Ofqual has announced that it will be suspending the A-level appeals and reviewing the process again. Earlier, they had agreed to use students mock exam results to revise marks of students who had been affected by the exam regulator’s formula.
The controversial marks awarding formula in the UK has generated a lot of controversies since the A-level and GCSE results were released. Eight hours after the government released guidance on how students can appeal their A-level, Ofqual indicated that the guideline was being reviewed and hence would not be applicable for thousands of students who wanted to repeal their marks.
Background of the A-level appeals
The controversy started when the government, through the Department of Education asked teachers to award marks to students based on how they would perform if the elections were to be held. The marks awarded by the teachers to students, however, were reversed through an algorithmic computer model that made consideration to school past performances.
This meant that many students saw their results being altered by a computer, and even though some had already used the results awarded by teachers to apply for colleges, the revisions have placed them in limbo. Parents and students, therefore started a petition to make sure that the marks are awarded fairly.
Lawsuits and appeals
The government, through the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, after noticing rejection and opposition of the results, indicated that there would be A-level appeals to help students get a fair share of their mark.
The announcement by Williamson also indicated that there was a possibility that student could use their mock results for their A-level appeals. This move was a sigh of relief to many students and parents who felt that the system had been unfair to them and did not reflect how their students would have performed if the exams were held.
The guideline for the A-level appeals was posted and the students were told that now they could be able to appeal their results. However, jut eight hours after the guidelines were released, Ofqual indicated that the guideline was no longer applicable and it was suspending the appeals process.
Impact of postponement of the appeals
The revocation of this process angered many students and parents, especially those that had planned to start their studies in the autumn. The government also indicated that the decision to reverse the appeals process was not well communicated, indicating that they had been blindsided by the exam regulators.
In a statement, Ofqual indicated that earlier today they had released information on how students could appeal their results using the mock results. However, they continued, the process had been taken down and was under review.
The statement by the exam regulators means that students will continue waiting to know their fate. The University of Oxford has already indicated that it will be deferring students who are appealing their results and many other universities and colleges may be forced to take a similar route, affecting hundreds of thousands of students.
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