A-level students who feel let down by a “ridiculous and insane” marking system are launching legal action against England’s exam regulator Ofqual.
Thousands of teenagers were left angered after almost 40% of predicted grades were downgraded by the regulator’s “moderation” algorithm, leaving many missing out on their first choice universities.
The Good Law Project is supporting six students over a judicial review of Ofqual’s “failings”.
One of the students, whose name was given as Michael, saw his grades fall from a predicted BBB to EEE, which left him “disheartened”.
Michael said: “Teachers are entrusted with the task of predicting students’ grades and considering they are in a far better position to determine what level students are working at, it is abysmal to think that the Government, whose job it is to lead this country in the right direction, has allowed an algorithm to determine the futures of thousands of students.
“This injustice cannot and should not stand, and we are urging the Government to rethink this decision.”
The Good Law Project’s crowdfunding bid to cover legal costs has reached more than £41,000.
Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said: “If you don’t go to a successful school you don’t deserve to succeed either – strip away all the science and that’s what’s delivered by the system Ofqual and Gavin Williamson have put in place.
“It’s not fair, it’s not good enough, and hard-working students should not have to stand for it.”
On Saturday, just hours after it published its criteria for appeals based on mock exam results, Ofqual said the policy was “being reviewed” by its board and that further information would be released “in due course”.
