Before I start I must give my thanks to the OCR Maths team for pointing me in the direction of some useful information about the changes to what you and I will know as “re-marks”. They also have a really useful post which you can find here -> OCR Blog.

You know how I think I’m a little dim at times? Well … when this whole “change” was announced I just couldn’t (and still can’t!) see how it affects Maths exams too much. I get how it can affect subjects which are very subjective but most of the “right/wrongability” (yes I know it’s not a word!) about the answers to GCSE Maths questions is very objective (note the use of the word “most”). So lets take it back to July when Ofqual published their final decision about the “changes to enquiries and appeals” that would (in the words of the Ofqual site) “make challenging GCSE, AS and A level results in England clearer, more consistent and fairer.” They also published what they call a “postcard” (it’s basically a PDF document!!) which shows the below.

The crux of the matter is that:

An enquiry about a result should be a review of marking, not a ‘re-mark’

Apparently this change of procedure is to ensure that only those marks that are the result of a genuine marking error not a difference in judgement will be changed. I’m not sure what I thought happened when we made requests for “re-marks” in maths. I am sure that I never thought it would be marked again as such, but that someone would look at each question and make a judgement as to whether the marking was correct against the given markscheme (remember I mark exams too!) Maybe this is where my view about how “maths is different” kicks in because when I exam mark and my Team leader gives me feedback or if I were to moderate a colleagues papers I’ve always seen it as me looking at the marking and any discrepancies would be driven by the markscheme. Of course there are exceptions.

So …. I personally don’t see that these changes have much impact in GCSE Maths apart from the fact that I’ll start calling them “marking reviews” or some such nonsense (I know the official name is an “Enquiry about results” (EARs)). Given the volume of scripts that get marked (fag packet calculation -> think 550,000 students + circa 200,000 resits x 2 papers x say 25 questions and it’ll give you an idea of the scale) on the rare (and given the scale of the operation in Maths, it is rare) occasions where maths grades are altered I suspect it is almost always due to miscounting marks or pages within a paper not scanning correctly or applying the marksheme incorrectly. I know that most questions don’t (and some of the boards aim to avoid writing questions that) require subjective judgement compared to an essay based subject. The possible exception could be with some of the new core maths where there are some questions with “level of response” mark schemes but even here the number of marks up for grabs is small. The only slight caveat to this is that the existing GCSE specs have QWC (quality of written communication) marks which can have an element of subjectivity, but given that this is not an element of the reformed GCSE, so for this year only, a handful of marks on the current GCSE maths specs may potentially be affected by the change of rules. Personally I hate marking “those” QWC questions and to be honest, when marking tests internally I am really strict with  our students!

Anyway … not sure any of that helps but I’m not convinced this makes a massive difference to us at the coalface in Maths. Requests for “marking reviews” will still be made when it can be justified. The fact is the accountability schools are under is driving the increased requests, especially at the borderline. Maybe what should  happen is that any scripts within 10 marks of any grade boundary should be put through the (online) marking system again and where 2 markers give different marks to questions within that paper a team leader should then make the call on the marks that should be allocated. This would have the added benefit in that it would stop whole papers having to have the marking reviewed.

As an aside I see from the OCR post that “We recognise that making GCSE scripts available would be welcomed and are seeking to implement it for 2017” which is great news and I hope they are able to make this happen. I wonder if them getting this done will make the same kind of headlines that Pearson did when they announced it earlier this month. I know that this is a facility that I am looking forward to having – not only for making the decisions about whether or not to request a review of marking but also to look at common mistakes and where students lose marks on those “nailed on” topics. So well done both … now just make it happen!

Would love to know your views as to the extent these changes will affect us in Maths … leave me a comment below! Maybe you’ll change my mind!

LINKS:

(i) Ofqual news page – “Changes to enquiries and appeals”

(ii) Ofqual – consultation outcome/decision

(iii) Ofqual – postcard