Wrong grades ruining students’ careers, says head

One in three exam results in some subjects are ‘inaccurate’ and may blight pupils’ choices in life

CHILDREN are having their careers blighted because over a third of exam grades in certain subjects are “inaccurate”, a leading headmaster has warned.

Chris King, chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), has urged school leaders to work together to tackle the issue.

Addressing heads of the world’s leading independent schools at HMC’S annual conference in Belfast, Mr King said that there was “great uncertainty” that students are receiving an accurate grade in their GCSES and A-levels.

“True to its word, Ofqual has begun to tackle this too,” he said. “But the size of the problem is unnerving and cannot be condoned by school leaders through silence. The regulator’s best estimate is that in some GCSE subjects more than a third of candidates do not receive an accurate grade.

“Given that exam grades are often the key which allows young people passage to the next stage of their lives, this situation cannot be accepted.”

This summer, Ofqual published research about marking consistency, where it looked at a sample of GCSE and A-level exam papers in a range of subjects over the past four years.

It found that the grades awarded to around 30 per cent of English and Geography students were inconsistently awarded – meaning that the grades awarded by ordinary examiners deviated from the “definitive” grade determined by a group of senior examiners.

The research found that up to 40 per cent of History grades were inconsistently awarded, while for Religious Studies it was between 30 and 40 per cent.

Mr King, headmaster of Leicester Grammar School, said: “There is a growing concern as there is a growing understanding of the issue and surprise at the scale of the problem,” he said. “The 30 per cent [of English exam grades] certainly went through the roof.”

Mr King said that when students were applying for university courses such as medicine or dentistry, GCSE grades made all the difference.

“Having a top grade in things like English [or] Chemistry, is an absolute prerequisite for getting offers,” he said.

“If somebody unexpectedly gets a B grade, their whole life chances, their whole desire is ended overnight. And it is as dramatic as that, people give up on career paths, because they know in those competitive situations that they are just not going to succeed in getting offers.”

Dr William Richardson, a visiting professor of education at Exeter University and general secretary of HMC, said: “It matters hugely if you were undergraded. But the numbers are now released and they are quite large. It is the last biggest, most difficult problem.”

Michelle Meadows, executive director for strategy, risk and research at Ofqual, said: “We work with all interested parties to ensure students get the result their performance deserves.”