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Original poster

Art GCSE really downgraded but they never looked at the portfolio. What to do next?

85 replies

ihatethecold · 20/08/2020 10:37

My DD was looking at a 7 or 8 in Art, she has been awarded a 5. Its her best subject and she has a great talent and was predicted a much higher mark. When school shut down they didn't request any submissions of work to grade it. 2 years of work in a portfolio for nothing. It's still sat at home getting dusty.

Im so gutted for her. I dont even know what to do with this? Can we appeal?

OP posts:

ThanksItHasPockets · 20/08/2020 21:52

Not IGCSE?

LimitIsUp · 20/08/2020 22:58

I am somewhat astonished that they marked her without reviewing the portfolio. Doesn't seem right at all

eggofmantumbi · 20/08/2020 23:05

They haven't marked your daughter's portfolio in order to be consistent I. Assume. If they mark and take into account hers, they have to do this with everyone's. There are many reasons this might not have been possible, so Portugal loud school device not to use them at all.

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Yellowcakestand · 20/08/2020 23:48

I don't understand all of these grades now.
When I took GCSE Art we had to do a 10 hour piece. I got a D. I found out months later that my final piece hadn't even been sent off for grading and there was nothing they could do about it!

eggofmantumbi · 21/08/2020 02:25

Portugal loud school device ~ probably school decided

0DimSumMum0 · 21/08/2020 06:42

@0DimSumMum0

We are overseas and our kids have not been In school since Jan so continued to work online until the examinations were cancelled. Definitely GCSE, we just got the results yesterday the same as everyone else.

@ThanksItHasPockets Sorry yes, it's IGCSE. Duh! But they follow the same timeline. They stopped work when the UK schools finished, then everything was sent to the moderator. Including the portfolio work. Maybe the moderators visit Uk schools usually and couldn't? But then you would have thought they would have made alternative arrangements?

GrammarTeacher · 21/08/2020 07:36

Schools closed at two days noticed. The exams were cancelled. No work after The closure date was to be accepted.
The OP needs to speak to the school. There MAY have been a clerical error or a reason the CAG was lower in the mock. I can think of several theoretical reasons. A lot can happen between December and May. There's a lot of speculation on the thread. Only the school can answer what happened. But it will have had nothing to do Ofqual's algorithm.

Original poster

ihatethecold · 21/08/2020 07:37

We are going to contact the school exam person today by email to open discussion on what we can do regarding her grade.

OP posts:

Dcadmam001 · 21/08/2020 07:43

You can only appeal for bias / discrimination by school. Maybe argue not looking at portfolio was bias towards other pupils - especially if you have evidence you offered portfolio. Ask what looked at to assess grade if mock was 7 and portfolio not reviewed?
Also art exam in November is just the 2,days of exam no portfolio so I would apply for that too as schools have been told to pay for entries Out of refunded summer exam fees so no cost to you

wentawaycameback · 21/08/2020 07:44

Schools were told that anything due to be submitted after school closure could not be included as evidence. As the school didn't look at any portfolios then you daughter has not been treated any differently. You need to think about trusting professional judgement.

Original poster

ihatethecold · 21/08/2020 08:00

You need to think about trusting professional judgement

Slightly patronising comment!

It just doesn’t make sense.
She was awarded 5 for science. I was surprised by this. She has done lots of home learning due to her severe anxiety. I have done lots of work and revision with her. She really doesn’t click with science or maths. It really confused her.
She isn’t a 5 in science. The school have decided she is.

In terms of her art. It’s at a level that is much higher. She has a great talent.
Her paintings and drawings are very good.

Her predicted grades and teacher assessment were in the 7’s.

OP posts:

GrammarTeacher · 21/08/2020 08:07

It has nothing to do with the prediction. They are different things. We were explicitly told not to include any work after school closed.

eggofmantumbi · 21/08/2020 08:14

OP Grammar teacher is right. You do have to trust the teachers on this.

The grades awarded are not predicted grades or mock grades, they are centre assessed grades.

Staff will have put a lot of thought into how to make these CAGs fair and robust for everyone, which may have meant disregarding everyone's portfolios.

LM2098 · 21/08/2020 08:17

It doesn't matter how good her art is, the grading is on the written coursework about technique, reasonings, art history ect

PurpleDaisies · 21/08/2020 08:21

It might be that the science grade has been upgraded by the algorithm. Students were given their best grade from the CAG or algorithm.

GrammarTeacher · 21/08/2020 08:29

@PurpleDaisies exactly. Some students have got grades from the algorithm it would have been impossible to achieve. Heard several reports of students entered for foundation papers getting 6s!

Original poster

ihatethecold · 21/08/2020 08:35

It doesn't matter how good her art is, the grading is on the written coursework about technique, reasonings, art history ect

so you can be dire at the skill but be very good at writing up about the work. Thats what gets you the higher mark?

Why predict 7's and 8's?

OP posts:

Paranoidmarvin · 21/08/2020 08:38

@GrammarTeacherthid was my son. The highest he should have got was a 5 5 for his science. The algorithm put him up to a 6 5 not even possible for the one he was on.
He had already got his place regardless of results as the college got rid of the use of grades for this year as they said it wouldn’t be fair. So this has not been a deciding factor. Even he said himself that was ridiculous but it is what it is.
The teacher said that he was sure that if they put him forward to the higher one he would have been fine but my son didn’t want to risk it.
The teachers grade was a 5 5 as it should have been.

Applesarenice · 21/08/2020 08:39

Is she AQA? She will have to redo the exam - not an easy thing to do for art and I wouldn’t recommend it unless she needs higher than a 5 for next stage of education as it’s very time consuming.

If she decides to, the school has been issued an exam paper by the exam board, she has to complete a whole new project and agree a time with the school to sit the timed exam element before November. You need to contact school ASAP to go down this route

eggofmantumbi · 21/08/2020 08:39

@ihatethecold it may be that the portfolio would've brought up your daughter's grade, however it looks like this hasn't been counted. This is just one of many possibilities.
I hope you get a prompt response from school.

Danglingmod · 21/08/2020 08:41

Yes, OP. My ds took GCSE and A level art and his grade achieved didn't really reflect his talent in art but in being able to research, describe, analyse, experiment, self - evaluate, reflect, improve... It's only a small percentage of the mark based on how "good" they are at art.

But, your daughter should have known this and been working on the written (and labelling) elements as much as on the drawing/painting etc.

It's definitely worth you emailing to enquire as to why her mark varies from her predicted grade on reports. Was she behind with the research and evaluation side?

Applesarenice · 21/08/2020 08:43

(Sorry of course she doesn’t HAVE to sit an exam, I mean to say she'd have to resit if she wants a higher grade at this stage. Contesting isn’t an option)

grafittiartist · 21/08/2020 08:48

You need to contextualise what you are doing and show the "journey" of the work.
The exam board website will show you the assessment criteria if you like- A0 1, 2 3 and 4.
The portfolio might have been coursework- which would probably have been marked by now. Most pupils were working on exam preparation when we left.
Sorry that she was disappointed- hope it doesn't impact her plans for next year?

PurpleDaisies · 21/08/2020 08:49

Twitter is full of bonkers upgrades, including a class of french students that got 9s from 5s and 6s because the school had a history of native speakers getting very high results but none this year.

LimitIsUp · 21/08/2020 09:04

It's not strictly true to say it doesn't matter how good her art is, a proportion of the grade is for technical ability. But yes, the majority of the mark is for the 'development work' - how your original idea progressed and developed, experiments with different media such as ink, charcoal, water colour, printing etc, and reflection and evaluation of different artistic influences

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