Ofqual To 'Look Closely' At GCSE Grades

The exams regulator says it will "look closely" at GCSE grading amid threats of legal action over disputed English results.

Ofqual Chief Regulator has written to head teachers, promising to examine claims that pupils may have been disadvantaged by late changes to the grading system.

Her letter to the National Association of Head teachers comes after heads demanded that Education Secretary Michael Gove set up an independent inquiry into this year's GCSE results, which have seen exam boards threatened with legal action.

Unions claim around 4,000 pupils expecting a C grade pass in English were downgraded to a D - delivering a potentially fatal blow to their chances of taking up places to study A-levels.

Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey says there are "questions about how grade boundaries were set in a very small number of units across the year" which have caused concern.

She added in her letter: "We recognise the continuing concerns among students, parents and teachers about this years GCSE English results.

"We will look closely at how the results were arrived at. We will do this quickly, but thoroughly, so that we ensure confidence is maintained in our examinations system."

In a move welcomed by the Department for Education, she said Ofqual will gather evidence over the next week before meeting exam boards to discuss its findings.

The NAHT wrote to Mr Gove and the exams regulator Ofqual, saying that it has been flooded by complaints about grade changes in English GCSEs.

Exam boards are bracing themselves for legal action and record numbers of appeals over grades from angry pupils and their schools.

Ofqual had previously said it believes this year's GCSE results are "right".

In his letter, NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said the score needed to obtain a C in English appeared to have jumped by 10 marks between January and June.

He said: "It has also become apparent that the moderation of course work and other controlled assessment has been significantly and adversely changed.

"As a result, many pupils have not got the results they were predicted, leaving them with question marks over their future."

He added: "For a significant number of young people and their schools, moving the goalposts in this way will jeopardise not only places at sixth-form college and other arenas of post-16 education, but university applications and beyond as well as the schools' status with regard to the Government's own benchmark."

Chris Edwards, an English teacher from Bishop David Brown School in Surrey, has also written to Mr Gove to accuse him of "betraying" his students.

He read from his letter on Sky News, telling Mr Gove his pupils "can't understand why someone would want to play around with their futures in such a cruel way".

"You have not simply moved the goalposts," he added. "You have demolished them, sold off the playing fields and left the dreams of these youngsters in tatters."

The Association of School and College Leaders, which represents most secondary head teachers, is reported to be considering legal action over the late grading system on the grounds that it could hit ethnic minority pupils and disadvantaged youngsters hardest.

Its general secretary, Brian Lightman, told The Times Educational Supplement: "We suspect the very ad hoc decision that was made to lift the grade boundaries has disproportionately affected certain groups of students and so we think it is very worthwhile to examine this further and gather evidence.

"If we are advised that legal action is the right way to challenge this, then that is what we will do."

Ofqual said in an earlier statement: "We are confident that standards have been maintained and that the grades awarded are right."