Has the pandemic changed the school exam system for the better?

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The government’s handling of A-level results last year saw widespread protests (PA)

Your editorial suggests that a return to the full A-level exam system will reduce bias against black pupils. But the exam system contains its own “bias” in that it purports only to measure a pupil’s grasp of a subject at one point in time.

Grades depend not only on raw ability, but on the quality of the teaching available to the student; the opportunities for study away from school; and crucially on motivation – which in turn will be affected by family background, the availability of role models, and even nutrition. Oh yes, and on whether students suffer from stereotype threat, anxiety and poor performance on the day.

Curriculum reforms in 2000 positioned A-levels as a measure of achievement rather than ability. It seems that Covid has to a large degree done the same. Perhaps that is all we need?