Final decisions on confidential assessment material development

Ofqual has today (Thursday 19 July) confirmed changes to its rules with respect to the safeguards awarding organisations must have in place to ensure the continued involvement of teachers in the development of confidential assessment materials. We have also confirmed additional guidance to help awarding organisations comply with these rules, following public consultation.

Sally Collier, Chief Regulator, said:

Teachers make an important contribution to the quality of exam materials and we wanted that to continue. We launched our review because the disclosure of confidential information about the content of an exam before it is taken is a form of malpractice that damages public confidence and, if not found and dealt with, can be unfair for students.

We are very grateful to everybody who has engaged with us on this important matter. Our updated rules will allow awarding organisations to employ a range of different safeguards.

Our revised Conditions and guidance take effect on 6 August 2018. However, in many cases assessment materials for 2019 will have already been prepared.

We have written to all awarding organisations today setting out that we accept that awarding organisations will need some time to put in place a complete package of appropriate safeguards and that we will take this into account when considering any regulatory action.