Minister of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb has said that a decision on next year’s GCSE and A-level exams in England can be expected shortly. The decision will clarify whether or not the exams will be delayed or not. Due to the unpredictability of pandemic, it is going to be critical to devise a strategy on how next summer’s exams will take place.In June, the government announced that exams were likely to be pushed back to later in the summer than usual. Labour has called for next summer's exams to be delayed. Schools in England are reopening in September after a long break. A survey conducted by YouGov suggested there were still fears about safety - with 17% of parents "seriously considering" not sending back their children.
Mr Gibb told the BBC, "We have to take into account the other nations in the UK which also use the GCSEs and A-levels in their term dates. You have to take into account the time for marking, making sure results are delivered on a certain date for university admissions and so on. There are a whole range of factors that the exam boards, Ofqual and the Department [for Education] are looking at, but we will form a decision very soon."
