The article discusses Pearson Edexcel’s plan to introduce on-screen options for GCSE exams, starting with English in 2025 and aiming for a complete transition by 2030. This initiative is intended to offer students flexibility in choosing between paper-based and digital exams. Up to 125,000 students may have the option to take GCSE English language and literature on-screen, pending approval from Ofqual.
The move towards digital exams isn’t to eliminate pen-and-paper exams entirely but to provide additional ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge. Pearson has already introduced on-screen components in subjects like computer science and is piloting on-screen tests in international GCSEs. The on-screen format offers benefits such as accessibility adjustments and familiar tools like zooming, highlighting, and text editing, similar to how students work in their daily lives and future careers.
Other exam boards like AQA and OCR have also outlined timelines to transition exams onto digital platforms, citing infrastructure challenges in schools as a hurdle to adopting digital exams. Ofqual is conducting a feasibility study with the government to explore the transition to fully digital GCSE and A-level exams.
