GCSE English grades 'will not be re-marked' (From Mid Devon Star)

GCSE English grades 'will not be re-marked'

4:48pm Friday 7th September 2012 in News

EXAMS watchdog Ofqual has ruled out any regrading of this summer’s GCSE results, insisting the marks given to pupils were correct.

The changes were made at the end of the year after the schools’ English courses ended, and children who took early exams in January gained higher grades than those with the same mark who took the exams in June. But now Tiverton High School is set to appeal against the grades some of its pupils received.

Head teacher Andrew Lovett said: “We’re going to send off some of our pupils’ papers to appeal but I have to say that we do so knowing that the chances of them being remarked are slim. We think it’s the right thing to do for these particular kids.

“The situation for us is that we’ve been affected by it but not as much as other schools. We calculate we’re 3% or 4% down on what would have otherwise been the case.”

An Ofqual spokesman said: “We are aware that concerns have been raised about results for GCSE English. There have been particular concerns raised about changes to grade boundaries for controlled assessment units in English.

“Where students take exams in different units spread across a couple of years, the exam boards have to consider all of the evidence available for each exam series and make decisions to make sure that the right qualification standards are achieved.

“Grade boundaries can change from exam series to exam series. Decisions on grade boundaries are made after the assessments have been taken, based on all the available evidence. In the summer, more information was available about performance across the qualification than in January. Exam boards considered this and made decisions accordingly, to make sure that the final qualification grades were comparable with last year’s.

“We are confident that standards have been maintained and that the grades awarded are right. The performance required to achieve each grade is the same as last year. Differences in pass rates reflect differences in the group of students taking the exams.”

Queen Elizabeth’s Community College in Crediton has previously objected against the results but was unavailable for comment.