GCSE PE

[everydaysaschoolda]

Please can anyone explain this to me.

My daughter has been assessed on 1500m for GCSE PE practical assessment, she runs for our local club, she has qualified for inter counties and county level. Runs all the local events. She scored 14.5. This score is from the PE dept at her school. My daughter has run since primary school and is really dedicated, she worked so hard to get PBs especially for GCSE PE

Now I know it isn’t about comparing pupils but another girl scored 15. She only took up athletics for GCSE PE, my daughter bet her in every race by 20-30 seconds. This pupil did no running outside of school and hasn’t qualified at any higher level.

This just seems so unfair, should I contact the school to ask them to re-assess or am I being THAT parent?

Happy for someone to explain this to me if I’ve got it all wrong. I wasn’t educated in England and didn’t do GCSEs. Thank you

Yes you are.

gcse pe practicals are assessed on the time they they see/that is videoed. It doesn’t matter what prior experience each child has.

in addition, this is only part of one gcse which being brutally honest is one of many.

let it go.

You could perhaps ask the school to explain the process. I think a lot is down to the filming etc…. My DS is an all round sportsman and I was surprised by his PE result - he got a mix of 8/9s but a 7 in PE. It’s not an easy option.

But my child’s times are faster than the other pupil and her county and inter county runs were all videoed and submitted for evaluation

Because time isn’t really what they are looking at it is technique and tactical awareness - for someone who is that qualified it is a low score (and the other girl sounds about right)

the 1500m race is incredibly tactical when to push when not to etc and I suspect your daughter is a very natural runner who hasn’t particularly had to think about those things in order to win?

it would be about how she ran her race not how quick she was - if she was just focused on being as quick as she could technique and tactics would falter

DS had to do 4 sports…. So running is presumably just one element? Ask the school how it works, but don’t go in with guns blazing.

Thanks you. I would never go in with all guns blazing, I’m not really like that. I would just ask the school to explain the marking system

Yes as others say, PE GCSE practical is not just assessed on who is the best (if you think about it that would not really give an even chance) but also on tactics, improvement, ability to assess the performance. Yes ability is part of it and hw well you do, but it’s not the only aspect. Maybe the other student has improved enormously and shown that. In any case there is no point comparing your DC with anyone else.

What is the 14.5 out of (it can vary by board and anyway it’s a while since DS took GCSE PE)? By all means query the way the mark is worked out with the school. I presume she is offering two other sports? DS got an 8 and one of his sports offered was something he only did in school (badminton or table tennis) and so he obviously was starting from a low level. His very sprinty mate offered basketball as his team sport which he literally only took up in school for the GCSE – so again, he was at no high level at all.

The advice to be at a decent level in your sport to take GCSE PE is good, but that's as much to do with knowledge of how to develop, tactical skill and assessment as anything. And also the practica difficulty of covering three sports all in school.

Thanks for all the replies, really helpful. She had to do 3 sports, she hasn’t scored very highly in the other 2 sports even though she made improvements, I thought that was because she didn’t compete outside of school with those ones.

I suppose I just feel we have spent the past 2 years travelling around athletic stadiums across the country taking part in races, constantly improving PBs to end up scoring quite low. It feels unfair but I understand now it’s not based on times.

It’s quite common, both in PE and also music and foreign languages.

there’s specific things they are looking for. So if (for example) you are a fluent German speaker and just go into your German speaking exam you might not score as highly as someone who isn’t fluent but for example knows that you have to demonstrate three tenses, etc.

the advice for music gcse was don’t pick your hardest piece but pick one that matches the mark scheme.

etc.

I really hope that's not the only reason she does athletics! I mean I am sure it’s not. Hopefully she got masses out of it (I love athletics so much and have seen how it can be such a positive thing for YP) and will continue to love her running. Great outlet in exam years and a fantastic extra curricular to continue doing at uni if she goes.

Spot on about the MFL @Octavia64 especially in A level where native speakers sometimes think they can just rock up and chat. But yes even at GCSE a native speaker needs to make sure they focus on what they need to say.

I feel like I’m drip feeding now, that was never my intention so apologies.

we knew about the results last week as the girls discussed it, and I did think 🤔 but I wasn’t overthinking it. My husband has a shared interest with the other girls dad, who jokingly told him last night, they were really surprised their daughter scored better than mine considering their daughter hated 1500m, didn’t really improve, and faked an injury to get out of running a few, he said she’s glad it’s over and never wants to run again.

For some reason this just got my back up as my daughter absolutely loves running and ran every single race she could

you’ve all been super helpful. I think I will send a very nice email to the school thanking them for their support and asking them to clarify the scores. As I said previously I’m am not the type of person to be rude or expect my child to get special treatment, I just want to make sure they have been marked fairly

Ahh @everydaysaschoolda that does sound tough. Maybe the school has missed something with the other student. But hey – as long as your DD has gained the mark she deserves, then that’s the way to look at it. And she has really gained something so valuable (that the other student has not!) – in her love of running, which I hope she carries on with in future. Look forward to seeing her on the track at BUCS athletics in a few years’ time!

