to tell you reviewing your GCSE paper isn't "free"

[BorrowedThyme]

I've never begrudged putting aside a few hours for genuine disappointing shock grades, or when a student has so nearly made the grade they need for their next stage.

But this year it has gone totally over the top.

And recalling GCSE papers for the school to review is NOT "free" - it just doesn't cost the parent anything, that is all. It relies either on teachers volunteering their spare time, or the school employing an additional, qualified person to do it.

I spent 25-30 hours in the last week of the holiday doing this, and now have a whole new list to somehow try and cram in to a single weekend

My head of department has already contacted some parents to say no, we are not doing it for such and such a student, and honestly, you would think we were chopping their kids hands off, or something, the abuse, and threats and accusations we get!

Some of the students we have said no to have already got their sixth form places, and don't need to check their grades, some are so far from the next grade up that they are many times more likely to go down than up, and some have got exactly what was predicted, anyway.

Occasionally a grade goes up, but it is very rare, and in genuine cases, I am happy to spend the time checking. Most of the cases we are getting requested now though, are not genuine! None of the papers I have checked this year are going up, although several might actual go down if the parents take it further.

So please, before expecting this service for the school, keep in mind

a) Is it necessary? Not if your child has got their sixth form place or apprenticeship, or whatever they wanted.

b) Is it likely? Parents often over estimate their children's likely GCSE grades, particularly if they have helped them revise, and marked a few mock papers, etc- children perform best in a one to one situation with a lot of encouragement, such as they might get at home with a parent, but this is not how they are assessed.

c) Somebody has to be just below the next grade boundary! That is how grade boundaries work!

d) Some grade bands are very narrow - being 3 marks off a 6 could actually be 2 marks from a 4.

e) It isn't a case of " just finding one more mark" - the marking has to be withing a tolerance. 2 examiners might mark the same paper differently, but that does not mean one is right and one is wrong. Yes, I find marks in the papers that I would have given that the examiner has not, but I also find marks the examiner has given that I would not, and overall, the mark comes out the same, or virtually the same. The grade is not going to be changed over a disagreement about fractions of marks. It needs to be a substantial difference for the grade to be changed, and not a case of strict or lenient marking.

Yes, it is sometimes worth having a look at the papers, no it is not worth this wholesale demand that has developed this year.

If this school review system continues to be abused, I expect it will be withdrawn very soon!

But it's not 25 hours spread over the year.

It's 25 extra hours over a fairly short time frame. The last week of the holiday/first week back in school are a busy time* as it is.

*And that's without having to rebuild roofs!

Why isn't the SLT taking a stance and sending out communication explaining the system and that papers will only be considered for checking where there appear to be major anomalies and then at the discretion of the teaching staff ?

Just thought about it some more. And actually none of the request to look at papers I've had have come from parents. It's been really polite would you mind, when you have time (not expecting a reply until term time) emails from students. I think that does make a difference.
One of the issues is that the nice to have, extra things we do (unpaid) have become expected by some.
I have an out of office message on my email at the moment. Our SLT asks us to do this (and does so themselves).
In short, I agree that the parents in question should be less entitled in their approach but I do think the support from above could be better in your school.

Are you sure you are in the right profession OP? I can understand the need to let of steam but this is something else

Again, that's the schools management problem. Preditable some will want papers remarked, they should plan for it. Not the parents fault they didn't.

And plenty of us work extra hours where needed to support our business needs

That old chestnut. ‘Oh, it’s more than just a job. You should CAAAARE about your students enough to do it for FREEEEE!’

You should care about your job so much that your family don’t see you. You should care about your job so much that you sit on your laptop on holiday replying to emails. You should care about your job so much that your mental health takes a dive and your house gets filthy around you and your kids kick off because… oh! The precious children!

And this is why we strike.

Are you aware of the huge teacher shortages?

Op spent 25-30 hours marking papers for free, she's prepping for next week. She's not doing that for free pritt-sticks mate. She's obviously bloody dedicated

In normal circumstances I would agree with you, but this year the grades in England have been graded as they were before covid and I imagine many students and parents feel if their dc is one mark below the next grade, then that should be looked into.
Not only have they missed out on time at school because of lockdowns, quite a few days of school were missed because of strikes. It does seem that this year students in England have borne the brunt of things beyond their control.

