England keeping pen and paper exams despite limited digital expansion

Regulator proposes strict limits on screen-based testing, cites infrastructure concerns and lack of evidence for benefits

Most students taking school and college GCSE, A-level, and AS-level exams in England will continue to use pen and paper, according to proposals from the sector's regulator for a very limited expansion of screen-based assessments.

The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is consulting on plans that will require exam boards to stick to paper-based exams for the 13 most taken GCSEs as well as A-level mathematics for the foreseeable future.

It plans to allow each of its four exam boards to submit proposals for just two further subject-based specifications for screen-based assessments. Where permitted, on-screen assessments must use substantially different questions to paper equivalents and students will not be allowed to use their own devices for taking exams.

Exam boards already offer on-screen assessments for GCSE and A-level computer science, as well as for GCSEs in geology and food preparation and nutrition. Ofqual says these may continue, as well as assessments for British Sign Language and music technology, although they will need to follow any new rules.

Exam boards will also be able to continue offering digital assessments to disabled students to meet their legal requirements to provide reasonable adjustments for accessibility needs.

"We're consulting on a carefully balanced approach to on-screen assessment," Jo Handford, Ofqual's associate director for strategic projects and innovation, wrote in a blog post aimed at schools and colleges.

"One that protects the integrity of qualifications you and your students work so hard for, while enabling measured innovation where the evidence supports it."

Handford said that reasons for caution include the variability of the quality of IT infrastructure in schools and colleges, the operational demands of on-screen assessment, and limited evidence of it having any benefits.

"On-screen assessment introduces new challenges around cybersecurity, technical failures during exams, and maintaining standards across different modes," she wrote. "Our controlled approach ensures these risks are carefully managed."

"The rigor and value of qualifications won't be compromised. And traditional pen and paper assessment will remain the primary mode for most exams," she added.

Most UK universities make some use of digital exams after many introduced these during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a paper published earlier this year [PDF], Swansea University academics Philip Newton and Michael Draper found that 93 of 119 universities that responded to their Freedom of Information requests use remote online exams for "summative" assessments of how much students have learned.

Only 23 of 90 universities used remote invigilation technology, such as locking browsers or monitoring activity, during these exams. Newton and Draper said this raised questions over the validity of unsupervised online assessments, particularly given the rise of generative artificial intelligence services.

Meanwhile, Estonia, which last year launched an e-divorce service as the final part of its state digitization program, is planning to move away from paper-based exams for middle school graduation, although it has pushed this back from 2024 to 2027 due to IT glitches. ®