England/Wales/N.Ireland - all marked together or separate?

[MumblesParty]

I found out today that Wales and Northern Ireland elected to run the A level exams this year in a similar way to last year, when the students were given guidance on what would be on the exam papers. In England this wasn't done this year - it was just as it would have been pre covid.

So intuitively that would mean that in Wales and NI they would have had a much easier time of it when sitting the exams.

What I'm wondering is are the papers all mixed up and marked together? Or are England papers marked separately, Wales separately, and NI separately?

Does anyone know?

It all just feels so unfair.

It's done by Exam Board. NI and Wales each use their own board.

Thank you - so does that mean as long as each exam board aims to give the same percentage of As, Bs, Cs etc, it essentially makes no difference how easy or difficult the exams were?

That's right! There are three big exam boards in England and they co-ordinate their grade boundaries to get similar percentages.

Just remembered my son’s school, in England, did exams using a welsh exam board for one subject. Will that mean he’s potentially disadvantaged?

That gets very messy. The "same" exam board is branded as WJEC in Wales, and Eduqas in England. To be honest, I have no idea how that will play out this year... sorry.

Thank you - yes it was Eduqas. I’d like to think they’d separate the papers into Eduqas and WJEC for marking purposes.

I hope so too, but the school I teach in doesn't use that board, so I'd just be guessing. Sorry you don't have more contributors here, but this exchange might bump the thread?

The proportions of A*, A, etc., grades will be different. Only England has gone back to 2019 grade profiles this year.

https://www.wjec.co.uk/articles/summer-2023-qualifications-wales-confirms-approach-to-grading/

https://ccea.org.uk/regulation/news/2022/october/ccea-announces-approach-awarding-grades-202223-academic-year

All the news stories refer to Ofqual's shift in standards. Ofqual has no remit outside England.

How does that affect the marking of papers sat by English kid in England using a welsh exam board?

How does that affect the marking of papers sat by English kid in England using a welsh exam board?

If it's Eduquas, they're accredited by Ofqual so follow the same rules as other English exam boards.

There's the other scenario, though, of two kids living in the same place on the English side of the border but one going to a school in Wales and the other going to a school in England: they will have had different experiences and be subject to different grading.

I don't know what happens if a private school in England enters students for WJEC exams. Private schools can enter students for any qualifications they like but I don't know for certain whether WJEC would accept them if they're not in Wales. There's already an issue with private schools entering students for IGCSEs and International A-Levels (which are intended for use outside the UK), which aren't accredited by Ofqual and can't be guaranteed to be applying the same standards as the regulated qualifications. It's all a massive mess and it's very unhelpful that these qualifications with different standards have the same name and are treated as equal by universities and employers.

Thank you

I would say as ds sat WJEC GCSE that the added information given was not seen as very helpful by teachers or students. I am sure it was better than none but it did not limit the amount they had to revise by a huge amount.