Exam season this year is happening within the backdrop of the new Government’s curriculum and assessment review, which has set out an ambition to develop, “An assessment system that captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of curriculum, with the right balance of assessment methods whilst maintaining the important role of examinations.”

Over the last two years, three of the main awarding bodies offering GCSEs and other qualifications at level two have published high profile reports calling for changes to the assessment system. See Pearson Qualified to Succeed and AQA Making it Click reports.

Most recently, OCR has launched a review, led by former Education Secretary Charles Clarke, stating that, “The balance of exams and assessment at secondary school is “completely wrong” and the curriculum is “too backward-looking.”

The review has so far identified the need for assessment to be spread more evenly over students’ secondary school education, rather than the focus being entirely on “high-stakes” exams for 16-year-olds at the end of key stage 4, and support for more digital assessments. See OCR review set to call for curriculum and exams overhaul.

As we move towards the next academic year – thinking about how the assessment and qualifications system could evolve in light of the review – we asked AQA and Pearson what kinds of changes they would like to see.

AQA has previously called for:

• Greater use of digital assessments.
• Competency based literacy and numeracy assessments.
• Assessment of a broader range of areas such as digital fluency and oracy.
• Increased take up of project qualifications, incentivised by the inclusion of a project qualification option in school performance measures.

Reza Schwitzer, Director of External Affairs at AQA, told us:

"AQA welcomes the opportunity to review curriculum and assessment so that everyone can thrive. We believe there's a huge opportunity, right now, to set about improving the numeracy, literacy and digital fluency skills of all young people, regardless of their academic standing, and we look forward to sharing the experience of our development work in those areas. We are also excited about broadening and improving the assessment experience, be that through greater use of digital assessment, or by increasing take up of project qualifications, which mirror a real life project or research task. Indeed, our leading Project Q platform could provide the blueprint going forward for a portfolio or digital backpack style approach, if that is a direction the review moves in. At the same time, it is vital the review is conducted in a rigorously evidence-led way, and acknowledges the distinction between exams and curriculum content: they're not the same thing. On that score, we wholeheartedly support Ministers' language of ‘evolution not revolution’. Everything we hear from teachers is that, while they support change, they do not want excessive disruption.”

Pearson, in their Qualified to Succeed report, recommended a whole raft of measures including:

• Reintroducing different types of assessment into GCSEs, ensuring the modality of assessment fosters inclusivity across the full diversity of the student population.
• Rethinking the focus on terminal assessment, and improving how skills are assessed within subject disciplines.
• Tech-enabled assessments which can pave the way for adaptive testing in the future, but in the shorter term there is the option for onscreen to provide more inclusive assessment.

Sharon Hague, Managing Director Pearson School Assessment and Qualifications, told us:

“Qualifications are vital and valuable, and we heard in our Future of Qualifications and Assessment consultation that most people do not want wholesale change but continuous improvement. There is a specific issue to fix for the 1 in 3 young people who do not pass their GCSE Maths and English, but overall the system must be looked at as a whole. It needs to be flexible, progressive and promote choice – incorporating technology to enable innovation in teaching and learning.”

Pearson have recently re-acquired the digital badging platform Credly, and are promoting the uptake of micro-credentials. The City of Doncaster Council and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority are just two examples of places that are spearheading demand for this as part of digital learner profiles / digital skills profiles, for learners of all ages.

Across the sector there is convergence on themes around the reduction in the volume of high stakes terminal assessment, broadening the assessment experience for learners, making better use of digital assessments and new education technologies, and the potential to adapt and flex existing qualifications such as the Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) and Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

Jenny Williams, previous Chief Executive of exam board ASDAN wrote a blog for us about their highly inclusive EPQ and the benefits for young people's learning outcomes and skills development. They are currently piloting a new EPQ for learners to explore and prepare for an apprenticeship.

The curriculum and assessment review will seek evidence from the UK and elsewhere in the world, and international awarding bodies such as the International Baccalaureate Organisation have been leading innovative assessment design for over 50 years.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) has for many years seen a learner profile as a key component to accompany students’ formal qualifications. Recently the IB teamed up with the Australian Council for Educational Research to track the development of students’ creativity and curiosity in a transcript.

The OECD has also been developing new assessments in areas such as collaborative problem solving and global competence, to sit alongside existing tests in reading, maths and science. June 2024 saw the launch of the first ever PISA test of creative thinking providing an overview of this important competence in fifteen year olds in more than 60 countries.

Both in the UK and internationally, the educational assessment market is offering a range of ways in which we can make testing more fit for purpose. Change is happening right now. Regardless of the outcome of the curriculum and assessment review, awarding bodies and organisations like the OECD are creating an appetite for innovation and paving the way for the adoption of new assessment methods.

Here in England we have a choice. We either stick with an unsatisfactory status quo or work with those at the cutting edge of research and practices in assessment to find better ways of evidencing the full range of young people’s strengths.