TEACHERS WARNED ON EXAM MARKING

Computers will catch those being too lavish with grades – or overly harsh

TEACHERS will award GCSE and A-level grades this year – but have been warned they will be caught if they try to artificially boost scores.

Exam boards will use computer algorithms to root out staff trying to ‘game’ the system by inflating results or highlight those who are overly harsh.

Some 1.3million youngsters are missing out on summer exams because of the coronavirus crisis.

Teachers have been told by regulator Ofqual that pupils must be judged on ‘the full range of available evidence’ – not just mock results or predicted grades. Under the one-off regime, staff must decide what children ‘were most likely to get if teaching, learning and exams had happened as planned’, but will not have to submit any evidence.

Before the results are confirmed, exam boards will run a ‘statistical standardisation’ process. If some schools ‘appear to be more severe or generous than others’, boards will have the power to adjust grades, Ofqual said.

Youngsters who want to take exams will be able to sit them in the autumn or even in summer 2021, and can use these grades if they outperform their allotted marks. A-level pupils who are determined to resit exams may even have to delay going to university, with some institutions reportedly considering allowing students to start in January.

Ofqual has urged universities to be ‘flexible’, but said ‘ this might only be possible in a minority of cases’.

There are concerns about the accuracy of teacher assessment, and whether some pupils could be unfairly treated – particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Analysis of nearly 20,000 predicted grades across 22 subjects last year found that just 40 per cent of teachers’ estimates turned out to be accurate, Schools Week reported.

Of the 60 per cent that were wrong, 31 per cent were too generous and 29 per cent too negative.

When allotting grades, teachers will be expected to form a ‘holistic’ view, even taking into account complex factors like pupils who may be ‘crammers’ and excel at the last minute. Ofqual admits there could be errors, leading to appeals by classes or even entire schools.

Teachers will also have to rank students in order of performance to allow more detailed statistical ‘fine tuning’ of national results. The deadline for schools to submit grading information to exams boards is May 29.

After that, the boards will put all the grades through a process taking account of factors like the school’s previous results and national trends. Education

Secretary Gavin Williamson said the latest move will help make sure grades will be ‘as valid this year as any other’.

Ofqual’s chief regulator Sally Collier said exam boards ‘will do everything’ to make sure pupils ‘are not disadvantaged’. But Sir Peter Lampl, of social mobility charity the Sutton Trust, warned: ‘ The emphasis on teacher assessments can unconsciously disadvantage those from low-income backgrounds...

The onus must also be on universities to show flexibility by the use of contextual admissions in deciding who to admit.’

Education unions backed the proposals, with the NAHT calling them ‘pragmatic and fair’.

‘As valid this year as any other’