Written question asked by Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 February 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 February 2021 (named day). It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Monday, 22 February 2021 on behalf of the Department for Education.

GCSE and IGCSE: Coronavirus

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on equality of opportunity for pupils of the cancellation of GCSE exams and not iGCSEs due to the covid-19 outbreak in the 2020-21 academic year.

Answer: International GCSEs are not regulated by Ofqual and it is therefore a matter for the two exam boards that run them – Cambridge Assessment International Education and Pearson – whether exams go ahead this summer, so long as they are not prevented from doing so by public health requirements. The Department understands that both exam boards have decided that exams for their international GCSEs will not go ahead in the UK in summer 2021 due to the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, and pupils will be awarded grades based on teacher assessment instead. They will decide themselves exactly how this is carried out for their qualifications. Further information is available on the relevant websites: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/news/news-details/view/update-for-cambridge-schools-on-the-2021-exam-series-20210219/ and https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/campaigns/pearson-covid-19.html.

Secondary information