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!

If the OP was saying that you shouldn't pay the exam board to remark papers then you might have a point.

No, it's mission creep.

I think that if the teaching staff too that approach at my child's school I would consider them unprofessional.

Its not "mission creep" they are professionals!

You could consider them unprofessional all you like. It wouldn't make it so.

It's absolutely mission creep. Teachers didn't used to be able to do it. And now it's slowly becoming an expectation that they will do it, to save parents money.

The lady I spoke with in the exam team said they like teachers to look at the papers first so they can say which paper if any is worth a review. That way the mark on the other paper can be banked to help protect against a grade lowering. She also said this helps the school as obviously they want children to keep high grades and the teachers as their performance is reviewed too and outcomes play a part in that. Yes I was grateful for the reduction in cost too.

Parents should not be able to email teachers directly, anything important can go through the school office, though I do appreciate that that bird has flown now.

The lady I spoke with in the exam team said they like teachers to look at the papers first

I bet they do. Not them doing the looking though.

No need to be so nasty. My school has not offered and I have not asked for any teachers to look at any papers. Nor am I telling anyone how to do their job.

But exams are important to children - school spends 12 years telling them they are, so teachers can't turn around after GCSES and suddenly day they're not. And secondly, if I'd spent a year or more teaching people, I'd be quite invested in their results too.

I think there is a great variation as to what teachers see as their role. I do not believe that it is mission creep but if a teacher believes it is not part of their role and the school agrees with them then that is their concern - I would however, view that as unprofessional.

@MrsHamlet - because the difference between a level 2 and a level 3 pass is massive for a kid going on to do a levels etc

It's my understanding that there are very few degree courses where GCSE grades matter and if there's a limited number of papers teachers are able to review, then surely the kids where it makes a material difference should be prioritised?

You're a teacher and I'm not (obviously!) so please tell me if I've got that wrong.

I disagree with you on a. is it necessary? The school should set out clear criteria for reviewing and remarking papers and be seen to apply them consistently and without fear or favour. I can still remember a classmate getting a paper remarked even though she scored lower than me - her family lived in what is now a 6m house and her mother was head of the pta. She didn’t get an upgrade but it taught me a valuable lesson on fairness and consistency.

What would you call a sudden addition to your workload that didn't used to be there that is actually the paid job of someone else but you are expected to do it in your own time then?

@Clymene you're not wrong about that. It's the "x marks off" that is the issue.

Someone has to be, and reviewers don't know where the candidate sits or what they need and they're not looking for those marks anyway.

I am afraid I disagree with you as I know of teachers who have told me they have always reviewed papers and view it as part of their job - in my view they are professional. As I said before for arts subjects the work load is even great - not so much for the less subjective subjects.

DD's media teacher emailed her to say, because she got 2 marks off an 8 (he predicted her a 9), she should get it re-marked. I think getting a 7 is brilliant and she should leave well alone but DD and her dad want it looked at again. The media studies teacher led DD to think it was free but it bloody well isn't. I can't see the point of shelling out when she's already got more than enough for sixth form.

@twelly what's your job? I'd love to make judgements on what is and isn't part of your contract.

YANBU about the time and stress it's causing you but that's more the fault of this government than the kids or their parents. For both A level and GCSE in England the 'hard return' approach taken by England has caused a fair bit of upset.

It's all very well saying if they've got a college place it doesn't matter but in some cases it does.

I only just discovered this week that at degree level Glasgow School of Art requires a 7 in English Language GCSE so that rules out DS applying even though he got an 8 in Art, made his college place and may do really well at Art A Level.

He was too far off a 7 for it to be worth asking for a review but if he was very close I might do.

I understand your annoyance especially if your school hadn't anticipated this would happen, although I would argue it was very foreseeable especially after the similar upset with A Levels a week prior.

However aren't these ups and downs just part of teaching, same as ups and downs in a lot of jobs?

As a disclaimer - yes I do think teachers should be paid more like much of the public sector or at the very least overtime for situations such as this.

That is a fair point but there does also seem to be benefit to the teacher if their performance is linked at least in part to their students grade. Again this sits with the school not the parents as suggested by OP.

YABU - I've asked for 6 papers back for school review
The grades may not matter for 6th form but they will impact uni offers

My daughters re-marks cost nearly £300, of course they aren't free.

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

Same! I'm HoD though and I'm trying to protect my department from unreasonable work (they should not be doing this in their holidays) so I'm doing it all... (I should not be doing this in my holidays either, or at least I should be paid for it, but if I don't I know there will be consequences!).

Hmm well, as a teacher myself I've always requested papers back for at least 50% of my cohort for a whole host of reasons and that's been ongoing for my whole teaching career (11 years to date).

It's not a new thing though. I insisted one of my a level papers was remarked (and paid for it but was subsequently refunded), even though my teacher said it was a waste of time, escalated it through the formal complaints procedures and they basically gave in to shut me up. I went from an E grade to an A garde. "Never known it to happen before" blah blah blah but it doesn't change the fact it did. No system is infallible and sometimes people just get it wrong.

I'm not in England, and dc not at that stage yet. But surely teachers should be able to choose whose papers to review (ie, those who they are genuinely surprised about), and anyone else can either just go straight to a paid-for check or drop it?