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Some urgent things for @educationgovuk (or @ofqual) to be working on. They probably have a matter of hours to sort these.
A) there is no national record of mock A level results. Basically any student could currently claim A* and nobody can check. These will need collecting.
A) there is no national record of mock A level results. Basically any student could currently claim A* and nobody can check. These will need collecting.
B) schools (or someone) will need to produce some form of 'mock grade certificate') for students to use in the future. What must they look like? Will schools have to keep copies incase a student in 20 years has lost their certificate and needs a copy?
C) some schools may not have a central record of mock scores. They may reside in depts and people may be away on holiday therefore presenting access issues. When do these need sorting?
D) students will have done 'mocks' at different times - Nov, Dec, March, some may not even have done one due to shutdown (can a year 12 internal test count?).
How will this difference be made fair for students?
How will this difference be made fair for students?
E) what counts as 'a mock'? Does it have to be a full past paper? A full suite of past papers? Some schools will do 'cut and paste' of old papers to make up mocks as some topics will not have been covered. Others may write own papers. Do these all count?
F) grade boundaries. Some schools will use published grade boundaries, others will lower them to account for topics not yet covered. Are both of these allowed?
G) some will calculate a mock grade on 'if you sat the mock today' basis, others adjust bojndarues/questions on a 'you are on target to reach grade x' basis. Comparability between students in different centres? Can schools retrospectively change boundaries?
H) some schools provide a very detailed revision list for mocks, others treat it like the real thing and students go in 'blind'. Equality issues between students.
I) marking. Lack of marking consistency between centres. Some will deliberately mark very harshly to get students to tighten up on borderline issues. Others may be lenient given students had 6+ months to go until real exams. Equality issues.
J) some schools did more than 1 mock. Can they pick the best? (Refer back to 'what is a mock'?)
K) some students may have been absent for the mock but did the papers at home as homework a few weeks later when back at school. Does this count?
L) will similar apply to gcse? Throw 'walking talking mocks' into mix too!
And they are just off the top of my head!
If they really want to put this into the mix the easiest way would be:
1) define a mock
2) say if your awarded grade is below your mock then you have an appeal route
3) appeal checks validity of claim with school
4) malpractice if a school provides deliberately erroneous info
1) define a mock
2) say if your awarded grade is below your mock then you have an appeal route
3) appeal checks validity of claim with school
4) malpractice if a school provides deliberately erroneous info