My eldest is an outstanding footballer, academy level at the time. His PE practical result was low and overall he got a 6 compared to 9&9 in everything else. It’s a very strange GCSE in terms of marks

I don't think you're unreasonable to ask about the mark scheme but I would keep your questions very specific to your DD and not mention the other girl at all. So you could maybe say something like "DD is a bit disapointed with her athletics score as she's worked very hard on her 1500m this year. Could you clarify how the mark scheme works then I can help her understand it better" but I wouldn't bring another pupil into it. Normally I wouldn't question results to be honest, but I think that by giving the pupils detailed infomation about their scores at this stage the school has opened the door. The scores may well have been submitted by now though - different boards have different deadlines - so I wouldn't get your hopes up for a change being made. That said, some schools are selected for external moderation so that sometimes results in changes. (Not every sport gets looked at in every school every year though so there's no guarantee.)
I think it's also important to remind your DD that the practical assessment is only 40% of her overall mark, and certainly if she is doing AQA, each of the 3 sports only makes up a quarter of that 40%, ie 10% of the overall mark, as there's a self analysis/evaluation task too. I'm not sure about other boards but the info will be on their websites. So whilst disappointing it is not the end of the world and a good performance on the written papers can still boost her overall grade. Hopefully she can kerp positive, give it her all in the exams and get a grade she is happy with.

What is the score out of ?

It's certainly worth to ask. But as said don't mention the other girl..

Sport can be a kangaroo court. DD applied for a sports scholarship as she is a county player in one of the school's major sports and an A team player in two others. She didn't get the scholarship. Another kid who is regional triathlon champion and A team player didn't get the scholarship.. The following year two of the girls who got scholarships were A team players but not county anything and now both have dropped out of sports .. it's irritating to say the least..

Are you sure you are comparing like with like. From what I can tell of my DD’s GCSE PE the score is out of 25 in total and that is split between 15 for competition and 10 for skills. So she will get a score out of 15 for how she did in races and then a score out of 10 for skills. (Tactics as mentioned by other people.) Could her 14.5 be the bit out of 15 and then she has a skills score on top. Whilst the other girl has 15 in total?

My poor dd sprained her ankle yesterday during her netball assessment. Which meant she can’t do her athletics assessment today. Hoping that it will be better by the end of the week or she will have to use the score she got months ago for her 800m on grass in the rain!

DS did GCSE PE, also athletics and he’s a county 800m runner. He got 100% on his practical. They’re not assessing times. He’s a sub 2min 800m runner and in his practical ran about 2.05 because they are looking at your start, your race strategy, positioning etc.

I completely agree with you. I have 2 DS’s. One is at Loughborough doing Sports Science and the other is in Y10. Both studied PE.

Older DS loves sport but is not an elite athlete in any sport. He is a good all round sportsman but nothing special. When he did his A level in PE, his practical element score was so low (he was moderated by an outside assessor) that his PE teacher thought it hadn’t been weighed correctly. In A level PE, the raw score had to be multiplied by something to give the overall grade. However he got an A and is at Loughborough studying Sports Science.

Younger DS is already a very talented sportsman and is an elite level in 2 sports. His predicted grade for GCSE PE is a 4, mainly because his theory isn’t as strong as his brothers.

You've every right to ask how the marks were come to. Don't go in with the attitude that the school have done something wrong if that makes sense.

I think it’s ok to politely ask how marks are awarded and take it from there. If I remember rightly, when my son did gcse pe the practical part was only worth 10% of their overall grade anyway.
Also - is it certain that the other kid got the mark they said? Kids wind each other up….

i did GCSE PE (although many years ago) and my DD and DS are currently doing it. What also comes into play is how an individual improves. So where your child competes outside school and does very well, there may not have been much room for improvement where the other person may have really improved since their first time including technique, time, fitness etc.

I had this with my swimming and netball. I was a very good swimmer and swam competitively for Cyprus while we were posted out there (dad was in forces) it actually hindered me. Again with my netball I played competitively from a young age and played for Sunderland girls netball team, this also hindered me in my scores because I already had the techniques I had to really go out my comfort zone to show improvement not just ace on what I could already achieve. I scored higher scores for my badminton and I was shockingly rubbish at that sport there were others who were amazing at it. On a positive note GCSE usually is more theory than practical so I suggest lots of work on the theory side because that will bump up their overall grade at the end. Xx

Maybe the other girl has exaggerrated her score?

In any case, what other students achieve has no bearing on your own dd, your dd must forge her own path.

You can’t just be assessed in the 1500m- her sport would be “athletics” so she’d have needed to offer another distance too. So maybe this was the issue? What was her other athletics event? My daughter did 1500m and cross country - plus two entirely different sports.

I don't think you're unreasonable to ask about the mark scheme but I would keep your questions very specific to your DD and not mention the other girl at all.

This.
I'm a PE teacher and can verify it's not all about results but performance, ability to adapt to a situation, style, demonstrating knowledge and understanding of tactics and application of training principles. And she will have been assessed in other athletics events, so if the other girl is a better thrower and jumper, this will have been reflected in the higher mark.
But you have every right to query - politely - how the mark was reached and I would applaud you for doing so. How you approach this is key - you will be THAT parent if you are pushy and belligerent, but if you ask with respect to the teacher's experience they will appreciate you wanting to get involved and that you are not questioning their decision but simply wanting to understand how it was reached.
It's a pressured time for teachers as well as pupils and it's not impossible that, on extremely rare occasions, mistakes are made.

I am so over GCSE PE.

Our PE dept has been utterly woeful with zero guidance on filming the practicals - eve though it’s obvious it’s going to require parental input.

I find the AQA guidance pretty vague.

i do query whether PE teachers have the knowledge to mark 20+ different sports many of which they have presumably never taken part in.

The fact that marks are “moderated” through a live performance seems ridiculous - for example in football you’ve submitted video evidence of them playing with a team. Then you throw together a bunch of school kids who don’t play together frequently presumably not all in the right positions in front of an external examiner and amend the mark based on that. Rather than external examiners looking at the same video evidence and checking they agree with the mark.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that you basically need to be able to do the 3 sports in advance of starting as there isn’t really any attempt to teach them at school.

But it’s just one of many GCSEs. It did keep them active and they found the theory interesting.

But thank the lord we are not continuing to A Level.