Strict guidelines forbidding faculties from telling pupils their trainer evaluation grades ought to be dropped this 12 months to stop “sudden surprises” and cut back appeals, an examination board has mentioned.
Ofqual proposes that faculties mustn’t inform college students the grade they’ve submitted to examination boards this summer season. Pupils would as a substitute have an choice to attraction after ultimate grades are awarded on outcomes day.
In our view, this in flip has the potential to considerably cut back the chance of appeals and provides the scholar some company within the course of
Final 12 months faculties have been advised they’d be investigated for malpractice in the event that they advised a pupil their teacher-assessed grade earlier than outcomes day.
However examination board OCR desires Ofqual to permit faculties to have an “ongoing dialogue” with pupils about their potential grades.
In its response to the exams alternative plan session, OCR mentioned this might enable “transparency and forestall any sudden surprises”.
“In our view, this in flip has the potential to considerably cut back the chance of appeals and provides the scholar some company within the course of,” OCR provides.
It believes academics ought to be inspired to “instantly” discuss to college students about proof they’ve at the moment. It ought to be an “sincere dialog” about how this would possibly inform grading.
Julie McCulloch
One other thought is to supply readability for college students concerning the “different sources” of proof that might be reviewed earlier than academics make their grade choices.
However Julie McCulloch, director of coverage on the Affiliation of College and Faculty Leaders, feared that sharing grades earlier than boards have high quality assured them for consistency may “simply result in a repeat of final summer season’s chaotic scenes”.
She added: “It will construct an expectation of a end result which will change through the high quality assurance stage.”
However she mentioned that ongoing conversations with college students concerning the degree they’re working in direction of was good observe.
Ofqual thinks trainer evaluation grades ought to be confidential
Final 12 months, Ofqual determined that “inappropriate disclosure” of centre evaluation grades and rank order info ought to be investigated by examination boards as “potential malpractice”.
For this 12 months, Ofqual is proposing that “centre-assessment grades, rank order info and the judgments on which these are based ought to be confidential till after outcomes have been issued”.
OCR’s plea comes amid fears from examination boards that the schedule for issuing grades this 12 months is simply too tight. Ofqual desires academics to submit grades to boards by mid-June, with high quality assurance ongoing that month. Outcomes would “almost definitely” be issued in early July.
College students may then submit appeals right away, which might be thought-about first by a faculty earlier than doubtlessly going to examination boards.
As a substitute, OCR proposes a timeline – fashioned in dialogue with the Joint Council for {Qualifications} – of a outcomes day in late July. It says it’s “inconceivable” that examination boards can ship the standard assurance proposed inside 4 weeks.
Any delay would have an effect on the appeals course of. A bunch of training unions advised final week that appeals ought to go straight to examination boards, slightly than to varsities within the first occasion.
Any transfer to be extra open about grades may additionally have an effect on the variety of topic entry requests (SARs) obtained by faculties. Pupils can submit SARs to search out out what their centre-assessed grade and rating place was.
Final 12 months an examination script exemption utilized, that means faculties solely had to answer requests after outcomes day. The Info Commissioner’s Workplace mentioned this week that it was contemplating how an exemption would possibly apply to this 12 months.
All through 2020, the ICO had 491 SARs complaints referring to the training sector. At the least 43 of them associated to state faculties, though it isn’t clear what number of have been about examination outcomes.