KIDS & EDUCATION / SCHOOL TALK
Not making the grade The exam regulator’s clamp down on appeals has not only angered heads but could have far-reaching consquences for this year’s students Wo r d s A m a n d a C o n s ta n c e
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our precious progeny tears open this month’s long-awaited exam results only to withdraw in disappointment. The yearned-for grade hasn’t been achieved, despite A* expectations. So you appeal, right? Well, no, actually, not since Ofqual decided earlier in the summer – when your darling was already knee-deep in their exams – to make it harder to get exam papers re-graded. In a move fiercely criticised by many heads and teachers, the exams board regulator said it would introduce a tougher system to make it harder for some pupils to get “a second bite of the cherry”. This follows a substantial increase in the number of re-marks being requested by schools – often the comparatively time-rich, better resourced private ones – growing from around 190,000 challenges in 2010 to more than 460,000 appeals lodged last summer. More than 90,000 grades were changed after appeals by schools in 2015. Currently exam boards are able to change marks or grades following an appeal if there are discrepancies between markers. But under the new system, a change to a mark will only occur if it is found a ‘clear marking error’ has been made. Ofqual has said this will lead to a fairer system, after it was discovered that some original marks were being overturned despite being what Ofqual describes as “perfectly appropriate”. Ofqual said this was disadvantaging pupils who do not challenge their results. But critics from all across the education spectrum say that Ofqual have failed to sort out the root problem which is an exam system that isn’t fit for purpose. Ann Mroz, editor of the Times Educational Supplement, said: “Instead of doing the difficult job and addressing the
There’s no doubt OFQUAL has made things FAIRER. NOW EVERYONE
is screwed
problems that were causing the grades to be questioned in the first place, Ofqual went for the quick fix and made it harder for all schools to appeal. There’s no doubt it has made things fairer, now everyone is screwed.” Peter Hamilton, Chair of the Headmaster’s Conference Academic Policy Committee and Headmaster of The Haberdasher’s Aske’s Boys’ School, said: “This is quite simply a cynical and undemocratic response to a serious problem which affects young people’s hopes and futures…. Ofqual says its
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reforms will prevent pupils from getting a second bite of the cherry, because that’s not fair on the ones who don’t appeal. Hold on. Isn’t that like saying a customer who has been charged the wrong price shouldn’t be charged the right price because other haven’t thought to ask for their refund? … No fair deal here. It doesn’t matter if the pupil is on the C/D borderline at GCSE or A*/A at A-Level. Inaccuracies have major life consequences. Schools are angry that the reforms were announced not only as exams began but as they broke up for half term. “The first we knew about it was when journalists contacted us,” said Hamilton. There is also the key issue of subjects where there isn’t a clear right or wrong answer and how these fit into Ofqual’s ‘clear marking error’ criteria. Subjects such as English and the humanities – often the most appealed papers - often rely on long-form essay responses that are subjectively marked. The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference – the association of the UK’s leading 275 independent schools – and the school leaders’ union the NAHT, recommended a ‘double blind’ marking system – bringing in a trained examiner to re-mark an exam paper from scratch. “This is clearly what should have happened,” said Hamilton. But “no deal”. Suzanne O’Farrell, curriculum and assessment specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Many people believe that the initial quality of marking is not always up to scratch in the first place. There remains an underlying problem in that the system is still something of a cottage industry in which teachers mark huge numbers of scripts in their spare time for little pay. It needs to be better resourced and better structured. The most important thing is to have a system that gets marks right first time.” u
AUGUST 2016
26/07/2016 11:43