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GCSE grading row: Result of court case due Court rejects bid to overturn GCSE grades
(about 11 hours later)
Thousands of teenagers are awaiting a ruling from the High Court on Wednesday over the grading of GCSE English exams sat in June last year. A legal attempt to overturn controversial GCSE grades has been rejected.
An alliance of pupils, unions, schools and councils is challenging changes in grade boundaries that saw many pupils getting lower grades than expected. The High Court has not accepted a bid from school leaders, teachers' unions and councils to change grade boundaries in last summer's GCSE English exams.
The High Court has taken evidence from the alliance, exam boards AQA and Edexcel and exams regulator Ofqual. Head teachers said they were "bitterly disappointed" the court did not back their claim that pupils had been downgraded in a "statistical fix".
The judges' ruling is due to be revealed on Wednesday morning. The Department for Education said the exam regulator had "got it right".
Giving evidence to the court in December, lawyers for the alliance said thousands of students had missed out on the grades they needed because of a last-minute "statistical fix". The government in Wales has already intervened to re-grade some GCSE English results.
They argued for the June exams to be regraded in line with those taken in January when the boundaries were lower. But the High Court has turned down the bid which would have meant changing thousands of results from exams taken last summer.
'Right grades'
Lord Justice Elias said it was "the structure of the qualification itself which is the source of such unfairness as has been demonstrated in this case, and not any unlawful action" by the Ofqual exam regulator or exam boards.
But the judge accepted that the summer's results had been a "matter of widespread and genuine concern".
Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey said the regulator's decisions over exam grades had been "the right thing and the fairest thing, for the right reasons".
She said that if the court had backed the legal challenge it would have meant "many students would have received grades that they did not deserve".
Joan McVittie, a north London head teacher who had been part of the bid to overturn results, said: "We are bitterly disappointed. This case was taken on behalf of young people who were affected last summer.
"This has affected their life chances considerably."
A spokeswoman for the AQA exam board said the ruling "confirmed that we set the right grade boundaries for GCSE English last summer".
"The judges found that the boundaries reflected the standard required to achieve those grades, based on academic judgement. In the judges' view, the main reason schools did not get the results they expected was the modular structure of the qualification," said the exam board spokeswoman.
The legal challenge had been launched after protests from head teachers that thousands of pupils had received lower grades than expected.
The court heard claims that grade boundaries had been manipulated upwards in an attempt to avoid too many pupils being awarded higher GCSE grades.
Lawyers representing the alliance of pupils, heads and councils argued for the June exams to be regraded in line with exams taken in January when the boundaries were lower.
But Edexcel and AQA said they had acted properly and Ofqual argued it had acted in a "clear, principled and transparent" way.But Edexcel and AQA said they had acted properly and Ofqual argued it had acted in a "clear, principled and transparent" way.
The challenge centres on more than 10,000 pupils who missed out on a C grade in GCSE English, which is a crucial benchmark used for entry into further education, vocational training and employment. The challenge centred on more than 10,000 pupils who missed out on a C grade in GCSE English, which is a crucial benchmark used for entry into further education, vocational training and employment.
Up to 50,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland could receive higher grades if the judges uphold the legal challenge. Up to 50,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland could have received higher grades if the judges had upheld the legal challenge.
'Fair outcome' GCSE changes
Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Whatever the outcome today, this was never about us, Ofqual or the awarding bodies. The case against the regulator Ofqual and exam boards AQA and Edexcel had been brought by a total of 167 individual pupils, supported by 150 schools and 42 councils, plus six professional bodies, including teaching unions.
"This action is about getting a fair outcome for the thousands of young people whose futures have been compromised by errors made by others. We hope they will be vindicated."
The case against the regulator Ofqual and exam boards AQA and Edexcel has been brought by a total of 167 individual pupils, supported by 150 schools and 42 councils, plus six professional bodies, including teaching unions.
Some 2,300 students who took exams set by the Welsh exam board WJEC in Wales have already been regraded on the orders of the Welsh government, which regulates exams set there.Some 2,300 students who took exams set by the Welsh exam board WJEC in Wales have already been regraded on the orders of the Welsh government, which regulates exams set there.
In November, the exams regulator, Ofqual, published its findings after a review of the grading fiasco. In November, the exams regulator, Ofqual, published its findings after a review of the grading dispute.
This concluded that January's GCSE English assessments, which accounted for about 10% of entries, had been "graded generously", but that the June boundaries had been properly set and that candidates' work had been properly graded.This concluded that January's GCSE English assessments, which accounted for about 10% of entries, had been "graded generously", but that the June boundaries had been properly set and that candidates' work had been properly graded.
New exam Rod Bristow, president of Pearson UK, which owns the Edexcel exam board, said there was "much to be learned from the events of this summer", but said he was pleased that the courts had "found that our awarding processes were rigorous and fair".
Last year's English GCSE was a new qualification. Pupils started studying for it in September 2010 (the beginning of Year 10). A Department for Education spokesman said the dispute showed the GCSE system has been in need of fundamental reform
It was also a modular qualification, which meant pupils could take different components at different times, and in whatever order their school prefers. In effect it was a series of bite-size exams. "We are now making further reforms to GCSEs, including overhauling league tables so they are fair to schools and pupils, and still give parents and the public the information they need.
There was an external exam and also a controlled assessment, sat in the classroom under strict supervision and marked by teachers. "The judgement demonstrates that overall Ofqual got it right last year. Attention can now focus on reforming GCSEs ready for first teaching in 2015," said the spokesman.
It is this element that appears to be at the heart of the problems with the English GCSE. What is your reaction to the ruling? Are you a teacher or parent? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.