Overview
- On Wednesday Sir Ian Bauckham told Ofqual’s new podcast that pupils are using phones, smartwatches and potentially ‘smart spectacles’ to get answers into exam halls, and that the regulator must “move really fast.”
- Ofqual data for last summer shows 2,225 device-related malpractice cases, about 44 percent of all breaches, with 545 cases leading to disqualification and 1,240 to loss of marks.
- In March the regulator wrote to AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC asking them to set out the steps they will take to prevent device- and AI-enabled cheating and to use available sanctions where malpractice is found.
- Ofqual supports the government’s move to make school phone‑ban guidance statutory because it makes invigilation easier, but officials warn newer devices can be harder to spot and enforcement is stretched.
- Commercial smart glasses and covert cheating tools are already on the market and promoted on social media, which raises the risk that undetectable hardware and AI will further erode confidence in exam results and affect students’ university or apprenticeship offers.