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| Tuesday, 15 October, 2002, 11:28 GMT 12:28 UK Heads say exam dispute 'unresolved' ![]() This year's exam results are still causing anger Despite the passing of the deadline for the "final" re-grading of this year's A-levels, disputes are still continuing. And the results of re-grades are themselves now the subject of further appeals.
"We had seen this whole review process as an attempt to restore faith - but it seems this has not been serious." And his suspicion is that the exam system has closed ranks, rather than accept any widespread changing of grades. Coursework disputed Among the former pupils caught up in the A-level dispute has been Hilary Corke, a high-flying student who received a U for her history coursework.
This was strongly contested by teachers and Hilary's family - and the actual coursework was passed to BBC News Online for independent assessment. This independent marker - a former senior examiner and exam setter - concluded that her work was worth a grade A or B. But the re-grade which has been returned to the school has once again confirmed the U grade. Hilary's father, Rod Corke, says that there is a great sense of unfairness over the deadlock. "This has knocked her self esteem and confidence. If she has written a piece which is not what the exam board is asking for, then somewhere, she has been badly let down and misled." But with the support of the independent assessment, the school remains convinced of the injustice of the grade. And if the problem is with the marking - rather than the grading - the review process would not have adjusted the error. Coursework confusion While hundreds of e-mails sent by students to BBC News Online highlighted unexpectedly low marks in coursework, the marking of coursework was not the subject of the inquiry. The inquiry considered how grade boundaries might have been manipulated to reduce the number of top grades. Peter Chapman, head teacher at Knights Templar School in Baldock, Hertfordshire - where 14 put of 20 A-level psychology students got an unclassified grade for their coursework - said many questions remained unanswered. "I was under the impression there was a serious problem as regards coursework," said Mr Chapman. "But there have been no major changes for our students, just tinkering. We're no nearer to understanding this now than the day the results came out. "From the word go we were mystified by the unclassified grades in our psychology coursework - was it our fault or someone else's? We still don't know why. "It's ironic that, at the end of the day, the majority of our kids are still scratching their heads and wondering what's gone on." Mr Chapman said the whole affair had also been very disheartening for the teacher concerned. "It'll make us look very carefully at the way we prepare children for psychology coursework in future - we'll have to do everything by the book, which is what we thought we did last year." Concerns acknowledged Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of England's schools who carried out the independent inquiry into the grades, stressed again its limited scope. Writing to the education secretary about the outcome of the process, he said: "I recognise that despite this process some schools, colleges and students will continue to be unhappy with the outcomes, either because their subjects were not included in the review or, if they were, the grades did not change or did not change as much as they had hoped; or their concerns were outside the scope of the review of grading. "Despite this, I believe that with the conclusion of this first stage of my inquiry the original concerns expressed about this year's grading process have been satisfied." Have you had A-level results re-graded? Tell us your experiences using the form below |
See also: 15 Oct 02 | Education 15 Oct 02 | Education 18 Sep 02 | Education Top Education stories now: Links to more Education stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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