Bit of a spat between OFQUAL who blame the rise in remarking as a tactical device from schools and the Private Heads association which rejects this and states the issue is the poor quality of marking standards.
The figures are startling. The number of A level and GCSE remarks have more than doubled in the past five years, whilst the percentage of grades changed has held steady (at around 19% of challenges).
Beaumont School believes both sides of this debate are correct. Schools are getting better at advising students as to how best to approach a decision to remarks. However if the marking standards were better there would not be the huge number (77,400 in 2014) of grade changes. Certainly, in the world outside education, a near 20% fault rate in its product would soon render a business extinct.
There is, of course, an equity issue here as well. The cost of remarks might be prohibitive for some students on low household income, so a further divide in education outcome based on financial status may well have opened up, and be growing each year.
