DfE considers reforms after exam board admits to ‘guesstimating’ marks

Exam board OCR has admitted to estimating some pupils grades when administrative mistakes had led to papers being lost. OCR said that a small number of papers going missing is inevitable and the estimating of results is done for the benefit of the student.

Mark Dawe, the chief executive of the OCR board, said: “We [mark] three million papers and papers will get lost in the post or they will get put in wrong envelopes. That happens every year with every exam board and that’s where the estimated grade comes in.

“What we don’t want to be doing is punishing the child for an administrative error. It might be the school, it could be us… we have so many processes in place… sometimes [a paper] is lost and no one knows where it’s got lost. All sorts of things could cause that.

“If there is enough there to enable us to award [a grade], we will do so. But we are not going to do it for large numbers and there has to be a valid excuse to do so.”

OCR’s admission comes amidst fears of a growing exam marker shortage. Last week the exam board claimed that they would need to recruit an extra 5,000 to keep up with the workload created by education reforms that place more emphasis on exams as opposed to coursework.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb responded to the report, saying that the DfE may consider reforms to the exams system. He said: “Parents, teachers and young people need to have confidence that the grades they receive are an accurate reflection of a pupil’s performance.

“It is vital that exam boards have robust processes in place to provide these accurate results. Estimating marks in this way should only take place where it is appropriate, such as where a pupil is ill.

“We know that OCR’s performance in recent years has not been up to scratch and that the regulator has separately carried out an investigation into their marking last summer. We are ready to take immediate action if required and are currently considering wide ranging reforms to the exam board system.”

In response to the news, Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: “These are serious allegations that could potentially undermine the hard work of both staff and students, and should be investigated further. As we enter the A-Level and GCSE results season, it’s important that we have confidence in our exams system; all too often those who have gained qualifications then face negative media stories around them.

“NAHT seeks reassurances from both Ofqual and the Department for Education on these allegations. Currently concerns are raised around A-Level marking, but we would like reassurances around GCSE marking as well. It’s crucial to maintain the integrity of the marking system; for students, parents, teachers and school leaders. NAHT are working with the exam boards and other professional associations to improve and expand marking capacity in the system.”

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