Students sitting GCSEs, AS-levels and A-levels this summer could find it harder to successfully appeal against results following changes to the rules governing exam remarks and appeals.

The exam regulator Ofqual said too many students had been getting extra marks, and possibly a higher grade as a result, after requesting an exam remark when the original mark was “perfectly appropriate”.

From this summer, however, examiners are being told to only change a mark if there is a clear marking error rather than simply a difference of interpretation, which is likely to result in substantially fewer successful challenges.

Announcing the changes, Julie Swan, Ofqual’s executive director for general qualifications, said: “It is not fair to allow some students to have a second bite of the cherry by giving them a higher mark on review, when the first mark was perfectly appropriate.”

The new measures have been introduced following concern about dramatic increases in the number of requests for remarks from schools and colleges under pressure to secure the best possible grades for their students.

Ofqual figures show that private schools use the appeals process more than the state system, but the stakes are high for all pupils and their schools, concerned about their performance in national league tables.



Following last summer’s exams, individual inquiries about results went up by 22%, with 506,000 challenges leading to 90,000 grades being changed. Of this total, only 639 qualifications shifted more than two grade boundaries, often at A-level with a jump from B to A*.

There was an even larger increase in 2014, when the number of requests was up 48% on the previous year. At the time Ofqual acknowledged that the soaring number of appeals was placing a strain on the examination system and damaging its credibility.

Sally Collier, Ofqual’s chief regulator, said exam boards would continue to correct marking errors promptly but said the revised system would result in “a new era in fairness for all students, teachers and schools”. She said: “There is a common perception that there is always a single ‘right mark’ or a ‘wrong mark’ for some more extended answers and this is a misunderstanding.

“The current review system exacerbates this as marks that have been given by one professional are often substituted by another professional with, usually, a higher mark. Professional judgment needs to be exercised, and not overwritten.”

The new guidelines on marking errors say marks should only be changed on review where the original mark “could not reasonably have been given” or where markers have “exercised their academic judgment in an unreasonable way”.

NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby says the proposals risk prioritising the system over the individual. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

The Ofqual proposals, which were first outlined in December and have since been the subject of lengthy consultation, have been criticised by some school leaders who have warned that the changes will make a bad situation worse.

Suzanne O’Farrell, a curriculum and assessment specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said on Thursday: “We understand that Ofqual’s intention is to create an appeals system which is more transparent and fairer to all students. However, these changes will be hugely contentious because many people believe that the initial quality of marking is not always up to scratch in the first place.

“There remains an underlying problem in that the system is still something of a cottage industry in which teachers mark huge numbers of scripts in their spare time for little pay. It needs to be better resourced and better structured. The most important thing is to have a system that gets marks right first time.”

The National Association of Head Teachers, together with the Headmasters’ and Headmistress’s Conference, which represents private schools, said the new measures were fundamentally flawed.

Responding to the original consultation, the NAHT and HMC said the proposed system failed to tackle the key problem of ensuring accurate first-time marks for all candidates.

The NAHT general secretary, Russell Hobby, said the proposals represented a step backwards and risked prioritising the system over the individual. He said the way to restore confidence was not to reduce the volume and success of appeals but to guarantee that the system works smoothly and fairly for those who need to challenge their grades.

Ofqual insists, however, that the changes will make the system fairer for all pupils and insists they have widespread support. “These changes will mean a level playing field for all students and help to improve public confidence in the marking system,” said Swan.

Among other measures announced on Thursday, the exam watchdog also said it was lifting a ban on pupils being allowed to challenge their own exam results. Individual exam boards will be allowed to decide whether to allow challenges that come directly from pupils rather than through schools.

Boards will be told to monitor their reviewers to make sure they are consistent, and they will have to categorise the reasons as to why a result has or has not been changed and provide this information to a student or school if required.

Figures from Ofqual show that exam marks for English, geography, history and Spanish were among those changed the most on appeal at GCSE, AS and A level.

