A Message to all CCEA GCSE, AS and A level Students this Summer from Mr Justin Edwards CCEA Chief Executive
I appreciate how challenging the past few weeks have been since the announcement that exams have been cancelled this summer. As you have been waiting patiently for news, we have been working as fast as possible to provide an approach that will enable us to award your grades.
Following instruction from the Minister of Education, I’m now able to share how this will happen. From the outset I want to reassure you that at the centre of all our thinking has been that grades awarded must be fair and reliable. Our goal is to give you the grades that best reflect what you would have achieved had you sat the exams in normal circumstances and completed all your coursework.
For every GCSE, AS and A Level subject, CCEA will require each school, college or other exam centre to submit a centre assessment grade for each student and the rank order of students within each grade. We will be issuing guidance to schools and colleges on how we will collect this information. We will then use this data and other information to calculate your grade. CCEA will also apply statistical standardisation to align the judgements across and within centres so that, as far as possible, no one is unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged this summer.
All the detail about the awarding process for each qualification can be found on the CCEA website (https://ccea.org.uk/summer-awarding) as well as answers to many other questions you and your family may have.
With regard to this year’s exam grades, there is nothing further for you to do as your teachers will have all the information they need to inform the grading process. Any teaching and learning which continues now is to help you prepare for the next academic year.
Please don’t ask your teachers or anyone else at the school or college to tell you the grades they will be sending to us or where they have placed you in the order of students. This is confidential and they are not allowed to share this with you.
I would like to reassure you that these grades will have equal status to any other year and should be treated as such by universities, colleges and employers. If you feel that the grades given do not reflect your performance, you may wish to sit the examinations at another time and as such, the higher grade stands. CCEA is also considering potential arrangements for appeal should you be dissatisfied with your grade.
We will continue to update the guidance as new information becomes available, including details about vocational and technical qualifications as soon as we can, so please keep an eye on our website.
It has undoubtedly been an unsettling time for you and your families, and I am grateful for your patience as we have developed a solution. I hope that this message allays concerns you might have and allows you to look forward to your future plans with confidence.
With my best wishes,
Justin Edwards
CCEA Chief Executive
Justin Edwards CCEA Chief Executive
