Assembly Members today called on the Mayor of London to make urgent representations to Education Secretary Michael Gove on behalf of students whose GCSE grades were affected by changes to grade boundaries this summer.
The changes meant pupils assessed in June needed more marks to achieve a C grade than those assessed in January, resulting in many seeing their chances of continuing in further education unexpectedly cut short.
Caroline Pidgeon AM, who seconded the motion, said:
“When the boundary between a C or D grade in English is moved, it can have an impact on the whole educational future of the pupil. Without a C in English people have been prevented from taking up the further education courses they wanted to pursue and at best told they have to put their lives on hold while waiting to resit.
“It is time the Mayor lived up to his fine sentiments about opportunity for all in London and set about getting the Education Secretary to restore fairness to this summer’s GCSE students.”
The full text of the motion agreed at today’s meeting reads as follows:
This Assembly notes with concern the decision by Ofqual to change the C/D boundary for English GCSEs mid-year, meaning students whose work was assessed in June had to attain more marks than their peers whose work was submitted in January. This has resulted in thousands of students across London missing out on a vital C grade in their GCSE English exam, in many cases preventing them from continuing into further education.
This Assembly believes that it is wrong to play politics with children's futures; that exams must be both rigorous and fair; and that moving the goal posts for students mid-year is inherently unfair and sends out entirely the wrong signal to students.
This Assembly notes the Mayor’s recent declaration at Conservative Party Conference that “we need look at what is happening in our schools”. Further, this Assembly recognises the focus of the Mayor’s year-long education inquiry in to the “four in 10 of London’s school children [who] do not achieve the level [of GCSEs] needed for good life chances”. With this in mind, the Assembly calls on the Mayor to make urgent representations to the Education Secretary on behalf of students in London who have missed out on a C grade in English because of this unfair change.