TL;DR:

• Ofqual chief regulator Ian Bauckham has publicly warned that scrapping extended-writing coursework because of AI misuse fears is “never off the table”.
• The flag targets the roughly 20% of assessment weight that extended writing currently carries in history and English A Levels.
• The comment lands on the same day the Department for Education opened an AI tutoring tender for Years 9-10 — a telling split in how UK education policy is treating AI in learning versus in assessment.

Bauckham is “evaluating” exam boards’ responses to his March letter demanding tougher AI-misuse action. Speaking to FE Week’s sister title Schools Week, he floated options including outright removal of non-examined assessment, authenticity checkpoints where teachers sign off work in stages, and stricter referencing requirements “so it’s clear you’ve not just asked ChatGPT to write 10,000 words for you”.

What is and is not on the table

Creative art coursework, where paint and pens are used in front of teachers, is less of a concern. Digital art is more contested. Bauckham also wants stronger in-hall mobile-phone controls. The four exam boards — AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel, WJEC — have reportedly returned proposals to Ofqual but declined to share them publicly, with the Joint Council for Qualifications saying it “continuously monitors” the risk.

Tension with on-screen assessment

Bauckham hinted at a broader public-mood shift. Ofqual’s current proposal to initially limit on-screen exams to two subjects per board has drawn industry pushback, with AQA chief Colin Hughes previously calling it “unduly restrictive”. Bauckham responded directly: “My job is not to do what exam boards want me to do. My job is to look after the national asset.” That position will shape Ofqual’s final digital-exams decision later this year.

UK policy split

The juxtaposition with the DfE’s AI tutoring tender is striking. DfE wants adaptive AI tutoring inside classrooms for up to 450,000 disadvantaged pupils a year. Ofqual is openly considering removing the coursework formats most vulnerable to the same technology. Both positions are internally coherent, but they depend on a sharp separation between AI-assisted learning and unaided assessment — a separation that may not hold if personalised AI tutoring creates students whose writing voice is indistinguishable from their tutor’s.

Looking forward

Ofqual’s final coursework decision will be part of the current GCSE and A Level reform. If extended-writing components are cut, English and history A Levels will look materially different from 2027. The reform also raises a practical question: if coursework gives way to more terminal exams, does the additional exam load amplify the mental-health pressures the DfE’s pastoral reforms are trying to ease?