Responding to Ofqual’s
criteria on using mock results in GCSE and A-level appeals, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
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This is clearly a face-saving exercise by a government which has said that it won’t do a U-turn on its pledge that moderated grades will stand come what may.
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Instead, it is attempting to remedy the grading fiasco through an appeals process so surreal and bureaucratic that it would be better off at this point doing that U-turn and allowing original teacher-assessed grades, where they are higher, to replace moderated grades.
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That would be a better approach than this appeals system as it would mean students would get revised A-level grades immediately on the basis of the teacher assessments already conducted, which draw on the very evidence that is now proposed as part of the appeals process.
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It would also give pupils badly needed reassurance ahead of next Thursday’s GCSE results day.
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We don’t blame Ofqual for the bizarre nature of the appeals criteria. The regulator has been given a hospital pass by a government that is in disarray. It is time for ministers to stop the chaos and fall back on teacher-assessed grades rather than prolong this nightmare.
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The principle of moderated grading was a reasonable approach which we supported along with many others in the sector. But the simple fact of the matter is that it has created too many injustices.”