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GCSE Coursework Grade 8 to Grade 3!!

38 replies

FrenchPolisher · 09/07/2024 10:58

My daughter has just been informed that her Media coursework, that was moderated (in school) and graded at level 5 (Grade 8) has now been selected by the exam board and has now dropped to no higher than level 2 due to an image that was not (origional). The image was declared, edited and altered significantly by direction of class tutor, and was assured it was acceptable to be included in the final production piece.

It would appear the teacher was following the old exam bodys guidlines and not the newly acredited body the school moved to? My daughter was hushed into the exams offier room with the class tutor, the day after the leavers assembly without my knowledge and consent and instructed to not appeal? I have just found this out and have asked for an internal investigation?

What can i expect?

OP posts:
clary · 09/07/2024 21:25

What board is it @FrenchPolisher ? I looked up the AQA spec.

FrenchPolisher · 09/07/2024 21:26

She acknowledged it, referenced it, and supplied links because her teacher said it was ok to use?

At no point did he question this and guided her with modifying it?

So im not sure how my daughter can be to blame?

But thanks for your insight

OP posts:
FrenchPolisher · 09/07/2024 21:28

She acknowledged it, referenced it, and supplied links because her teacher said it was ok to use?

At no point did he question this and guided her with modifying it?

So im not sure how my daughter can be to blame?

But thanks for your insight

OP posts:
MrsHamlet · 09/07/2024 21:34

FrenchPolisher · 09/07/2024 21:28

She acknowledged it, referenced it, and supplied links because her teacher said it was ok to use?

At no point did he question this and guided her with modifying it?

So im not sure how my daughter can be to blame?

But thanks for your insight

The exam boards can only deal with what they see.

If, for example, I submit some work for my class and they discover plagiarism, they will investigate what processes I had in place to prevent that.

They can only do that by following it up with the centre.

Bibliographies are pretty much an essential in NEA these days, to try to prevent plagiarism. So your daughter, as she should have, acknowledged her sources. That sounds like it's not in question. I don't think the exam boards are trying to apportion blame at this point - they're trying to find out what happened.

MrsHamlet · 09/07/2024 21:41

As a pp says, I'm also very surprised that there's been any discussion of grades or levels.

When I was a moderator, I often used to contact schools for bigger samples or more information, and there was never anything about grades discussed. They don't even exist at this stage!

RookieMa · 10/07/2024 13:36

Also OP I'm wondering if you're aware of the euphemism of your MN name

catndogslife · 10/07/2024 18:25

This is a quote from the AQA website Schools/colleges will only find out the outcome of moderation on results day. Where marking is deemed to be too lenient/severe at moderation, an adjustment to all student marks will be made by AQA. It could be malpractice by the Centre giving your dd this information now and it could also be breaching confidentiality rules for you to be sharing this information on a public forum before results day.

My understanding of the NEA guidelines is that you can appeal the marks that your teacher has given before the work is submitted and moderated by the "exam board" but not after the moderation process has occurred.

Hatty65 · 10/07/2024 18:45

In 30 years of teaching I've never been given the results of exam board moderation until results day - which is Thursday, 24 August this year for GCSEs.

I do not understand how your school claims to have been told what your DDs grade is for the coursework. They cannot have been informed yet.

FrenchPolisher · 11/07/2024 00:01

I'm going into school tomorrow to give the deputy head a witness statement from my daughter, I agree they have spoilt my daughters memories of what had been a great school experience, will see what tomorrow brings

OP posts:
Malbecfan · 13/07/2024 16:24

Quite a lot of this seems odd to me. I teach 2 subjects, one of which is 60% NEA, the other 100%. For both, we have to give the students the raw marks in advance of submission dates to the exam board, so that the student has the time to appeal the process before final marks are entered online. Note that I used the term "raw marks" because that's what they are. For the 100% NEA, I can show them the grade boundaries from prior years but always say that they can and do move, so don't count on anything. Moderation by the exam board can also change the marks, so this is only the start of the process.

I book an appointment with the exams officer where we sit together and she enters the raw marks onto the exam board's secure portal. Once she hits "enter", a sample is generated. The number in the sample depends on the size of the group: for cohorts of 10 or fewer, all NEA work is submitted, then between 11-20, it's something like 11 - sorry I can't remember the exact numbers. However, this always includes the highest and lowest marks. For the 100% NEA one, we have 4 assessors so enter their initials onto the portal so that the sample includes roughly equal numbers from each of us. I did this in the first week of May and have not heard anything since, which I'm taking to be a good sign because if I had screwed up, the board would want to see further work.

In the case of the OP's DD, whilst I can accept that mistakes happen and specifications change, the subject teacher and exams officer should have been aware of this. In my subjects I am a member of specific groups on Facebook for teachers of each specification and level, so as soon as something like set works in Music changes, this is plastered all over, discussed ad nauseam and posted in large letters all over the exam board's website.

My advice to the OP is to ask the school calmly if the wrong advice was given, what processes will be put in place to ensure this never happens again? Has the teacher received training on the current specification, or on the previous one? Does the teacher have external support if they are the only teacher of the subject? In Music, although there are 2 of us teaching it, we also know lots of colleagues in local schools teaching the same spec, so we can and do help one another out with moderating or checking process if necessary. Again, the Facebook groups are brilliant for advice and support. Finally, your DD should never have been given any grades, only marks. It would be worth following this up with the member of SLT responsible for exams as the correct process appears not to have been followed.

Oblomov24 · 13/07/2024 17:46

You say you are going into school. But Send an email to Head aswell, so that there a paper trail of evidence.

FrenchPolisher · 15/07/2024 13:52

Thanks, had meeting with SLT on Friday, raised a complaint against the school and working with the deputy head to launch an appeal for the Media coursework.

Appears school policy has not been followed by exams officer, and class teacher, there are safeguarding issues and 65 school policies on the schools website were grossly outdated some not being updated since 2017.

Im not very happy but I have remained calm.

OP posts:
Oblomov24 · 15/07/2024 19:03

Well done OP, let's see what happens next.

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