 | This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Needs to include details of the response from all devolved nations, and this needs to be clearly defined. (October 2020) |
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, all secondary education examinations due to be held in 2020 were cancelled. As a result, an alternative method had to be designed and implemented at short notice to determine the qualification grades to be awarded to students for that year. A standardisation algorithm was produced in June 2020 by the regulator Ofqual in England, Qualifications Wales in Wales, Scottish Qualifications Authority in Scotland, and CCEA in Northern Ireland. The algorithm was designed to combat grade inflation, and was to be used to moderate the existing but unpublished centre-assessed grades for A-Level and GCSE students. After the A-Level grades were issued, and after criticism, Ofqual, with the support of HM Government, withdrew these grades. It issued all students the Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs), which had been produced by teachers as part of the process. The same ruling was applied to the awarding of GCSE grades, just a few days before they were issued: CAG-based grades were the ones released on results day.
A similar controversy erupted in Scotland, after the Scottish Qualifications Authority marked down as many as 75,000 predicted grades to "maintain credibility", and later agreed to upgrade the results and issue new exam certificates. The Scottish Government apologised for the controversy, with Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland saying of the situation that the Scottish Government "did not get it right".