Practical subjects at GCSE - who marks coursework?

[theredhen]

For those parents of students taking practical subjects at GCSE, who marks the coursework? Is it the teacher? Or an outside examining body?

It'll be the teacher - but they will be externally moderated. A sample is sent to the exam board (a random sample asked for by the moderator) and checked. If there are any concerns about the marking, they ask for all the coursework. There's really no need for anyone to worry about teachers marking it as the mark schemes are strict and the work is checked thoroughly.

The class teacher will do an initial round of marking. This will then be marked by another teacher and moderated to see if they agree. Then this will be sent,off to an external examiner who will then either agree or increase/decrease the marks depending on if the teacher has under or over marked. Pupils should expect to view their final mark on results day.

Depends as well on what you mean by "practical". For Drama, which I teach, a visiting examiner from the exam board comes to assess a sample live, against which the rest of the marks are compared.

mumslife - why do you disagree? This is what teachers are trained to do. If we're not asessing students' work, then what's the point of us being there? And most examiners are also teachers... OR is your concern about lack of objectivity? Do you think that teachers of practical subjects will mark kids they like higher? I find that rather insulting.

ET - Surely a teachers job is to teach the student. If a teacher is assessing their own students work they they are essentially assessing their own teaching. Isn't that open to corruption?

chloe

No, you have to mark the the examining board's standards.

And what do you think happens at uni?

My son is studying a dt subject and feels the teacher doesn't like him, the coursework is 60 percent of the total mark. I'd like to think the teacher would be objective though.

Teachers are always accused of 'not liking' students- the truth is the teachers want them to work and the students may be reluctant.

Our practical work (media) is marked twice internally and EVERY piece sent for moderation due to small sample size.

The teacher has no choice but to be objective. If they marked one students work lower and it was found out, it would be assumed that their marking was wrong across the board and the whole cohort's reduced, and nobody wants that.

His teacher probably does like him. If I'm totally honest there are pupils / students who you don't hit it off with, and those are the ones you tend to overcompensate so they can't tell you don't like them.