AQA plans for digital GCSE exams from 2026

Exam board says digital exams could reduce teacher workload in the longer term

17th October 2023, 12:01am

Jasmine Norden

AQA has set out its first steps towards digital exams, with GCSEs potentially moving online from 2026.

The exam board has proposed that the reading and listening components of GCSE Italian and Polish should be the first to be sat digitally - with digital mocks from 2025, followed by exams from 2026 if regulators approve the plan.

AQA then hopes students will be able to sit digital exams for a major subject by 2030.

It is not the first exam board to run digital exams: Pearson Edexcel ran a trial for the English language iGCSE last year in a big step for the rollout of digital exams.

Pearson reported the pilot was a success. Feedback from school leaders was that there had been some software problems, but the concept was popular with students.

Today, AQA has put forward the case for digital exams in a report drawing from a poll of parents, Sendcos and students, as well as pilot findings.

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Norm bleed

Today’s big idea is the last of this series, in which we explore how the norms of different groups influence each other…By Peps Mccrea  Norms are powerful. But the norms we amplify aren't the only norms that influence behaviour and learning in our classroom (or school). Let's talk about norm bleed: Norms are the unwritten rules of conduct that shape the behaviour and learning of a group. However, multiple groups exist within, and around, any school. And the similarities (or differences) in the norms of these groups all have an influence on each other. When the norms of adjacent groups are congruent, those norms will amplify each other. They will have a stronger effect in each context. Conversely, when the norms of adjacent groups are dissimilar, they will attenuate each other. Their effect in each context will be weaker. This is norm bleed. And it’s going on in schools all the time, whether we like it or not. For example, when a student moves between teachers within a school, and in each of those contexts they experience the same routine around how they enter the classroom or participate in a whole-class discussion or engage in practice, they will feel considerably compelled to conform in each situation. “One dog barks at something, and a hundred bark at the bark.”   Chinese proverb We can harness the power of norm bleed in schools by: Pursuing consensus around the value of teacher consistency for students. At our school, we work hard to give pupils a familiar experience between classrooms because it helps them learn. Getting together to tease out those key norms that we feel should be experienced by students across multiple contexts. In every classroom, we champion the asking of questions, periods of silent study, etc. Where possible, capturing and codifying these norms in a form that can be shared with new staff and the wider community. Our school charter lays out the behaviours and attitudes we are working together to promote. This last point is important, because norms don’t just bleed between classrooms, but between schools and families and other local contexts. The more we can work with parents and community groups to align around key norms, the greater their overall effect will be. For even more nuance on the role of norms, see Theory and practice of social norms interventions: eight common pitfalls, by Cislaghi & Heise. How consistent are the norms between classrooms in your school? What are the key norms you think should be shared across all situations? If such conversations are not already alive, how might you kickstart them? Summary • The norms of interacting groups influence each other. • Where these norms are similar, they will amplify each other. Where they are not, they will attenuate each other. • This 'norm bleed' not only happens between classrooms, but across schools and families.

Consistency before challenge

 

Routines can be hard to establish. We can increase our chances of success by focusing on being consistent before ramping up the level of challenge. Let's break it down:

As we've explored in previous Snacks, classroom (& school) routines have a range of benefits, but there are several reasons why we're prone to giving up before they've had a chance to bear fruit:

To begin with, routines require additional attention and effort. Initially, we lack fluency and so they can feel awkward. During this time, our students will also lack familiarity and fluency.

One strategy to increase the likelihood that our routine survives this vulnerable phase is to focus on consistency before challenge. Consistency refers to the regularity of our execution of the routine. Challenge refers to how ambitious we are with the mechanics of the routine itself.

Trying to maximise both to begin with can quickly lead to cognitive overload, but over time, consistency will actually reduce cognitive load (because the more we run a routine the more automated it becomes), enabling us to focus on other things (challenge).

"If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection."   James Clear

What does consistency before challenge look like? A few examples from beyond and within school:

To establish an exercise habit, focus on just showing up to the gym to begin with. Hold back on pushing yourself physically until showing up becomes easy. To establish an effective reading habit (for yourself or your students), get folks reading on a regular basis before starting to tackle more challenging texts. To establish a strong classroom entry routine, initially focus on being at the door, before pushing yourself to embed high quality interactions with students.

Caveat → Of course, you may well be able to achieve both aspects straight away. In that case, great. But if things begin to go awry, restart with consistency as your anchor.

Bonus → It's fine not to show up every once in a while, but the moment you do so twice in a row, you're establishing a new habit (of not doing it).

For an evidence informed framework around establishing routines, see Better teacher habits for better student learning, by Fletcher-Wood.

Think about a routine or habit that you've failed to embed (I have many). If you were to try again, but focussed on just showing up to start with, might things turn out different?

Summary • Trying to be both consistent and ambitious in the early stages of a routine can overload cognitive capacity. • For a greater chance of success, we should focus on just showing up before ramping up the challenge. • It's okay to not show up occasionally, but if we do this more than once, we're basically establishing a new habit.

