15th November 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The exams watchdog Ofqual has accused school teachers of marking coursework too generously, which lead to students getting poorer grades than expected this summer. The exams watchdog claims that pressure to get good grades led to teacher over marking their students’ work. The report alleges that the pressure on schools performance “created perverse incentives for schools in the way they marked controlled assessment and led to the over-marking”.
Teaching Unions have reacted angrily at the suggestion by Ofqual that they are to blame for the scandal that has blighted students’ exam results. Head teachers have been quick to point out that if grade inflation were occurring, external moderators should have picked it up. Further, schools use strict guidelines for marking, and it is in their interests to avoid their students getting marked down by moderators.
Head Teachers have described the report as cowardly and insulting, and of not addressing their part in the disastrous decision to change grade boundaries mid-way through the year. The head’s office of St Peter’s High school in Gloucester has echoed the thoughts of teachers around the country that this issue is a political fiasco, and not an educational one.