Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TAUGHT A LESSON ON WRONG GCSE RESULTS
Exam chief admits marking mistakes
THE head of exam body CCEA admitted mistakes have been made after GCSE results jumped as many as three grades.
It came under fire after it was revealed on BBC’S Stephen Nolan Show that one student’s English literature paper went from a D to one point off an A* .
Some concerned parents raised issues with their children’s results but had to pay £18 to have them remarked.
Speaking on Radio Ulster on Tuesday, CCEA chief Justin Edwards said: “In the cases where we are seeing large jumps, they are mainly in English literature.
“It tends to happen in the prose or the analysis of text or analysis of books and there is an interpretative factor within that side of the qualification.
“An examiner can make the judgment that this student hasn’t got the text. It’s right teachers pick that up and say, ‘No this student performed better’.
“It happens because there is an interpretation by the learner, maybe a very talented, interpretation of a text and in these cases an examiner has said, ‘No that’s not a good interpretation’ and the senior examiner has come along and said, ‘No that’s a brilliant interpretation’.
“That can happen in a subjective subject like English literature.
“It would only be fair at this stage for CCEA to reopen the review of marking process for GCSE English literature and AS Level English
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literature until October 17.” Sinn Fein Education spokeswoman Karen Mullan has called for the re-marking process to be made accessible to all families.
The Foyle MLA said: “This is a welcome move from CCEA which will hopefully help restore confidence in the examinations process.
“I would also call on schools to work with CCEA to ensure there is no financial barrier to pupils from lowincome families accessing this service.”
Alliance Education spokesman Chris Lyttle MLA said: “Trust in our education system and those who grade pupils is paramount.
“While it is a good move by CCEA, there is now a legitimate public concern on the fitness, fairness and accessibility of the marking system.”