GCSE English will no longer be handwritten under exam board plans
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GCSE English exams will no longer need to be handwritten under plans by one of the country’s largest assessment boards.
From 2025, pupils taking both English Language and English Literature with the exam board Edexcel will be allowed to type their answers.
The move, which experts have warned must not signify the beginning of the end of handwriting for children, aims to make it easier for pupils to edit their answers and simpler for papers to be marked.
Up to 125,000 GCSE English candidates – around 20 per cent – will have the choice to complete their exam either on-screen or by hand under the plans which are being reviewed by the Department for Education and Ofqual.
Pearson, the company which runs Edexcel, hopes to be able to offer an on-screen option for all GCSEs by 2030 to increase accessibility for students.
It comes as a number of the UK’s major exam boards have taken steps towards digital assessment.
Last month, Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations announced it would offer a digitally assessed GCSE in computer science for pupils starting their course next year.
Meanwhile, AQA, the country’s largest exam board, is aiming to roll out on-screen exams and it hopes that students will sit at least one major subject digitally by 2030.
The reading and listening components of GCSE Italian and Polish would be the first to move to digital exams in 2026, according to the proposals by AQA.
