Grade boundaries not to be published before results day amid pupil welfare concerns

Exam boards will no longer publish grade boundaries the day before pupils receive their GCSE and A Level results because of concerns regarding the welfare of pupils.

Usually, the boundary marks are put online the day before results day to help exam officers prepare before grades are revealed.

However, exam boards say that this is causing pupils to take to social media and make misleading comments through trying to predict their grades.

According to Tes, pupils panicked last year because the boundaries were too high even though they were not able to tell how many parks they had got on the paper through the release.

This has raised concerns that this is causing anxiety for pupils in light of what has been put on social media and therefore this year’s boundaries will be posted the same day that pupils get their grades.

They will still be given to schools and teachers 24 hours before.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Lecturers, said: "We have said that what we would just like to do is focus on celebrating individual students' success, and this kind of feeds into that narrative. I think it is a good thing."