Around 65,000 students who were expected to obtain ‘C’ grade in English were awarded a ‘D’ grade after the amount of marks needed was raised. Ofqual, the exams regulator, examined the quality of marking and maintain that the marking was correct but confirmed that the standard had been raised since the January examinations. The net result for those students affected will mean that entry into Sixth Form Colleges and later Universities might no longer be possible or that Apprenticeships agreed will not go ahead.
Ofqual are refusing to budge on this matter and it now seems that some teachers will be seeking recourse to the courts. In the Independent it reports: Meanwhile, pressure is building over the Ofqual report, which heads and teachers say has done nothing to tackle the "scandal" of pupils getting different grades despite getting the same marks, depending on when they sat the exam. Heads' and teachers' organisations were meeting at the weekend to discuss the possibility of a legal challenge over what happened, which would mean a judicial review of whether the grading system was fair.
Whilst Ofqual are adamantly refusing to budge on this matter, children’s futures are being put in jeopardy. The offer to retake the examination in November would, for most of those affected, be totally useless. The only solution to this debacle is the urgent remarking of the papers.
Why is it that the supposedly smart people who are tasked with organising exams make such silly mistakes? There was a similar egregious error made in Ireland this year with the Leaving Cert points system. In order to encourage talented young people to opt for science based degrees, they decided to award a bonus of 25 points for higher level maths. But it didn't occur to them that they should restrict the bonus to those applying for science degrees. The result? People were able to use their bonus points to apply for all kinds of degrees, meaning that the points required to obtain places for all degrees shot up. Of course, no one can tell us if science degrees benefited in any way from higher quality applicants. Is it any wonder that so many young people are growing cynical about our education system?
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