Safer, greener and more inclusive - digital exams are the future

The country’s leading exam board, AQA, has today set out its ambitions to be bolder on the rollout of digital exams, bringing our exam system into the 21st century.

In response to Ofqual’s consultation, Regulating on-screen assessment, which closes later this week, AQA is calling on the Government and the regulator to be more ambitious about the introduction of digital exams so that young people, schools and colleges can start to reap their wide-ranging benefits.

When it comes to GCSEs and A-levels, digital exams can:

• help support students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
• reduce security risks in the paper-based system
• be better for the environment
• lead to faster marking and earlier results for students.
  

AQA believes that digital exams should be introduced in a steadily-paced way - so that teachers and exams officers can deal with logistical issues, such as ensuring there is sufficient space and enough power sockets in exam halls.

But there’s a risk that moving too slowly and too rigidly will hinder progress and put us even further behind other countries that are already doing this well. We need momentum to ensure we get it right: being over-cautious may actually make it harder. That’s why AQA opposes Ofqual's proposal for a blanket limit of two subjects per awarding organisation. It would not allow exam boards to develop the evidence to proceed with the right measure of confidence.

In contrast, AQA argues that Ofqual should lower the maximum student entry numbers from 100,000 to 50,000. This will allow schools, colleges, exam centres and students to become familiar and improve their confidence in digital exams.

Teachers have told AQA that they are more enthusiastic about exams than they were in 2023:

• 67% believe GCSEs and A-levels should be delivered digitally within five years;
• two-thirds believe their school will be ready to deliver digital exams;
• nearly half feel informed about digital exams.

Students have told AQA that they would like to take digital exams in a small number of subjects, particularly those with more essay-based questions.

AQA CEO Colin Hughes said:

“Our experience shows that confidence grows through doing, not delaying. That’s why exam boards such as AQA need to be able to progress and build the evidence base of what works. Rational caution is wise; excessive caution will restrain momentum and risks provoking public concern rather than allaying it.

"It's wrong to argue that digital exams would be unfair on less privileged students. We need to prepare young people for the types of environments they will experience when they leave education and that means properly embedding digital skills across the curriculum, levelling disadvantaged young people up and closing the digital divide.

"From time to time, we hear claims that digital exams will encourage young people to spend more time on social media. That isn’t the case at all. In reality, whether mobiles are banned in school or not, responsible use of technology needs to form part of a whole school approach to digital literacy and online safety."