Music GCSE remarking - Help needed please! how do i go about it?

[Jellykat]

So today DS2 received his GCSE breakdowns in the post (we were both at work Thurs & Fri)..

He got a D in Music, which we just don't understand.. Unit 1 Performing is a B, Unit 2 Composing a F, and Unit 3 written paper a C.

Thing is Unit 2, the composing (there were 2 pieces required) was started in Sept 2013 and completed by 16th Feb 2014, during Parents evening end of Jan, the music teacher told me she was really really pleased with his compositions, and his written report reflected this.

So how come he got an F? DS2 is convinced that as composition 1 was (and still is) on Soundcloud, and composition 2 transferred onto her memory stick, she somehow screwed up retrieving them, all i know is something went badly wrong at her end..

Help!.. How should i approach this officially?

It sounds as if the composition was marked too highly by the teacher and once moderated, was downgraded. How have others in his music class fared?

We are also asking for a remark for DS's music GCSE. His performance was graded A* and then downgraded to a C. I could understand maybe an A or a B, but that seems a bit off.

From what I understand the music grading was very harsh this year, a lot of talented musicians at DS's school have not done nearly as well as their ability suggests they should, so the school is going to ask for remarks on all the music GCSE papers.

You can ask whoever the examinations co-ordinator is at the school to put the paper forward for a remark.

Thank you, interesting that others have found similar.. I'm really suspicious about DSs grading, even if the compositions were downgraded externally, from what the teacher originally thought, a F almost implies something went very wrong. Especially as in DS1s eyes it was good (he has a 1st class honours degree in Professional Musicianship, and is brutally honest with these things)

I'm very suspicious about the fact his 2nd composition piece was on the teachers memory stick, which DS saw lying around on her desk, and wasn't even labelled.

I'll email the school today so it's ready when the secretary returns on Tuesday, and then phone. Thank you.

Hi Jellycat - Oddly enough we had a similar experience also units 2 and 3. I was told that the recoding devices were faulty for the performances for both group and solo pieces and my son was told (just before his GCSE's) that he'd need to re-take them. I placed a call with the schools IT department as I wanted to understand why there was such a delay in informing him (and his fellow students) and what their IT backup procedure is. IT wasn't aware of the issue as the teacher never informed them of the data loss/corruption etc. Like you, the details were "saved" on an external drive. How can both recording devices be faulty?? Sadly, we have an A* in unit 1 and two D's which I just think are ridiculous as he was told it would be between A-B and C at worst. I'll follow your post as our situations seem very similar. Good luck! I'll also pursue with our school.

I think it depends on the exam board as to which of the two practical units are marked by the school and moderated externally, and which are marked externally - so any mark given by the school is just a guide.

DD1 took EDEXCEL GCSE Music last year, performance recorded and marked internally, composition marked externally. I believe OCR have performance assessed by external examiner and compositions marked internally. Not sure about the other boards.

This year for AS, (different school but still EDEXCEL), school refused to give out any indication of composition grades. Also, no full marks for performance, as all were downgraded last year.
From what we saw on the composition results for her group, many seemingly 'good' ones got low grades as it was more about following the spec.

Sorry you're going through similar HappyMum, i'm not letting this lie as i know DS worked really hard on his pieces, in fact they and his ICT (for which he got an A, pretty good going considering he's Dyspraxic) were his priorities..

What i fail to understand, is if the grading WAS changed/ made harsher, why the teacher didn't forewarn the pupils and parents, instead of building their expectations up? I know it was discussed in other subjects, in fact the school changed the Maths examining body last year for that exact reason.

circular It was WJEC, we're in Wales. Will try to find out, but presume it must be external marking, although that's not the impression she gave us earlier in the year.

Just had a quick look at the WJEC spec here, new for 2014 sitting.
Different to other boards in that both the performance and composition are teacher marked, then externally moderated.
The performance marking is weighted against the difficulty of the piece, with only the more difficult pieces being able to achieve full marks. from the multiples given on p31, an easier piece is unlikely to be able to score higher than a C, and a moderate piece no more than an A (based on raw mark percentages, but could be slight variations with the years UMS adjustments).
What I could not find was the grade equivalents for the 3 levels, but know for Edxcel this would be grade 3,4 and 5. But with Edexcel, it is a number of marks added to the initial score, rather than using a multiplier, so there appears to be less of a gap between the dificulty levels. It also makes it possible to score very highly on an easier piece played perfectly.
Is it possible the pieces were assessed at the wrong difficulty level, and then moderated down, as this would make a significant difference with WJEC marking?

I was under the impression that with moderation, only a sample is looked at, and if found to be inaccurate, ALL entries from the centre get adjusted accordingly. If the centre are unhappy with the results across the board, they may be prepared to ask for a remark for everyone.

Jelly Is it worth getting a copy script back for the written paper to see if worth a remark, as there could be marks to be gained there? Especially if total UMS is close to C boundary.
With your DS composition, as an F is below half marks, it is possible as you say that one piece went missing, so marking was only against one piece. I would certainly query this with school exams officer.

