Samantha Booth | Schools Week

Tell us why pupils’ exam grades will be withheld, heads tell Ofqual

Headteachers are demanding Ofqual come clean over why pupils might have exam grades “withheld” this summer. Ofqual’s chair and chief regulator last week warned results could be withheld should an exam board and school not agree on the teacher-assessed grade awarded. We have asked these questions, but have not been able to elicit any further […]

Timpson two years on: Exclusions review chair wants action

The author of a landmark exclusions review has secured a crunch meeting with ministers to kick them into action over promised reforms. This week marks the two-year anniversary of Edward Timpson’s review, but the government has implemented just six of its 30 recommendations. No action has been taken on 12. What I want to really […]

Berridge happy for en-masse conversions in faith schools academies plan

Baroness Berridge said she would not rule out the rapid growth of religious trusts, after announcing over £2 million to help more faith schools become academies. The Department for Education will work with the Catholic Education Service and dioceses across the country to establish a £1.25 million “turnaround” trust based in the north west. An […]

Grades can be ‘withheld’ if schools and exam boards don’t agree, Ofqual chair warns

GCSE and A-level results may be withheld or delayed if the school and exam board cannot agree on grades, Ofqual’s interim chair has warned. At the third stage of quality assurance this year, exam boards will conduct both random and targeted checks on the evidence used to determine teacher assessed grades. JCQ guidance published last […]

Trust in GCSEs plummets after exams fiasco, Ofqual survey reveals

Trust in GCSEs plummeted after last summer’s exam fiasco, an Ofqual commissioned survey has found. Just 27 per cent of respondents agreed that ‘GCSEs are trusted’ when asked about last year, when exams were cancelled due to the pandemic. This is compared to 75 per cent in a normal year. A doomed algorithm was use […]

CPD entitlement would boost attainment by two-thirds of a grade, study claims

Giving teachers a formal entitlement to 35 hours of CPD training would boost pupil attainment by two-thirds of a GCSE grade, a think tank has said. The Education Policy Institute study also claimed introducing a right to high-quality CPD could result in around 12,000 extra teachers staying in the profession. But they warn a CPD […]

Ofqual boss: Submitting grade check samples ‘should not take too long’

Submitting pupil work so exam boards can check teacher assessed grades “should not take too long” and will ensure teachers’ holidays are not interrupted, Ofqual’s boss has said. It follows uproar last week after the regulator announced in a blog post that every school will have to provide samples of student work within two days […]

Appeals against 2020 grades stutter on eight months after fiasco

Pupils and their families are still fighting teacher grades eight months after they were awarded last year, despite ministers promising a “swift” appeals process. While pupils could not appeal last year if they disagreed with their school’s professional judgment of the grade, they could make complaints about bias, discrimination and malpractice. Nick Gibb, the schools […]

‘Frankly scandalous’: ASCL challenges Ofqual over student work checks

School leaders’ union ASCL is challenging Ofqual over ‘scandalous’ plans announced yesterday for every school to provide samples of student work within two days of being asked as part of the teacher grade quality assurance process. Geoff Barton, the union’s general secretary, said Ofqual “must not collect evidence from schools and colleges that it has no […]