4. Will the Minister make a statement on the 2022 exam results in South Wales West? OQ58377

Qualifications Wales have sought to deliver grade outcomes for approved A-levels and GCSEs that are broadly midway between summer 2019 and summer 2021, at a national level. And the results that were achieved by learners demonstrate their resilience, and I congratulate them all on their achievements.

Minister, after such a troubling time, with the effect of the pandemic clearly impacting the lives of our young people, it is right that we celebrate the achievements of all our young people who have shown such fortitude in completing their studies. Many will have struggled because of absence, and some have questioned the fairness of the results. What lessons can we learn from the experience of this cohort of students as we plan for next year and beyond? Thank you.

Well, I will take up the invitation to repeat my congratulations to young people in Wales, who have been through a very, very difficult period. I think, in some ways, this last year was the most disruptive in terms of the experience in the classroom, and so returning to an exam series in that context, I think, was a particularly challenging task. But I think the results have demonstrated the tenacity of our young people, their commitment to their own learning, and the incredible work that teachers and the wider education workforce have done in order to support our young people. We are looking at next year already, obviously. People studying exams next year will have experienced disruption in this year, so there will be some lessons to be learnt from the experience of the last year, of course, in that context.

Qualifications Wales have already said that the particular course adaptations that had to be implemented this year will not be in place for next year. However, there will be advanced notification of examined areas for young people to focus their revision in that way, so that is one aspect that will be developed from this year. And Qualifications Wales is currently working with other exam regulators in other parts of the UK to look at grading for next year and grade boundaries for next year. That work is currently under way.

Many of us will have spoken to learners on the results days for GCSEs and A-levels. My own experience of that was that the revision support and the online support that young people were able to draw on leading up to exams was appreciated, and we will certainly be looking to carry that over into the next year as well. We obviously hope that the year ahead is not like the last year, but certainly learners will have had the experience of this year, taking that forward into next year's exams, so they will need that additional support from us as well.