We had a problem last year with ICT where DD was told A* or A, but ended up with scraping a C equivalent. As it was all externally assessed, school would have not been able to request a remark without the whole lot going back, so would have been the whole year group as compulsory course. School were not willing to request it, [cynical] guessing as so many close to C boundary so not worth the league table risk. Found out later that most got B's and C's, nothing higher than a B. DD1's teacher left that year.

There are a few misconceptions here, will try and put them right, am a music teacher.
All the controlled assessed units for all the boards are internally marked and then externally moderated. A moderator can ask for all the candidates work if the sample has been marked erratically. If the whole sample is too generous then they apply the same penalty to all. Have taught all except AQA/WJEC but know that composition/performance are similarly teacher assessed and then moderated.
With EDEXCEL performing at GCSE the levels are not grade 3/4/5, and it really depends on the piece as they have particular criteria to meet for each one. Roughly the highest is grade 4. With performing, if there are any slips in intonation, they tend to be harshly marked, it isn't comparable to grade exams, that is a whole different debate!
The teacher wouldn't know if the grade boundaries are likely to go up or be marked more harshly we only have the previous years to go on and then they are published with the examiners report with the results.
With an F, it sounds like either the music teacher got it completely wrong or something has gone wrong in the moderating. He/She will know from the moderator's report, so ask and see where to go from there.

Ionacat Thanks for clarifying, was just reiterating what DD has been told by teachers, but perhaps worded badly.
Definitely still being told for Edexcel that difficulty levels for pieces are grade 3/4/5 for GCSE, 5/6/7 for AS and 6/7/8 for A2. Never said marking is comparable to grades, DD found it was much harder, especially at AS.

She was also told by school that EDEXCEL AS composition not internally marked. They refused to even give any DC an indication of marks.

Remember also on 6th form open day at other school, being told by music teacher that for OCR, performances are assessed by external examiners coming in. Remember quite clearly, as DD was concerned that 2 weeks notice may not be enough to gather an ensemble together. But that would have been for AS. Maybe GCSE is different.

Thank you for clarifying Ionacat.

My point today after updating myself with the WJEC system. is that the teacher was very pleased with DSs unit 2 compositions (his B grade for the unit 1 performance is not in question) which were discussed with me only 3 weeks prior to them being handed in.
Now if the moderator had decided the teachers internal marks were pitched way to high at the sample stage, and brought down everyones marks by as much as say 2 grades, it still would have meant the teacher assessed DSs composition as a D or E - odd as she had no concerns for, and indeed praised that unit, it doesn't add up.

I studied pages of WJEC info last night in each subject, and matched the exams unit numbers with each table given, for music D grades are upwards of 100, while C start at 120, with this mess DSs cash in mark was 117, so only 3 marks away from a C and a pass at least.

As a new young teacher, i'm slightly skeptical that she'll admit to any mistakes i must say

Sorry thought this was about GCSE and not AS - that is different and most of it is externally assessed. Circular - sounds about right for AS/A2 but GCSE is definitely not 3/4/5! The criteria for each level don't really match the grades, but if you do a grade 4/5 piece it will probably match the higher criteria but some grade 3 pieces also match the higher criteria and it varies between instruments. The comment for grades was more for the difficulty levels just don't match like the music teacher said. You are right about it being much harder! If I had a £1 for every parent who said that but they got a merit/distinction why are you making my DD/DS do it again, I would be on a yacht somewhere nice and sunny.

With regards the composition marking, it could be several things. The teacher could have made a mistake and to be honest there sounds like an element of that here and yes unlikely to admit to it, the composition marks could be completely at odds and not what she expected - it is notoriously difficult to mark as it is subjective although most of the complaints about composition marks being wrong tend to be at AS/A2 not at GCSE. I would ask for a remark, I've had compositions go up over 9 marks which meant a different grade at GCSE although that was with OCR and not WJEC. You have nothing to lose by it.

Well have done my best, have emailed the head (on my birthday too!), will follow it up with a call on Weds.

From what i've read, i have to act fast if we do go for a remark, and unfortunately it's taken up to 3 weeks for the head to get back to me in the past

I am wondering if a remark can be requested individually in this instance though, DS said a lot of the class got lower then expected, but i doubt their parents will bother, just getting past the school secretary is akin to climbing Mount Everest.

Thank you everyone for giving me the momentum, i've had real problems with the school over the years, and thought i'd seen the back of them.
I can but try, DS worked really hard on this one.

Good luck to those doing the same!

Aaaargh Rant alert..

This is what i have had to deal with at this school for 4 years.

I sent the email, yet they claim there's no email from any parents (even tho it comes up as sent from my end, and yes its 100% the correct address)
So have sent it again, to be then be told the lady who deals with those emails isn't there anyway.
The Head (as she ALWAYS is) is conveniently 'in a meeting', and will get back to me (this can take up to 5 days IME, with any appointment taking up to 6 weeks to happen) but it won't be today (surprise), and the examination officer isn't back until Monday anyway.

It's no wonder in the past i've had to call in independent educational advisers to help me with these fuckwits, it's not even a big school, what may make it even trickier is i may uncover a blunder on their part somewhere, they're not going to like that one little bit.. Here i go again!!!