Exam appeals favour well-heeled, warn MPS
Disadvantaged students may lose out to ‘sharpel-bowed’ parents who can play the system, says report
THE “Wild West” of this year’s exams appeal system risks benefiting “sharpel-bowed” parents at the expense of disadvantaged pupils, MPS have warned.
The Commons education select committee said less affluent pupils were at risk of missing out on the exam results they deserve this summer as a result of an “unfair” system.
The MPS say the process for allowing students to appeal their grades, set out by England’s exams regulator, Ofqual, is too complicated and could favour children with wealthy parents.
The committee raised its concerns in its report looking at the fairness and accessibility of this year’s arrangement.
Exams were cancelled as a result of the pandemic, and GCSE and A-level students in England will be awarded grades based on teacher assessment.
MPS expressed fears that poorer pupils, as well as black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students, and children with special needs and disabilities could be disadvantaged.
Their report accuses Ofqual of not giving “enough thought” on how to make the appeals system “accessible to all pupils”. Disadvantaged pupils “risk being shut out of this route”, it said.
Robert Halfon, who chairs the committee, said: “The appeals process seems to favour the well-heeled and sharp-elbowed and there is the potential for the system to resemble the Wild West of appeals with different systems used by different exam boards.”
The report says richer families are “more likely to have the tools to navigate the system successfully, and are more likely to be able to draw on resources such as lobbying their MP or speaking to lawyers.”
It adds: “We are extremely concerned pupils will require evidence of bias or discrimination to raise a complaint about their grades. It is unrealistic and unfair to put the onus on pupils to have, or to be able to gather, evidence of bias or discrimination.”
After pressure from the committee, Ofqual agreed to set up a helpline for pupils who want to appeal their grades, although the MPS argue this does not go far enough to level the playing field.
The MPS stressed the importance of improving the system, pointing out that pupils will “carry these qualifications with them for their entire lives”.
Mr Halfon told The Daily Telegraph: “You have to almost be a lawyer to understand that appeals system.” He added that evidence of under-prediction of grades for disadvantaged pupils makes it all the more important to have a clear appeals system in place.
An Ofqual spokesman said: “We, and exam boards, will do all we can to help students and their families understand how to access an appeal or make a complaint about bias, discrimination, or another concern.
“We will provide accessible information and our helpline will be available to students and their parents or carers to talk about the appeals process and any other questions they may have about their results this summer.”
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson urged school leavers in a virtual address to seize every opportunity and “rugby-tackle” it to the floor. The Prime Minister said their “sacrifice” has helped save hundreds of thousands of lives, and predicted they will be one of the most “influential generations in the peacetime history of our nation”.
‘It is unrealistic and unfair to put the onus on pupils to gather evidence of bias or discrimination’