This year’s GCSE, AS and A Level teacher assessed grade (TAG) results have been a resounding success and undoubtedly demonstrates the commitment and resilience of students, schools and school staff during these unprecedented times.
Despite many students having achieved exceptional grades, it is inevitable that schools will face challenges from some students who feel that they have not received a fair grade in one or more subjects.
The vast majority of these challenges are likely to be directed through the centre review and appeals process devised by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). However, there are other routes through which students may look to seek redress or information about how their grade was awarded.
JCQ centre review and appeals
The three grounds on which a student can challenge a grading decision through the JCQ process are that:
- there was an administrative error in relation to the result;
- the school did not follow its procedures properly or consistently in arriving at the result; or
- the school made an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement in the choice of evidence from which to determine the grade and/or the determination of that grade from the evidence.
Administrative errors are likely to be relatively easy to identify, such as the incorrect transposing of student grades. Procedural errors are more nuanced and includes a failure to apply appropriate access arrangements or reasonable adjustments at the time of an assessment used to determine a student’s grade.
Schools (as exam centres) are only required to consider the first two grounds when undertaking a centre review (stage 1). Awarding organisations (exam boards) can consider appeals based on all three grounds (stage 2).