By Gavin Mackintosh-
Ofqual has warned that there will be no more leniency for higher tier GCSE grade boundaries.
Ofqual has warned schools and teachers must think carefully about the tier in which they enter pupils for in GCSE exams. The education regulator warned that last year’s “exceptional” leniency around grade boundaries will be completely scrapped for 2019 as she wrote a letter to all schools and colleges to alert them to the stringent marking that will accompany marking in 2019.
Ofqual’s chief regulator, Sally Collier warned that final grades on certificates do not distinguish between students who sat them on lower or higher tiers, therefore warning teachers to proceed carefully and enter the weakest students for the foundation tier exams. She said the decision to allow some pupils to receive the grade 3-3 on the higher tier combined science paper “was exceptional and will not be permitted in summer 2019”. Around a third of schools had some higher tier pupils who were awarded the 3-3 grade last summer. Allowances were also made in foreign languages
The higher tier combined science paper is supposed to only include the grades 4-4 through to 9-9, with a small proportion who “just miss” the lower grade being allowed a “safety net grade” of 4-3 and all others receiving an “unclassified” result.
She also clarified that a “narrow safety net grade 3 for students who just miss a grade 4” in higher tier modern foreign languages would be set at half a grade, and anyone who achieves lower marks will receive an “unclassified” result “as per our existing rules”. Collier also warned against advice from “third-party organisations” which recommend that pupils predicted to achieve around a 4 in both subjects should be entered for the higher tier exam.
“I would caution you against following that advice, as such students are at risk of missing out on two GCSE grades (for combined science),” she wrote, or one GCSE for modern foreign languages.
Last August the regulator confirmed it had dropped the pass threshold for GCSE science higher tier exams to 3-3 concern. This was following notification from exam boards that there were more students than expected getting an unclassified result on higher tier combined science. G.C.S.E pupils are graded at different tiers in certain subjects to reflect the different classes of ability and present weaker exam papers to weaker pupils. Stronger pupils generally enter for the more difficult papers.
Subjects that are layered into various tiers includes Maths, biology, chemistry and physics, combined sciences, and Modern Foreign Languages. Statistics is to be added to the G.C.S.E exam curriculum for the first time and will also have pupils of different abilities sit different standards of exams. Ofqual is asking schools to be equally careful in their choice of registration.