “Ever since education was devolved to the administrations of Wales and Northern Ireland, GCSES and A-levels have grown increasingly apart in their structure and grading. This year sees a further step which will lead to the proportion of top grades awarded in Wales being considerably higher than in England. This will be unnecessarily confusing to those using the grades to allocate competitive places. There is a need, now, for qualification certificates to clearly show in which part of the UK they were obtained.”

Northern Ireland has yet to announce its approach to grading next year. In Scotland, where pupils sit Highers instead of A-levels, grades are expected to continue to be more generous than in pre-pandemic years.

A spokesman for Ofqual said: “Education is a devolved matter and other regulators take decisions in relation to their jurisdictions.”

Universities have indicated that they will take differences in marking standards into account when they offer places in the next academic year.

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