GCSE Coursework Grade 8 to Grade 3!!

It should be on their website

If the teacher has not taught to the correct syllabus, then all other students should have had their marks lowered? At worse, it is a mistake by the teacher. These sorts of things often happen in schools, because teachers are humans, but I do understand that you don’t want your child to suffer for it- if what you have been told is true.

i would suggest that you go in and ask why the mark was altered and what happened that led the discrepancy between the original mark and the moderated mark. I would suggest that anything you don’t know for a fact you do not mention or argue about as it may, weaken your whole argument.

Furthermore, I would suggest that you do not share your suspicions without full knowledge of the facts. You may need to ask some hard questions or the could be a simpler explanation.

Shirt signing day means nothing to me, I'm afraid. What qualification is this? A gcse?

If they were the sole teacher of the unit, there is no call for internal standardisation because the standard is achieved by the fact that one person did it all. So that's one thing.

For example, last year I was the sole teacher of a thing. I didn't do any training and my work wasn't standardised because it was just me doing it. That is absolutely reasonable and allowed. However, I've taught the thing since forever. If I was new to it, I would be asking an experienced colleague - maybe in another centre - for some support.

If they've used the wrong criteria, that is maladministration, and the centre should report themselves to the board.

The exam board are highly unlikely to deal with you directly - not for nefarious reasons but because there are protocols in place.

It sounds like this is a case of maladministration on behalf of the centre.

It would have been pointless for her to try to appeal at that stage because the work had already been marked and submitted. Centre reviews are based on a belief that the NEA policy hasn't been followed, and that doesn't sound like what's happened here.

What I'd want to know is on what grounds your daughter has been told of this grade change. Because exam boards don't give out NEA marks now... so I assume that this is actually that she has been accused of plagiarism.

This is not my area at all. However, I would be very suspicious that the school instructed DD not to appeal. This sounds like the school covering themselves.

I would certainly be talking to someone who knows about this and asking what options your DD has e.g. your DD submitting a piece of work that does meet the criteria as she was incorrectly advised by her school.

Hey OP this is not my subject but a glance at the AQA spec shows that any non-original image will pull the NEA mark down to a max of Level 2 which seems to be what has happened.

It’s poor of the teacher not to flag this though. Was your DD aware that it could be an issue? This just highlights how crucial it is to have a teacher who, above all things, knows the exam spec. Your poor DD.

The NEA is 30% of the AQA mark overall, so if her written work is of a high grade 8 standard then a (very rough) calculation by me suggests she could still achieve a grade 7. But I would ask the school to investigate, I agree. Sadly I doubt it will make much difference to your DD’s exam result – worth contacting the exam board maybe though, flagging that your DD was misinformed by the teacher.