Wales Cancels GCSEE, A-level Exams for 2021

WEB DESK: General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSSE), AS and A-level next year exams in Wales, United Kingdom (UK) have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the results will be based on classroom assessments with external marking.

Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams said that the measure has been taken to ensure fairness during the coronavirus pandemic.

Welsh government opted for classroom assessments with external marking in this year’s exams after the fiasco in the last year’s exam process in the UK.

Last year’s exam results created a public outcry on results due to the use of a mathematical algorithm for standardizing grades. Some 42% of A-level students were awarded grades lower than teacher assessments.

Further, the government of England has announced to take school exams in the summer of 2021. UK Education Minister Gavin Williamson said that the exams were the fairest way of judging performance.