England’s exams regulator has issued a stark warning about the growing threat of pupils using high-tech smart devices to cheat in examinations.
The chief of Ofqual cautioned that the danger should not be underestimated.
Data from the watchdog reveals that cheating using mobile phones and smart devices has been the most common category of malpractice in every summer exam series since 2018.
Last summer, this method accounted for a significant 44 per cent of all student misconduct.
As over a million pupils sit their GCSEs and A-levels this year, Sir Ian Bauckham, Ofqual’s chief, has raised fresh concerns about gadgets such as smartwatches and glasses.
Speaking on the regulator’s new podcast series, Can I Just Qualify That?, Sir Ian stressed that “mobile phones are not the only devices students can use to cheat.”
“There are of course other devices, there are smart watches and smart all sorts of things,” Sir Ian said.
“There might be smart spectacles next… that will play text across the inside of the lens that only the student can see.”
He said Ofqual has had to “move really fast, because technology is moving fast”.
Asked about students avoiding getting caught and sneaking their devices into exam halls, Sir Ian said: “We shouldn’t underestimate the challenge involved here.”
He expressed support for the Government’s decision to make guidance on phone bans in schools statutory.
“It is then much easier for invigilators to enforce that rule,” Sir Ian said.
“While students are allowed to have mobile phones in school but not in the exam, you have a point of tension, a point of conflict.”
There were 2,225 cases of mobile phone and smart device cheating last summer.
Of those cases, 545 resulted in students being disqualified from some or all of their qualifications, while 1,240 cases resulted in a loss of marks.
Losing marks and being disqualified could affect university applications and apprenticeship offers.
The exams watchdog has urged boards to take stronger measures to stop pupils bringing mobile phones into exams or using artificial intelligence (AI) to cheat in their coursework.
In March, Ofqual wrote to the main exam boards warning incidents of students breaking exam rules are rising, and there is significant concern from teachers about the use of AI.
Chief regulator Sir Ian asked AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC to set out the steps they will take to prevent these forms of cheating, and how they will respond where they are detected.
“In cases where malpractice, whether misuse of AI, taking devices into exams or any other forms of potential cheating, is detected, I expect the sanctions you have at your disposal to be fully used to give a strong signal that malpractice will not be tolerated,” Sir Ian said in the letter.
There has been a “noticeable long-term rise” in students breaching rules in exams, he added.
In summer 2025, 44% of all exam malpractice cases involved phones or similar devices, up from 42% in 2024, Ofqual figures show.