Liz Cole, the co-founder of the parent campaign group UsForThem, said: “This is just another example of ambiguity and mixed messages. If we are committed to exams going ahead, this messaging around consistent back-up mock exams isn’t consistent with that.

“Given all the burdens that children have borne over the last two years, this again is adding additional pressure on them at a time when they can ill afford to bear it.”

She said children must be allowed to set their “psychological focus” on exams this summer, rather than on multiple rounds of mock exams beforehand.

“It’s additional workload, anxiety and pressure with multiple sets of preparation,” Ms Cole added.

Justine Roberts, the chief executive and founder of the online forum Mumsnet, said that parents are concerned that the “repeated stress of mock exams, which could end up either deciding final grades or never counting at all, will put significant strain on children’s mental health, already suffering as a result of the pandemic”.

She urged ministers to ensure that pupils and parents are given clarity with plenty of advance notice “to get their collective heads round what’s expected of them”.

Pupils are due to sit exams this summer for the first time since 2019. During the first year of the pandemic in 2020, exams were scrapped and pupils were initially awarded grades that had been calculated by an algorithm.

This approach proved disastrous, and a last-minute U-turn by the Government meant that results were ultimately replaced by teacher-assessed grades.

In 2021, teacher-assessed grades were awarded once again which led to a second year of rampant grade inflation.