Malpractice in GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2021 exam series
Number of incidents of malpractice for GCSE, AS and A level in the summer exam series.
Applies to England
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Due to the cancellation of exams in summer 2020, many of the more common instances of malpractice, such as taking unauthorised material into an examination, could not happen.
In 2021, although the summer exam series was cancelled, centres could devise their own assessments to use as evidence to support awarding. The grading process could therefore be potentially undermined by malpractice in a similar way to a normal year. For example, non-engagement with quality assurance processes by centres, bias or discrimination by centre staff or attempts by students to gain an unfair advantage during the centre’s process could amount to malpractice, and centres were asked to report these occurrences to awarding organisations.
As a result of the cancellation of exams, the number of penalties issued by exam boards for malpractice cases in summer 2020 and summer 2021 is very small. As a full analysis and description of these very small numbers would not have been meaningful, we are instead presenting a summary of main trends for this statistical release. However, a detailed breakdown of the figures is available in the accompanying data tables.
Main trends
The main trends in malpractice in GCSE, AS and A level for the summer 2021 exam series were:
- There were 295 penalties issued to students in summer 2021, up from 20 in 2020, representing a very small proportion of the 16,184,620 total component level entries this summer.
- There were 35 penalties issued to school or college staff in 2021, up from 25 in 2020. This involves a very small proportion of the total number of staff in England (nearly 355,000 in state-funded secondary schools alone).
- There were fewer than 5 penalties issued to schools or colleges in 2021, down from 15 in 2020.
New categories of offence (bias or discrimination, and negligence) and penalty (referral to Teaching Regulation Agency) were introduced in 2020, to capture malpractice cases related to the centre assessment grade process put in place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Of these, some allegations of bias or discrimination were reported in 2020, but none of these cases resulted in a penalty being imposed (e.g., due to a lack of evidence to substantiate the allegation). As such, they are not included in the numbers of penalties reported above or in the data tables. In 2021 teachers were asked to make judgements supported by evidence, and therefore the potential for bias and discrimination may have been lessened. No allegations of bias or discrimination, or negligence, were reported to Ofqual by the exam boards in summer 2021.
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Head of profession: Nadir Zanini