Head calls for private schools to pay more for GCSE appeals

PRIVATE schools should pay more for exam appeals to make the system fairer, a leading headmaster has said.

Shaun Fenton, head of Reigate Grammar School and the incoming chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), said that exam re-marks are an issue of “social justice”.

He made the comments as thousands of children face disappointment on GCSE results day this Thursday, with experts saying as many as one in four grades could be unreliable.

“It is a social justice issue that some schools representing particular demographics put in for low or no remarks. If it didn’t cost any more that would be fine,” Mr Fenton told the Sunday Telegraph.

He said it is “easier” for private schools to resolve issues with exam grades by sending papers off to be remarked, since they are not constrained by the costs of an appeal. “Our schools will always find the funds to pay for a re-mark – but we want it to be more accessible,” he added.

As the incoming chairman of HMC, Mr Fenton will represent more than 250 of the most prestigious schools, including Eton, Harrow and Winchester.

He said one solution was to make all appeals free of charge.

Failing that, he said he has suggested to Ofqual, the exam regulator, that prices could be restructured so that private schools paid more for appeals so that state schools could have a lower fee or none at all.

“We have come up with a variety of models but they haven’t got any trac- tion yet,” he said. “But I think they will.”

Exam boards levy a range of charges for GCSE re-marks depending on what services are desired. A “clerical check” – which ensures that all the pages were marked and all the marks were added up correctly – is the least expensive, costing £16.90 with OCR, £11.10 with Edexcel or £8.05 with AQA.

Charges go up to £102 or more for a review of marking “with individual report”.

Most boards waive the fees if the grade is changed as a result of the re- mark. Last year Edexcel made it possible for the first time for schools to download all A-level and GCSE scripts for free, in an attempt to cut down on appeal requests.

At the heart of the appeals issue is the “lack of certainty” about grades awarded in the first place, Mr Fenton said.

“All we want is for it to be fair,” he said. “Two markers could come up with an interpretation that would differ, and that could leave [the student] either side of a grade boundary. If we will have high stakes outcomes, we can’t merely accept that it could have been A or B depending on the marker.”

Dennis Sherwood, a consultant who has carried out research for Ofqual, said that as many as one in four grades will be unreliable.

‘Our schools will always find the funds to pay for a remark, but we want it to be more accessible.’