Pressure Mounts for Exam Reform as AI Challenges Traditional Assessment

• 70% of teachers agree AI is central to student futures

• Traditional GCSE and A-Levels could face radical overhaul as research reveals demand for new assessment methods

• 62% of parents support replacing outdated exam formats

• FindTutors offers five modern alternatives to align education with tomorrow’s world
  

As technology reshapes the future of work and learning, FindTutors – a leading UK tutoring brand from GoStudent – is calling for urgent reform to the way students are assessed, following new research that questions the relevance of traditional exams.

The Future of Education Report 2025 reveals that 62% of parents now believe new assessment methods are essential, particularly as AI tools become commonplace. In fact, 16% of students have already used AI to write essays, and 21% report using it to pass exams – prompting concerns about how effectively current assessments are keeping pace.

A large number of parents (59%) feel grades no longer represent a well-rounded view of their child’s abilities. Moreover, 58% say exams focus too heavily on memorisation, leaving less room for creativity, logic, and the critical thinking skills needed in AI-influenced careers.

The findings suggest significant changes may lie ahead for the UK’s exam system – including GCSEs, A-Levels, and Scotland’s National Qualifications. With 84% of teachers supporting simulation-based assessments, the traditional pen-and-paper model may soon give way to dynamic, interactive evaluations.

Portfolio-based approaches are also gaining traction, offering students the chance to showcase their development over time. This aligns with research from the National Bureau of Economic Research showing soft skills are rising in importance. Supporting this, FindTutors’ data shows 64% of parents believe AI will only increase the value of soft skills – a gap the current exam system struggles to bridge.

Albert Clemente, CEO at FindTutors, outlines five alternative assessment methods that educational institutions should consider implementing to better measure student talent in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape:

1. Simulation-based assessment (74% teacher support): Students demonstrate knowledge by making decisions in real-world scenarios, an approach already widely used in healthcare education.
2. Portfolio assessment (69% teacher support): Students build up a digital collection of work over time, allowing for a comprehensive view of progress rather than measuring performance on a single day.
3. Peer and self-assessment (67% teacher support): Students evaluate their own work and that of classmates, developing critical thinking skills and deeper understanding of assessment criteria.
4. Learning analytics (66% teacher support): ‘Big data’ assesses all student work across digital platforms, providing insights into learning patterns and progress that traditional exams cannot capture.
5. AI-based adaptive testing (63% teacher support): Personalised assessment adjusts to individual abilities, providing more accurate measurement of capabilities by tailoring difficulty levels to each student.

“Traditional essays and exams have been the cornerstone of education for more than a century, but our research clearly shows that both teachers and parents recognise the need for change. In particular, with 35% of teachers stating students cheat by using AI and 26% believing technology has made traditional assessments redundant, we need to rethink how we evaluate learning,” Clemente said.

With nearly half (41%) of teachers stating exams rely too heavily on memorising facts and 34% believing they create undue stress, the call for new assessment methods comes at a crucial time for UK education. 

The research also found that 71% of teachers believe access to AI should be supervised rather than banned, highlighting the need to adapt assessment methods to the digital reality students now inhabit.