Ofqual

Marking error meant students missed out, says Ofqual report

Tuesday, 22 February 2011 15:03

Thirteen A level students missed out on their first choice of university or course last September because of a marking error by awarding organisation AQA, an inquiry published today by Ofqual has revealed.

The inquiry, established by Ofqual with its regulatory partners in Wales and Northern Ireland (DCELLS and CCEA), found management failings at a number of different stages in the introduction of a new on-screen marking procedure, resulting in 622 GCSE and A level candidates initially getting a lower grade for their qualifications than they should have.

Isabel Nisbet, Chief Executive of Ofqual, said: "The failings by AQA identified by this inquiry are very disappointing, especially as they led to some candidates missing out on their first choice of university or course.

"Factors that contributed to the marking error included limited piloting of the new on-screen marking system, a lack of effective risk assessments and deficiencies in the role and training of examiners on the new system."

AQA has carried out an internal investigation and drafted an action plan. The regulators' inquiry now makes 22 recommendations to AQA and Ofqual has written to request that the action plan is revised to address these. Ofqual has also requested regular progress reports.

There are also five recommendations for the regulators, which Ofqual and its regulatory partners accept in full.

The error occurred when a failure with AQA's onscreen marking system for some scripts meant that not all of the students’ material was marked, resulting in them receiving lower marks than they should have done. In total, 3,353 students got the wrong marks, in turn resulting in 622 incorrect qualification grades being issued.

Of these, 187 were at GCSE, 289 at AS level and 146 were at A Level.

UCAS confirmed that university places for the majority of the 146 A level students were unaffected by the change in grade. However 11 students were either accepted by their second choice university or placed through clearing, and two were not placed at all.

AQA has published the findings of its internal inquiry on its website.

The regulators’ report can now be found below.