A-level results: Teacher assessments can be used as 'valid' mocks

Students have challenged the fairness of estimated grades

Exams regulator Ofqual has explained what constitutes a "valid" mock exam for the purpose of students appealing against A-level results in England.

Thousands of grades were marked down after a moderation process used in place of this summer's exams.

The regulator says the system had led to many students feeling disappointed and "results which need to be queried".

Ofqual now says where a written mock exam was not taken it will consider other teacher assessments instead.

Neither A-level nor GCSE students were able to sit public exams this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thursday's A-level results saw almost 40% of all grades marked down from teachers' predictions.

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Ofqual confirmed appeals using mock results could begin from Monday and would apply for GCSE, AS and A-level students as well as those taking Extended Project Qualifications and Advanced Extension Award in maths.

The government had already announced any school could query a final grade if it was a lower that a student's mock exam.

But with schools shutting down in March, there was a lack of clarity over what constituted a mock exam with some students complaining they did not get a chance to sit one.

'Face-saving exercise'

Ofqual says it will allow a "non-exam assessment mark" as the grounds for an appeal.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, criticised the process, branding it "surreal and bureaucratic".

He said: "This is clearly a face-saving exercise by a government which has said that it won't do a U-turn on its pledge that moderated grades will stand, come what may.

"Instead, it is attempting to remedy the grading fiasco through an appeals process so surreal and bureaucratic that it would be better off at this point doing that U-turn and allowing original teacher-assessed grades, where they are higher, to replace moderated grades."

He added: "We don't blame Ofqual for the bizarre nature of the appeals criteria. The regulator has been given a hospital pass by a Government that is in disarray. It is time for ministers to stop the chaos and fall back on teacher-assessed grades rather than prolong this nightmare."

There has been widespread concern about the fairness of the "calculated" results

Ofqual explained in a statement: "This route of appeal is open to any student whose mock grade is higher than their calculated grade. We want to make sure this opportunity is available to a wide range of students, including those who had not taken a written mock exam before schools and colleges closed."

It explained the criteria under which it would accept a "valid mock assessment".

These stipulated that work had to be:

• Supervised, unseen and undertaken in conditions intended to secure the work as the student's own

• Either past assessments produced by the relevant exam board, or assessments developed by teachers

• Taken under timed conditions

• Completed before 20 March 2020, when schools and colleges were closed

• Marked using a mark scheme provided by the relevant exam board

• Graded in line with the exam board's examination standard

Ofqual added that student papers did not need to have been retained.

Labour complained that under the Ofqual criteria, some students would not be able to use their mock results as the basis for an appeal if the assessment did not meet the criteria.

'Devastated'

Shadow education secretary Kate Green said the government appeared to be back-tracking on its "triple lock" promise that students could use the highest result out of their calculated grade, their mock grade or actually sitting the exam in the autumn.

"[Education secretary] Gavin Williamson promised to give students a triple lock, but instead he left many devastated by unfair exam results, and now his commitment to give them another chance is rapidly unravelling," she said.

"Having promised that students will be able to use a valid mock result, the reality is that many will not receive these grades even if they represent a student's best result.

"The latest chaos is the inevitable consequence of this Government's shambolic approach to exams, which saw solutions dreamt up on the back of a cigarette packet and announced barely a day before young people received their results."