Can I ask what you do think is worth you looking at/ worthy of a remark?

Anything? English Lit 1 mark off a 4? Someone who has performed way under YOUR expectations? Someone who has done really well in a couple of papers for a subject and really bad in the third?

In normal circumstances I would agree with you, but this year the grades in England have been graded as they were before covid and I imagine many students and parents feel if their dc is one mark below the next grade, then that should be looked into.

Then they can pay for it to be done?

It would never have even crossed my mind to ask for a remark. However, we were approached on results day by 2 separate teachers asking us to agree to a re-mark. One was very, very keen for a remark as DD only missed the A by one mark.

We agreed- mainly because the teachers were very keen.......

I assume you paid for it.

Hahahaha. What OP has said is pretty tame, honestly. She is right, but she has been very diplomatic IMO.

I went into education management even though I'm qualified to teach. I see what teachers and lecturers have to deal with and they are not paid anywhere near enough.

OP,
I have asked for scripts back would never ask teachers at school to review. I know they are not obliged to do it and it's also not fair of me to even expect them to.
I know without a Mark scheme, it will make no sense to me but I just wanted to see if I could get even a faintest idea of how things went so wrong for my daughter...silly things such as hand writing, missing questions, missing steps etc.
I most probably won't send for review.
One thing that I may do is ask her private tutor if she would have a look as she is also an examiner for the board.
Of course only if she allows me to pay her for her time.
And I agree, this shouldn't be a service that is offered.. a mark is a mark...end of!

yes, state comp

Same!

Why are you reviewing the papers?

The options are pay for a review of the paper(to the exam board) or get the paper back (free of charge from exam board.)

Shouldn't parents just use you as a liaison point to pay and receive reviews or papers back?

Because of the thread title people think that the OP is talking about paid for exam board reviews when she isn’t.

This is what is happening though, the management IS turning multiple parents down, and then we are getting a load of abuse.

Actually, yes, 25-30 hours is a hell of a lot of extra work to do in a week, and I've got at least that much lined up again for the weekend, and there would no doubt be the same again next week, if I hadn't decided that I have reached my limit.

Back at work after summer, so that is 60-70 hours at least in the next 7 days, without this extra load on top.

If you think you can volunteer 25 hours a week, and have the right qualifications, by all means, contact your local comp and volunteer.

Crikey, the expectations do seem a bit bonkers. Have been struck at the way grades seem to be described by posters on MN and in real life. Everything is ‘x marks off’ whatever the higher grade is. It’s quite rare for people to just state the grades without immediately qualifying it with how many marks away from the boundaries their DCs were. I was chatting to a parent yesterday of a DC in a local (private) school and she was quite vicious in the way she was describing how she would be making her DC’s teachers ‘explain themselves’ because her son hadn’t got stellar 9s across the board. They seemed to be putting in reviews for all subjects.

Out of interest, what subject and how long per paper do you reckon?

I had DC taking A Levels and GCSEs this year. DC1 got a very unexpected B grade, 2 grades below expected, and her cohort underperformed in the subject. She approached her teachers asking for their thoughts, and HoD would like to review the whole cohort's scripts. Presumably if they review the scripts, they can either determine that the grading was off, or tweak their tuition for future pupils to ensure they're approaching the questions in the way the examiner wants. She got her Uni place, so her grade doesn't 'matter', but it's her favourite subject and one she is pursuing at Uni, so she's definitely confused.

DC2 failed one subject by one mark. It doesn't matter for his A Level plans, but I emailed his teacher asking if she thought it was worth the paper being reviewed. She replied immediately, apologised that she hadn't seen us at the school when we collected results, as she herself had wanted to approach us about a remark.

So you may deem that neither of these cases 'matter', but my DC's teachers seems to feel otherwise.

I had no idea you could ask the school to check the papers or that they'd even do it.

DS was 1 mark off an 8 (over 3 papers) and the school SUGGESTED we get it remarked. We had to pay £100+

His grade did go up as they found multiple marks.

We were refunded the remark fee.

Emma you seem to be talking about paid-for remarks, which is not what the OP is talking about.

Not all exam boards do this free download yet. Thankfully. If my students want me to review papers for them before a decision to request a remark, they'd have to pay the exam board.