A-level students allowed to be gender neutral
Boys’ and girls’ categories removed from Edexcel results documents with other firms set to follow
‘‘Non-binary’’ A-level students are being allowed to opt out of gender classifications by the exam board Edexcel for the first time this summer. The firm has also removed gender categories from documents that students receive on results day. Other exam bodies are set to follow suit.
A-LEVELS are going gender neutral, as one of the country’s leading exam boards is now allowing students to opt out of boys’ and girls’ classifications.
For the first time, this summer teenagers who do not identify with either gender are able to request that male and female flags are removed from Edexcel’s system.
Edexcel – owned by education company Pearson – has also removed gender categories from the documents that students receive on results day. Compiling information about students’ gender enables exam boards to examine trends in results over time.
However, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents the UK’S major exam boards, said that the gender neutral option would not affect its reporting of trends since numbers would be too low to have an impact.
Edexcel is the first major exam board to have made changes to accommodate non-binary pupils, but others intend to follow suit. OCR and AQA are both examining their systems to see whether similar changes can be made, The Daily Telegraph understands.
A spokesman for Pearson said: “We are continuing to look at how nonbinary students can have the option of signalling that they do not wish to be classed as either male or female when they register for a qualification and receive results with Pearson Edexcel.
“For this summer we have removed the gender flag altogether from the documents students receive from us and we are giving them the option of removing the male/female flag on our qualifications systems by requesting
‘For this summer we have removed the gender flag altogether from the documents students receive’
this through their school or college.” Pearson said it was working on initiatives with the charity Stonewall aimed at boosting “diversity and inclusion”.
Earlier this year, Pearson announced that its textbooks would be updated to include “same sex” couples. It said it would ensure all its products and resources were “LGBT inclusive”.
Exam boards already have a process in place for transgender students who transition after sitting exams and want to change the information on their certificate to reflect their new identity.
A JCQ spokesman said: “Schools and colleges enter students for examinations and designate a gender for their candidates. Where a candidate has no designated gender JCQ does not enter their results for national reporting. The number of candidates is small and does not have a material impact on the aggregated results.”
Sidonie Bertrand-shelton, head of education programmes at Stonewall, said: “By offering non-binary students a voluntary way to express their identity schools will get a better understanding of who makes up their student body. Having more inclusive data will help schools create more welcoming environments and ensure every student is accepted without exception.”
Last year, boys beat girls to top A-level grades for the first time in 17 years, with the reversal of fortunes said to be fuelled by the “tougher” A-levels.
This year, boys are expected to score more A and A* grades than girls in the new A-levels, according to a University of Buckingham report.
It predicts that boys’ performance will improve this year in England because there are twice as many tough A-levels, tested by exams, rather than course work.