8. Will the Minister provide an update on the preparation for summer GCSE examinations? OQ58218

In addition to the announced adaptations to exam content and grade boundaries, a £24 million support package was put in place, including the Lefel Nesa/Power Up campaign. This investment has provided learners with information, exam resources, hints and tips to help them prepare for the 2022 exam season.

Thank you, Minister. It's following on from a question that you had earier from Rhun, actually, about preparations for the exams this summer, considering that there were very concerning multiple reports that set texts had been missing off A-level English literature, as you've outlined already, and that pupils had unexpected content—that was in maths, with the difficulty, as you've already outlined, so I won't go over it. But what assurances can you give learners today that those lessons have been learnt by the examination board, and that we won't have repeat mistakes from the exam board this time for GCSE learners? Thank you. 

I've obviously met with the exam board and with Qualifications Wales, as I do regularly, and have discussed this summer's exam season as part of our discussions generally. Learners this year have faced a particular set of challenges, being the first cohort perhaps not to have sat any external exams, but facing them for the first time this year. Clearly, as I was saying in the earlier answer, learners will feel very anxious as a consequence of that. You will have seen the response that the WJEC has given specifically on the question of examined content. Just to repeat the point, alongside the overall system-wide adjustment to the grades, which is the mid point between 2019 and 2021—that sort of overall adjustment—it is also possible to adjust grade boundaries on papers to reflect the content and the overall performance on that paper, which obviously captures some of the points that you were making. So, just to give that assurance. That set of decisions is made when the marking of the paper itself happens, so it can take into account the sorts of issues which the Member has raised. I do understand that learners are anxious, but I want to give them that assurance that there is a mechanism in the system that can respond to that.