Ofqual chief calls for end to pen and paper exams

February 28 2011

Ofqual's outgoing chief executive Elizabeth Nisbet is calling for traditional pen and paper exams to be replaced with online versions.

Writing in the Times Educational Supplement, she suggested that exams will become a "separate thing" to learning if technology is not incorporated in tests like it is in the classroom.

"They use IT as their natural medium for identifying and exploring new issues and deepening their knowledge," she commented.

"Yet we are even now accrediting new GCSEs, due to run for several years, which are still taken largely on paper.

"This cannot go on. Our school exams are running the risk of becoming invalid, as their medium of pen and ink increasingly differs from the way in which youngsters learn."

Ms Nisbet's views are supported by Edexcel managing director Ziggy Liaquat, who argued that technology has the power to transform education.

Speaking to the same publication, he noted that the examination system has yet to realise this full potential.

Posted by Andrew Jones

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