Exam boards were accused of creating a “massive muddle” this summer over students appealing against their GCSE results, following revelations in an official report by Ofqual.
The exams watchdog’s investigation showed that some boards had awarded extra marks despite not finding errors in the original marking and that re-marking rules imposed by England’s exam regulator had been ignored.
Ofqual’s official report revealed a big rise in the number of grades that were raised on appeal – in part because of exam boards using outdated procedures.
GCSE English language and literature exams and those administered by the AQA board were worst affected by failures, in which “some reviewers changed marks where there was no error with original marking”, according to Ofqual’s report.
Suzanne O’Farrell, an assessment specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools had made appeals in good faith, based on Ofqual’s rules that examiners should review marking procedures rather than detailed re-marking.
“We are very concerned about the massive muddle that has emerged,” O’Farrell said.
“Grades have been changed, most notably in English language and literature. Now we are told that in some cases this should not have happened, and that this is at least partially responsible for an increase in the proportion of regraded GCSEs.
“Ofqual has said that these results will stand. However, the confusion that this situation has created is deeply unsatisfactory for students and schools.”
Overall, the number of GCSE grades raised after appeal jumped by 50% compared with 2016, as nearly 74,000 entries received higher grades despite Ofqual’s reforms designed to halt an upward creep in re-marking.
“It appears that some of the exam boards have not done enough to change old practices and meet our new rules around reviews of marking,” said Sally Collier, Ofqual’s head regulator.
“We expect all exam boards to comply with our rules at all times. We are currently looking at where more could and should be done and will consider what form of regulatory action may be appropriate.”
Previously, exam results that were challenged were re-marked in detail, with higher marks often the result of minor differences in opinion between markers. Under Ofqual’s new rules, marks would only be changed if a procedural error were discovered, such as an answer being overlooked. There was an initial fall in the number of appeals after the new rules were introduced.
Independent schools, which have long complained of inconsistent marking, said the revelations were “deeply frustrating” and unfair.
Ofqual found that the percentage of grades changed after appeal was higher in 25 out of 37 GCSE subjects this year than in 2016.
“It seems efforts to embed the revised rules for reviews have varied by exam board and subject and that some reviewers changed marks where there was no error with original marking,” Ofqual stated.
The number of appeals that resulted in rises by two or more grades also soared, from 401 in 2016 to nearly 2,000 in 2017, leading Ofqual to say it was “concerned about the sharp increase in the number of changes on this scale”.
The AQA exam board appears to have been the least successful at adopting the new rules, while Ofqual praised Pearson for best adopting them.
Ofqual also published an interim review on allowing teachers to act as examiners, after the Guardian revealed exam malpractice at Eton involving the Pre-U examinations this summer.
The interim review said that teachers should still be allowed to set exams while working in classrooms, despite the potential conflict of interest. But it is likely to recommend a range of safeguards to avoid the problems that emerged at Eton.
The Ofqual report also said safeguards should be strengthened in its review of rules allowing teachers to set question papers.
Ofqual’s report, published in the wake of exam leak allegations, said exam cheating was rare but could be “deeply damaging” to public confidence when it happened.
The watchdog conducted a review of rules and safeguards in place to stop confidential information being disclosed after two high-profile private schools became embroiled in a controversy over exam breaches in August.
Its report said the number of incidents in which the integrity of exams was brought into question by the behaviour of teacher/examiners was “very small”.
