AS and A-level French, German and Spanish: visiting examiner option summer 2021

Published: Monday 28 Sep 2020

We’ve had to make the difficult decision to withdraw the Visiting Examiner (V) option for our AS and A-level French, German and Spanish specifications in summer 2021 only.

AS and A-level French (7651/V, 7652/V), German (7661/V, 7662/V) and Spanish (7691/V, 7692V)

The above visiting options will not be available for next summer and all entries for AS and A-level French, German and Spanish in summer 2021 must be for the Teacher-conducted (T) option.

We’ve made this decision due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the continuing uncertainty around social distancing requirements for next spring and summer. We hope you’ll understand that we have to put safety first in these unusual times, and it’s likely to prove difficult for visiting examiners to conduct the tests safely – plus we know that restrictions may make it difficult for some schools to have visiting examiners on the premises.

Support available

To ensure teachers will have as long as possible to access the training materials they’ll need, including those who are conducting tests for the first time in 2021, we’ve the following guidance and support:

• a recorded webcast (with voice-over)
• guidance on how to conduct Speaking tests
• Instructions for conducting the exams (ICE) document
• answers and commentary for Paper 3 Speaking (transcripts of marked example tests, with commentaries).

All of these resources can be found under the Assess tab for each specification for AS French, A-level French, AS German, A-level German, AS Spanish and A-level Spanish.

Further examples of Speaking tests, including sound files can be found on the secure key materials area of our secure extranet, e-AQA.

Your Individual Research Project (IRP) adviser will send you a new IRP Teacher guide.

Online training event

Teachers will have the opportunity to ask any questions at a live online training event on conducting A-level tests. We’ll publish more details about these soon.

We know that you’ll want to know more about the changes for next summer. We’ll publish further information in the coming months with updates about the summer 2021 exams.

See all updates