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

PE is the WORST GCSE subject ever!!! It's way way way way more work than Art and for some reason no one talks about it. The video editing and PEP take forever and then there are 2 exam papers as well. And the practical results are totally arbitrary. My daughter is national level in one of her sports and got overall 80/105 in her practical assessment which doesn't look very promising for the overall mark.

She's probably looking at a maximum of 7 now I'm guessing?

I think it must really vary. I did hardly any videoing of DS and certainly no editing. Maybe he did it himself? not sure.

The practical results have to follow the MS and if they are wildly unreasonable, the school risks the whole cohort being changed through external moderation. If anything, I think the PE dept sometimes marks slightly lower to avoid an across-the-board downward moderation.

What board is this? Is it Edexcel? My DC's school did AQA I think. Pretty sure they didn't do a PEP, so maybe there are big variations.

Your DD scored 76% in her practical which, if achieved across the whole qual (I am assuming Edexcel) would give her a solid grade 8.

It's Edexcel. I think AQA might be more reasonable from what I hear. The PEP coursework is AWFUL and a huge amount of work. The teachers my daughter has are very unhelpful and the sports they do at school aren't done seriously at all, but then marked super harshly. I don't think 76% is an 8, as I think grade boundaries in PE are super high. Could be wrong though

@XelaM a grade 8 in Edexcel GCSE PE in 2024 was 261/350; but last year it was a fair bit higher at 279/350 which is 79%; in 2019 (the last year before 2024 that is worth looking at IMHO bc Covid) it was 252/350 (72%). That year 268/350 was a 9 which is 76%. So there is quite a variance.

This definitely reads the mark is out of 20.??

Have you spoken to the teacher yet?

Then it is either not AQA or they are bot following the specification and breakdown of marks.

There's so much information missing/doesn't make sense here!

This is so true. Our school offers both but they will only let the kids likely to sit the higher science paper do the GCSE as I said before, it’s a very strange GCSE

Slightly tongue in cheek but I felt I deserved a medal for filming snowboarding…. Mum can you follow me down these moguls (steep black bumpy piste) while filming me doing x, y and z….. DS did get a lot out of the theory but demonstrating the practical skills was a parental pain!

I have sent a really nice email just asking them to explain the marking system to me but haven’t heard back yet

Thank you, I’ll try find out more. Our school aren’t great at communicating info

It’s OCR, apologies I thought it was AQA

Ha ha, it sounds like you definitely deserved a medal. The things we do for our children!!

This is the criteria for OCR. It’s not about pbs.

My son did gcse PE and as much as people tell you it’s all moderated and fair it’s not. Teachers mark the kids and there is leeway of marks.

I won’t bother telling you all the stories as it will just make my blood boil - but yes I would go to the school. They are unlikely to change the score but at least you will feel like you did not miss an opportunity.

Also the long written project … at my son’s school what sport you choose affected the grade.

on a plus side .. my son’s sports score were low (I think 11, 12 and 14) his project was low (28?) and he still managed to get an A* after studying for the exam. If you want a great online GCSEs pe tutor pm me.

OP PE is not my subject but I have a lesson I have done a few times with my students.

I say I have set an assignment to 'draw a cat' I then put up some other pictures and ask the students to say which is best.

One of the pictures is the 'Mona Lisa', another is a photograph of a cat, a third is a drawing of a cat and the last one is a drawing of a few cats.

It can be interesting asking students which is the best / better picture. The 'Mona Lisa' is one of the most famous paintings in the world (possibly the most).

But when the assignment is asks for a drawing of a cat it scores zero. As does the photograph.

The drawing of the cat and the drawing of several cats both pass but the one with multiple cats doesn't score any higher than the single cat.

It can be like this in most if not all subjects. In maths you might be asked to use a particular formula, there may be 2 marks for the correct answer but 6 marks for using the formula correctly and showing your work.

My daughter is doing Edexcel and there I think each sport is marked out of 35. OCR is out of 20 I think.

People justifying top athletes getting marked down in PE practicals reminds me of that German footballer getting the equivalent of a C in his A-levels PE (German Abitur) the year he won the World Cup. Clearly school PE marking is not fit for purpose.

Yes it seems really odd to say the children running for their county cannot score more highly than children who did a charity fun run once for eg. Kids who play academy football or are in squad gymnastics at 15 absolutely should be relieving high marks. Very very few teens stick with and play sport into the GCSE years so those doing so and competing at high standards absolutely are demonstrating skills worth higher marks.

In maths, the children who go to the Olympiads and get through the national rounds of The Maths Challenge ARE better than the kids in lower sets.

This doesn't give guidance as to the marks like the AQA one does.

It also doesn't specific being suitably fit or competing at a suitable level like AQA does. Seems much more subjective.

It shouldn’t be because they should be taught what they are looking for but it is about tactics and all the things the OPs daughter should have and need to go further

what can’t be marked becuase that isn’t fair is natural talent PE isn’t just for those who are good at PE it is for those who want a career in health and fitness

Yes I think this too. We should be praising and encouraging our teens to stay in sport for life. I feel if you tell them pbs, times and places don’t matter then what’s the incentive to keep going

Let us know OP when you hear from the school - I'm intrigued to know the outcome now!

OK if it is OCR then she has scored 14.5 out of 20. That’s pretty good tho I do see that she might have hoped for a higher mark. But each sport counts for 10% of the overall GCSE. So 5 marks dropped (if you look at it like that) is 2.5%. For sure it might make a difference (last year there were only 10 marks between a G9 and a G8) and it’s worth the query, but overall I would get your DD to put it aside and move on.

Yes it must feel frustrating to have followed her across the country last summer videoing her races, but after all, even if she scored top marks that would still only be 10%. As I said, she is the winner with her love of running.

No one here has said PBs and times don’t matter btw. But there is more to the mark scheme than “who finished first” and rightly so IMHO.

But isn’t that actually the problem sports becomes so competitive those who cannot compete but still enjoy it we want people to stay in fitness for life

DD likes to run she often goes on a 5K with DH but she is slow and that is ok

PE is about health and fitness an exercise not about competing in sports and proving it is for everyone and not just those who are athletes

It should be about personal goals not comparing to others

believing that because the other is slower she should get less marks is awful and isn’t what it is all about - improvement as well is key - I could improve my 1500m time much better than DH (runner) because there is less margin for improvemebt