Ofqual has said it plans to support the use of technology in exams and believes this has the potential to improve “quality and fairness” for students.
In the organisation’s three-year corporate plan, published today, Ofqual chair Ian Bauckham said the pandemic had posed questions of “not if, but when and how” greater use of technology and on-screen assessment should be adopted.
Ofqual said it planned to work with awarding organisations to support the use of technology and other innovative practices, and would plan to “remove regulatory barriers” if this innovation promoted “valid and efficient” assessment.
The plan was broadly welcomed by education leaders, with Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) calling the current pen-and-paper exam system “hopelessly outdated”.
But there have also been criticisms of the scope of the plan overall, with the National Education Union (NEU) calling it “limited”.
Ofqual’s plan says the organisation will “consider approaches to the regulation of innovative practices and technology to make sure these promote valid and efficient assessment, and are implemented safely in the interests of students”.
It adds that the organisation will “engage with awarding organisations to support the use of innovative practice and technology, and remove regulatory barriers where innovation promotes valid and efficient assessment”.
And it says it will “explore” the potential role of adaptive testing as part of this, “including specifically as a potential replacement for tiering in certain GCSEs”.
This sort of testing changes the questions that a candidate receives based on how they perform in the test. Students are due to take part in pilots for these sorts of tests this summer.
What else will Ofqual look at?
As part of the three-year plan, the regulator also sets out how it is overseeing the reintroduction of exam-based assessment in 2022 and will look at the future demand for technical qualifications.
It also says it will introduce new guidance for awarding organisations on “designing and developing accessible assessments”, following consultation.
And it will “undertake research” into methodologies for identifying potential bias in written assessments.
Mr Bauckham said: “The pandemic has, rightly, catalysed questions about not if, but when and how greater use of technology and on-screen assessment should be adopted. All proposed changes need to be carefully assessed for their impact on students, including those with special educational needs and disabilities”.
Current paper exams lead to ’Fort Knox-style security arrangements’
Mr Barton said ASCL was “delighted” that Ofqual was going to look at new approaches to exams, including the use of technology.
He said: “Our current reliance on a pen-and-paper exam system, organised at an industrial scale, with Fort Knox-style security arrangements around the transportation and storing of papers, is hopelessly outdated and ripe for reform.
“The recent experience of the pandemic has shown just how vulnerable it is to unexpected events. If online assessment had been available, it might not have been necessary to cancel all summer exams for two years in a row.”
Mr Barton also said the technology was “only one part of the picture”.
He added: “We would like to see a range of assessment methods used, less emphasis on a huge and relentless set of terminal exams, and reforms to English and maths which build confidence and progress rather than consigning massive numbers of students to a sense of failure.
“The exam system needs to work better for all students and give every young person the dignity of qualifications of which they can be justly proud.”
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said Ofqual was right that the pandemic had led to questions about assessment, but criticised the scope of its plan.
“A greater role for technology is worth researching but, as demonstrated by the Independent Assessment Commission, parents, students, employers, teachers, assessment experts and policymakers agree that using exams alone is outdated and doesn’t pick up all of a young person’s abilities,” she said.
She added: “We are encouraged that Ofqual says it will look at removing regulatory barriers where these are blocking valid and efficient assessments.
“Clearly, one obvious barrier to meaningful, valid GCSE and A-level grades is the condition that all assessment in GCSEs and A levels must be via examination, unless an exemption is allowed.”
GCSE and A-level exams are set to return this summer after being cancelled for the past two years owing to the Covid pandemic.
