Malpractice for GCSE and A level: summer 2016 exam series
Number of incidents of malpractice for GCSE and A level summer exam series in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales
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Details
Main findings
- This year’s results are similar to previous years - there were 2,430 penalties issued by exam boards to candidates in the summer 2016 exam series, broadly the same as 2015 (2,460 penalties).
- Penalties for candidate malpractice remained extremely rare across all five exam boards and represent 0.011% of the total number of unit entries, the same proportion as last year (entries decreased year-on-year).
- The most common type of candidate malpractice was possessing a mobile phone or other electronic device in an exam. The number of penalties issued to candidates for this increased by 15% compared to last year, from 790 to 900.
- There were 388 penalties issued to school and college staff in 2016, up 48% on last year when there were 262.
- In contrast, there were 41% fewer penalties issued to schools and colleges, falling from 288 to 169. The highest percentage of penalties issued to schools and colleges this year were written warnings (79%), continuing the trend of the past four years.
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Additional note
Ofqual has changed the name of its Official Statistics publication ‘Enquiries about results for GCSE and A level’ to ‘Reviews of marking and moderation for GCSE and A level’. The next release of the publication is scheduled for 15 December 2016. The change of name was required to reflect recent changes in rules for reviewing candidate results which came into effect in August 2016. Ofqual made changes to the rules following two user consultations published in May and July 2016.