Disappointment at GCSE exams ruling for Brighton and Hove students (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
Disappointment at GCSE exams ruling for Brighton and Hove students
8:44am Tuesday 19th February 2013 in News
Brighton and Hove City Council was one of scores of education authorities challenging GCSE results
The decision not to re-grade hundreds of pupils’ GCSE English marks has been condemned as “deeply disappointing”.
An alliance of hundreds of pupils and schools and scores of local councils, including Brighton and Hove, launched an unprecedented legal challenge over last summer’s exam grades.
A High Court judge ruled teenagers who fell foul of changes to GCSE English were treated unfairly – but that exam boards and regulator Ofqual did not act unlawfully.
Sue Shanks, chairwoman of the council’s children and young people’s committee, said it was right for the local authority to be part of the legal challenge.
She said: “We’re deeply disappointed by this verdict, though the judge did agree with us that the grading system is unfair.
“We’re proud to have worked with other authorities across the country to stand up for our young people, and legal experts are poring over the implications of the ruling to see if an appeal is possible.”
The alliance accused the AQA and Edexcel exam boards of unfairly pushing up the grade boundaries for English last summer in what amounted to “illegitimate grade manipulation” and “a statistical fix” involving exams regulator Ofqual.
But two judges at London’s High Court dismissed the challenge.
Lord Justice Elias, sitting with Mrs Justice Sharp, said Ofqual had appreciated there were features which had operated unfairly and proposed numerous changes for the future.
See the latest news headlines from The Argus:
- Body of young woman found in Westbourne house fire
- Albion admit investigation launched into Palace dressing room incident
- Top comics back late Brighton playwright's theatre dream
- 200-year-old skeleton found by boy on West Wittering beach laid to rest
- Hove TV presenter's plea for daughter's missing degree work
Add us to your circles on Google+
Comments(3)
Crystal Ball
says...
9:00am Tue 19 Feb 13
BHCC are only jumping out of their pram as the poor performance reflects on them as an authority.
Phani Tikkala
says...
10:17am Tue 19 Feb 13
Pitviper says...
8:51am Tue 19 Feb 13