Fury after A-level papers ‘leaked’
Teachers say the exam system is broken after online breach
TEACHERS and unions have reacted in anger after exam papers in maths and economics were apparently leaked hours before 60,000 pupils took their exams.
Details of the A-level Edexcel paper Maths C4 which was taken on Friday by 50,000 pupils, and an another paper Economics 3, taken last Monday by 10,000 students, were allegedly seen on an online forum. Pearson, which runs the Edexcel exam board, said all students would be marked fairly.
Today the head of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) union, Mary Bousted, said the apparently leaked papers were yet more evidence the exam system in the UK is broken.
She said timed exams are not the best way to assess young people’s abilities and problems are regularly occurring during the exam period — including unanswerable questions.
She said: “The issue of exam errors is unlikely to go away as the English education system reverts back to exams as the default mode of assessment at GCSE and A-level. As the quantity of exam papers increases, on current evidence, the quality of exam questions may decrease.
“When you consider just how important exam outcomes are going to become, determining A-level choices and student life chances, then the requirement to do just one thing — present candidates with an exam with questions they can access and answer — becomes paramount.”
The subject of the economics paper was allegedly leaked one hour before pupils sat the exam by a user on the online forum Student Room. Their comment said the paper would cover austerity and the national living wage.
Snapchat images of the C4 maths paper were allegedly being shared the night before the exam, and a photo of a question was also available online. Suzanne Claudett, head of art at St Peter’s Independent School in Northampton, wrote on the Times Educational Supplement website that control was needed from the exam boards.
She said: “Wondering now how many students took advantage of this? Then also thinking about students in creative subjects where leaks/mistakes are impossible. Not a level playing field.”
Julia Roberts, a teacher at Crackley Hall School near Coventry, said: “This will mean that pupils who haven’t cheated will get lower grades. Including my own daughter as this was her paper.”
Pearson said: “We are continuing to investigate the allegations of exam malpractice, which we take extremely seriously. If a breach is confirmed then we will ensure that all students are marked fairly based on their performance in the exam.”