Can parents appeal TAGs?

[StartWhereYouStand]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me if their school has given them any idea of the appeal process in August if there is disagreement about a TAG.
Is there one?

My DD's school (year 13) has just asked us to sign a form saying all the usual stuff about work being their own etc but also that we can appeal 'an administrative error'. Nothing about any other kind of appeal.

Btw this isn't a teacher bash (I am one and I know how overwhelmingly stressful the current TAG process is) but I am just wondering about this from a parent's perspective.

Yes - from the Guidance -

"Appeals and results
• Students will be able to appeal their grade.
• A student who is unhappy with their grade will first ask their centre to check
whether an administrative or procedural error had been made.
• Where a centre does identify an error in the grade submitted to the exam board, it can submit a revised grade and a rationale for the board to consider. If the exam board is satisfied with the rationale, it will issue a revised grade.
• Where a centre does not believe an error had been made, a student can ask the centre to appeal to the exam board on their behalf. The centre will submit the student’s appeal to the exam board and provide the evidence on which its judgement had been made; the exam board will consider whether, in its view, the grade reflected an appropriate exercise of academic judgement. If the exam board judges that it did not, the exam board will determine the grade that the evidence would support. The exam board will also check that the centre had followed its own process. "

Great - I knew I had read it somewhere but I wondered if it meant we had to appeal to the exam board directly.

I don't envy the people at the exam board checking the 'academic judgement' - every school here seems to have done TAGs differently and without obvious grade boundaries there will be some close calls I am sure.

Fingers crossed DD gets the grades she is hoping for and appealing isn't even a consideration!

Your school should have written a Centre Policy for this exam season to be sent to the JQC, which includes a section on Appeals. JCQ have encouraged schools to share these with parents. Not all have done so thus far. As example of one is here: www.chalfonts.org/academic/exams/summer-exams-2021

Thanks that's really useful.

I had seen the JCQ stuff but don't think we have been shown a centre policy from DDs school.
I wasn't entirely sure how it worked from a parental perspective especially since we are signing something to say we can only appeal about an administrative error.

I think the school is, somewhat clumsily, trying to make it clear that we can't argue with/appeal to them about what the grades are since any appeal like that has to go to the exam board for the judgement.

Gah it's all such an unknown and I feel for everyone involved.

DD has a week of (not)exams left and her 18th birthday in the middle - something sparkling and alcoholic will definitely be being consumed next weekend!