Fresh certificates for pupils who change gender after results day

STUDENTS who change gender after picking up their A-level results are being allowed to order fresh certificates with their new identities.

Sharon Hague, senior vice president of Pearson Qualification Services, said it had become the ‘standard process’ for transgender teenagers.

She said: ‘We change all our records and the certificate to reflect their identity at that point.’

Exam boards are working to ensure students who do not identify as either gender do not feel left out when Alevel results are published. Currently, exam entries are broken down into

two categories – male and female. But exam bosses said conversations are taking place with charity Stonewall to address the growing need to reflect societal change. This could include introducing a third category for ‘nonbinary’ students.

Miss Hague said: ‘We know that this is something young people feel strongly about.

‘Exam boards do have a process for making sure that any young person, once they’ve received their qualification, should they identify themselves in a different way ... can be changed and updated to reflect that.’