The valley of potential

 

By Peps Mccrea Routines can be powerful tools for learning. However, they take time and effort to establish, and typically come with an initial dip in performance. During this phase, it can be tempting to give up. Let's break it down: At their best, routines can: Increase time and attention for learning Reduce the behaviour management burden Increase student motivation, confidence, and safety Free up of teacher cognitive capacity to monitor learning and be more responsive However, these benefits only emerge when routines become automated. The amount of time it takes for a routine to automate depends on its complexity and how frequently we run it. Simple routines can take 20 repetitions. More complex sequences can take up to 200. It can be weeks or months before a teaching routine becomes automatic. "Habits appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold."   James Clear During this automation phase, several things happen: We have to invest additional attention and effort to support the change, especially in contrast to our existing habit stack. Initially, we lack skill in new techniques, and so they can often feel clumsy and unnatural. A new approach for us also usually means a new experience for our students, with an associated lack of familiarity and fluency. When combined, these things can lead to a feeling (and quite possibly a reality) of reduced performance. During this phase, routines can feel like a waste of effort. And we can be tempted to give up. (especially if we are a new teacher or find ourselves in a stressful situation) However, this effort is not being wasted. It is merely being stored  If you play the long game and stick with it, you will eventually reach a tipping point (automation) where the benefits will begin to outweigh the investment. From then on, your routine will pay back handsomely. You'll have crossed what James Clear calls the 'Valley of Potential', and you'll be unleashing all that stored effort. But to get there, you'll need to ready yourself for a period of increased effort, discomfort, and reduced performance. You'll need to manage your own expectations. Caveat → Automating a rubbish routine is never going to deliver value for learning. It's also important to know when to give up. Just make sure you've given your routine a chance to shine before you bin it. For more on the automation process, see Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’, by Gardner et al. So, the next time you find yourself trying to establish a new routine or habit, check your expectations and hold the line—the wins are there for the taking. Summary • Routines can support learning but their benefits are only realised once things have been automated. • During the automation phase, routines often feel effortful, unnatural, and unfamiliar. • If we don't manage our expectation, we risk giving up prematurely.

 

Big Idea  Routines enable our students to learn more with less. How so? Let's dive in: First up, a routine (aka habit) is essentially a chain of actions that gets executed on a cue (or prompt), all of which happens with minimal cognitive effort or conscious control. They achieve this cognitive efficiency by stripping out decision costs, reducing the amount of novel information that needs to be processed, and exploiting our ability to think less about the things we repeatedly do. When your alarm goes off in the morning, you get up, shower, dress and have breakfast—all without really thinking about it. The cognitive efficiency of this flow is insane... Routines are particularly powerful because human attention is so heavily limited—we can really only attend to one thing at a time. As a result, when a routine is in place, students end up needing to think less about the process of their learning, and so can think more about the content of their learning—the substance of our teaching. In short, routines redeploy attention. This is important, because what our students attend to is what they end up thinking about. And what they think about is ultimately what they end up learning. Routines hack the attention economy of the classroom to help our students learn more with less. "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations we can perform without thinking about them."   Alfred Whitehead Fine, so what can we do about it? Well, routines fall into 2 broad camps: Instructional routines Behavioural routines Instructional routines involve activities such as whole-class discussion or independent practice. These make the most of the time we have available for learning. Behavioural routines involve activities such as classroom entry or resource management. These enable us to free up even more time and space for learning. It's worth investing in both. Now, routines are often painted as boredom-brokers and creativity-killers, but I'm not sure this is quite accurate. Effective routines can secure success and so act as an antidote to boredom. Also, they tend to increase confidence and feelings of safety for students (particularly those with SEND). And they free up the precious mental capacity needed for creativity to flourish. In general, routines are net positive for students. And they can also help us teachers, by: Reducing the behaviour management burden. Freeing up teacher cognitive capacity to monitor learning and be more responsive. In short, routines are powerful tools for learning and teaching. Caveat → I'm not saying that lessons should be formulaic. Instead, it's probably more useful to think about having a strong 'repertoire of routines' to draw upon. This ensures that teaching can be both efficient and responsive, in meeting the diverse needs of our students and curricula. For more on the mechanics of routines, see How To Form Good Habits? by van der Weiden et al. And for some examples of routines in teaching, check out TLAC 3.0 and the just-released Teaching & Learning Playbook, from Dixons Trust. So there you have it. A brief tour of the mechanics of routines and how they link with learning. What routines do you lean most heavily in your teaching? Are there any aspects of your work which might benefit from being 'routinised' further? Summary • A routine is a chain of actions that gets executed on a cue, with minimal cognitive effort or conscious control • When a routine is established, students think less about the how of their learning, and so can think more about the what of your teaching • This is powerful because human attention is limited, and attention leads to learning