Pupils give education secretary an F grade over exam marking
Last updated at 12:40, Friday, 28 September 2012
Pupils and teachers from a Workington school have written to education secretary Michael Gove over changes to the marking of GCSEs.
Almost 140 youngsters in year 11 at St Joseph’s School said they were outraged and disappointed over the alteration of pass rate criteria of English GCSEs.
The remarking left many of them, who sat the exam in June, with lower grades than expected.
When results were released last month there was a national outcry over changes made to grade boundaries during the academic year which teachers claim resulted in many pupils who should have achieved a C getting a D instead.
Tim Robinson, head of English, said: “We felt we needed to respond to what the exam boards have done which is completely outrageous.
“It’s not fair to play politics with kids’ futures. They need the C grades for apprenticeships and sixth form and jobs and Gen II, which is a big thing round here.”
In 2010 the number of pupils achieving an A* to C grade in English at the school was 77 per cent, in 2011 it was 78 per cent but this year it dropped to 63 per cent.
This represents around 13 fewer pupils who achieved a pass in English this year.
Mr Robinson said: “Getting a C grade is not easy to get anyway and to make it so difficult for them is wrong.
“My faith in the exam system has been shattered, I just don’t understand why they would do this.
“Michael Gove needs to intervene to give the kids the grades they deserve and worked hard for.”
Many of the pupils are planning to resit the exam in November.
Kieran Briggs, 15, of Westfield Drive, Workington, was expecting a C but got a D.
He said: “It could possibly change our lives; with a lot of jobs you have to pass English and we haven’t passed.”
Evan Barlow, 15,of Stanley Street, Maryport, got a C but was predicted a B.
He said: “It could prevent me getting into an apprenticeship or sixth form so I am hoping they will regrade the exam paper so we don’t have to do it again.”
First published at 11:56, Friday, 28 September 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk
Agreed these pupils including my son, nephew and sister have worked hard and expected the results they were told they had worked to achieve, moving the goalposts at the last minute is not on.
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Dear Andy, please come back and criticise the standard of English when you realise that the verb text does not need a capital and that the correct phrase is 'marked down' not 'mark down.' Yes, there may have been a dumbing down of standards but it is deceitful of the exam boards to change the goalposts halfway through an examination series.
Posted by dt on 1 October 2012 at 19:53