This year sees the return of external exams. For Key Stage 4, it also sees the return of published accountability measures.
DfE had already stated that no results from 2020 or 2021 would count in any external measure of school performance. This left the question of how qualifications taken by current Year 11 pupils over the past two years would be treated.
In March we got our answer (pdf): qualifications entered in 2020 or 2021 will count as entries but not as results. Effectively, through an accountability lens, any qualification taken in 2020 or 2021 is treated as a U. It receives zero points but counts as an entry. Full details of the methodology were released earlier this week.
To get a handle on the possible impact of this approach, I’ll apply the 2022 rules to 2019’s end of Key Stage 4 cohort, and calculate the change in Attainment 8[1]. (2019 because that’s the last time we had external exams.)
