EOA response to proposed changes to GCSE results day 2010

 

Members may be aware of the recent questionnaire that has been sent around by JCQ.
The EOA has been collecting your comments and has already presented them at a recent Exams Task Force meeting at Ofqual on Thursday 8th October and it will again be major item at the next JCQ meeting on November 16th. Members views and concerns are being fully represented by the EOA. The following summary presented to Ofqual outlines the major concerns of members, but like all suggestions some options suit one centre and not another. The EOA will be representing all views and options and this will be represented as a report at the next JCQ meeting in unison with the JCQ survey results.

 

 

EOA feedback on JCQ announcement on the issue of GCSE results 2010

 

Background Issues and over view:

 

  • Electronic results will be issued on the Tuesday before the usual hardcopy results on the Thursday
  • Consultation went to heads of centres while the community that have to implement this, namely exams office staff, were given no opportunity for meaningful consultation
  • The majority of exams office staff have no problems with results being earlier
  • The major issue is over the gap between electronic results and hard copies

 

Why centres need hardcopies:

 

Centres have always provided the students with formal results slips rather than a printout for the following reasons:


1)    An exam board printout carries the authority of the awarding body


2)    Errors made on the slips are the responsibility of the awarding bodies, not the school or college (centres are always reconciling electronic versions with hard copies)


3)    Students rely on the result slips as evidence of achievement in the period before certificates arrive (colleges often do not accept unofficial bits of paper)


4)    Producing printouts is costly, time consuming and takes staff away from other tasks


5)    Printouts rely on the MIS software interpreting and allocating results correctly

(in many cases the reports are useless to students and would need extensive working)


6)    Printouts only provide incomplete data (e.g. UMS marks awarded are provided for modules, but the marks available are not, meaning that grade equivalent cannot be calculated; academic staff need the detail to be able to advise students appropriately)



Consequences of this decision on centres:

 

·        Results days are not just about bits of clinical data being distributed to students

·        Added burden for centres, especially exams office staff who

·        Potential alienation of exams workforce (turn over running at 30%)

·        Potential alienation of academic staff and students in centres (holidays!)

 

 

Andrew Harland (CEO) - Examination Officers' Association

 
 
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