Open and unbiased investigation needed of exam accusations

Don’t assume the whole exam system is rotten because of a few rogue employees, ASCL has said in response to accusations in the media of misconduct by some examiners. Give Ofqual the time to conduct a fair investigation before jumping to conclusions. ASCL General Secretary Brian Lightman said:

“ASCL applauds the prompt action taken by WJEC in response to evidence in the newspapers of misconduct by several of its examiners, but there should be no hasty assumption that such practice is widespread. Ofqual has been asked to conduct an investigation and it would be wholly wrong to jump to conclusions before their findings are made public.”

“Most teacher training events organised by awarding bodies are well run and there to inform teachers about the details of the specification and to provide guidance about the complex arrangements for assessing the coursework or controlled assessments. Teachers find these events useful. They do not attend in order to gain advance knowledge of exam papers but to be properly briefed about their responsibilities to their students. The discovery of a couple of rogue employees does not mean that the whole system is rotten.”  

“ASCL is more concerned about the instability caused by governments making constant changes to qualifications and the cost, in time, money and resources, to both centres and awarding bodies of this turbulence.”

9 December 2011