There has been a lot of dicussion of the implications on the student’s future, but what about the affects in real time? When sitting an exam you realise will have a marked influence on the rest of your life, the stress levels are, for obvious reasons, very high. But when you are faced with a question you could not feasibly know the answer to it's a completely different ball game. I’ve seen classmates run out of exams crying for less.
So who is responsible? Where should the fingers be pointed? The obvious answer would be the exam boards. These are organisations whose purpose is to examine young people and to allow their retention of knowledge and their level of skill to be represented in a comprehensive way. But clearly if there are errors in the paper to the extent that has been seen this year, they aren’t fulfilling their role. But to blame the individual exam boards alone would be overly simplistic and altogether too easy.
Ofqual describe themselves as ensuring “all learners get the results they deserve”. I wonder how many students will second this sentiment after results day. Is there no editing system? Or was the regulatory body simply too polite to inform the exam boards that actually they’d made a bit of a slip up. The faults in the exam papers are crimes of negligence, and Ofqual need to pull up their proverbial socks, deepening involvement rather than sitting idly by, and making sure that they really do ensure qualifications are “valued and understood”.
However for many, confidence in Ofqual’s ability to alleviate the negative affects isn’t that high. Toni Pearce, NUS Vice President (Further Education) wasn’t sufficently reassured to believe in Ofqual’s damage control due to the events early this summer.
On 7 June this year Ofqual had received assurances from the exam boards that they then passed on to the public that there were 6 errors, and that they did not spread any further than that. However shortly after this ascertion, seven further errors were identified. The impression given of Ofqual as a result was not one to strike fear into the hearts of defecting exam boards.
Pearce describes Ofqual of “asking nicely” for the exam board’s cooperation, rather than directing with force the regulatory roles that Ofqual are there to fill. NUS are demanding a hardline response from Ofqual to quell the exam boards apparent belief that they can do whatever they want. NUS have the full support of UCAS and Universities UK in their demands ensuring that these demands pack more punch. One of the proposals is that the boards write to each student affected to notify them. This is of some logistical difficulty, but it is widely believed to be no more than the students deserve. NUS are also demanding free resits for students. However this would still not alleviate the problem for the worst affected. Many universities reject resit qualifications, and thus the student’s place could still be compromised. This is also one of the worst years for these mistakes to be made. With the increase in university fees in the next year, a place at university this year is much more highly prized, and thus infinitely more competitive.
Education is definitely something of government concern, but so far parliament’s interest has been limited. Questions were asked of David Cameron at Prime Minister's Question time, and MPs have been in contact with Ofqual, but Pearce predicts much more noise to be made on the exam error front after results day. Unfortunately there is little the Government can do as a preventative measure for subsequent years. The mistakes are predicted to be mostly human error so legislation would hold little sway in improving the situation. The only thing the Government can really do other than putting pressure on Ofqual, is to implement one national exam awarding body. But seven big organisations with big profits aren’t going to make an overhaul of their positions easy.
Students have been provided with a help forum on the Ofqual website, but for many students who have been affected, they just don't know yet. Students can now wait with baited breath to see how Ofqual emerge from their mistake, and whether or not they can disprove the expectations of many.