For pupils taking their A levels this year, it will be the first time they have ever sat a public exam before.

Of course, many will have sat mocks. But with their GCSEs cancelled in 2020, the reality is this will be their first taste of high-stakes exams that play a key role in determining your next step in life.

This situation is one that students in international schools around the world that follow the same curriculum as those in England are facing, too.

After all, when exams were cancelled in the UK in 2020 and 2021, the same happened to international schools, which meant the assessment methods used were consistent - first with centre-assessed grades in 2020 and then teacher-assessed grades in 2021.

This year, the hope is domestic exams will go ahead, which I am sure we all want, and this means that it is highly likely the English domestic exam boards will insist that they also take place internationally, too. 

This makes sense as it will mean the assessment method is consistent. 

An uneven global system

Unfortunately, this could well mean that the equality in how students at home and abroad have been treated by exams boards falls by the wayside, as the disruption caused by Covid - especially the Omicron variant - means students in different nations have had hugely different levels of education this academic year.

For instance, schools in England have been back at school for the majority of the time since September 2021. 

This means that students have access to face-to-face teaching, access to practical equipment to embed learning and access to teachers outside of the lesson as they see them at break or passing in the corridor.

Yes, there have still been disruptions and many have missed notable chunks of time in school - which is far from ideal. However, broadly speaking, the experience has been the same for all students about to sit their exams.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in a vast number of schools around the world. 

In Abu Dhabi, for example, schools have been delayed in restarting after the summer and winter holidays by at least three weeks each time.

Even without individual class and year-group closures due to positive cases, this is 30 days where students have not had access to face-to-face learning compared with their counterparts in the UK and other regions where schools have been fully open. 

In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, January 2022 saw schools return to face-to-face learning for the first time since March 2020.

This means that those students sitting their exams this summer have not accessed teachers in person or had access to facilities such as laboratories, workshops, sports facilities and theatres within the school for their entire A-level or GCSE course. 

In Hong Kong, students have been distance learning for over four of the six terms of either their GCSE or A-level course and are once again learning remotely, so this figure is increasing.

There are similar examples throughout the Middle East, Asia, South America and certain parts of Europe. All of these regions have schools following the curriculum of England and many are following the English domestic exam syllabuses.

No answers from exam boards

However, none of these schools has answers to what the exam boards plan, and this is causing high levels of stress for the students already in a state of raised anxiety through the normal exam series.

In all of the above examples, we need to be mindful that those students completing their A-level exams this year have also missed the experience of sitting GCSE exams and had a vast amount of time out of school during Year 11.

This raises concerns. No matter how reassuring we can be in claiming that the academic aspect of school has not been impacted, the lack of face-to-face learning for these students is clearly not going to work in their best interests when it comes to exams. 

Just from the perspective of practical subjects, such as science, students having access to experiments and the laboratory is going to be far more effective for embedding learning than any conference-call lesson.

Access to teachers, resources and peers is much easier when in a face-to-face environment. Therefore, schools that are open for longer will be giving their students an advantage over those who are limited to only distance learning for any sustained length of time.

Unfortunately, when it comes to exam boards and Ofqual, there is not a great deal of information - if any - coming from them at this point. This is raising stress levels in students who will be highly reliant upon the grades they achieve this year. Even now in February, we still do not know how this discrepancy will be tackled. 

Why a dual route may not work for all

As highlighted in Tes last week, the International Baccalaureate system is offering a dual-assessment route, recognising the impact of Covid on exam-year students.

They identified that international schools are subject to their own countries’ authorities and rules, so insisting on an exam sitting when a country may not allow it only disadvantages the students. 

This has given IB school leaders, teachers and students a clear route for assessment in the event of lockdowns or students isolating due to Covid. The UK exam boards have not given any feedback or guidance to schools regarding this matter. 

I am not convinced that a dual approach for GCSE and A-Level exams will work or be fair, though.

If we look at the 2020 and 2021 exam results, there was grade inflation, so we need to know how grades can be awarded as equal if some students are physically sitting exams while others are having teacher-assessed grades submitted? 

Looking at the past two years’ results, it appears that teachers have not awarded an A grade to a student performing at a D-grade level, but rather given the student performing between two grades, such as B/C, the higher B grade.

This is completely understandable as it gives the student the benefit of the doubt. However, if we take this situation into a national or global arena, inflation will undoubtedly be witnessed.

What if lockdowns return during exams?

These are not only issues for international schools. Looking at the latest UK figures released this week for absences, over five per cent of students are absent from school because of Covid-related issues.

On top of staff absence, which is sitting around 10 per cent, this shows that equal access to face-to-face learning should be a major concern for Ofqual and exam boards. 

What will a student who tests positive and has to isolate in the middle of their exams do? What will students do if their school moves to distance learning as exams are taking place? What if a country moves into another lockdown during exams?

If the past two years have taught us anything, it is that the above scenarios are likely to happen somewhere in the world. It is imperative that Ofqual and the exam boards have contingency plans in place that are communicated to schools.

If my school is anything to go by, we have a lot of anxious parents, staff and students wondering how learners will be supported should exams not be accessible. They are anxious that, if they sit exams, their grades will be compared with students who are awarded teacher-assessed grades.

The current Year 11 and 13 students have had a really tough time over the past two years and need to be both reassured and supported. All of this is out of their hands, but they are the ones most greatly impacted. We owe it to this generation of learners to support them. 

These students have resilience in abundance, but exam boards cannot take advantage of this by delaying the sharing of a clear plan of support for these continuing unprecedented times.

Mark Leppard MBE is headmaster of The British School Al Khubairat and chair of British Schools in the Middle East (BSME)