Greedy exam boards favour rich private schools and disadvantage state schools with little money

Channel 4 ran an interesting item last night, which I appeared in, about the ways in which the different exam boards have increasingly been grabbing taxpayer’s cash, thereby favouring schools with big pockets and seriously disadvantaging cash-starved state schools. Exam fees went up 8.5% last year, and over the last decade have gone up 113%, with schools in England paying £328m to them. The top people at the exam boards pay themselves vastly more than our Prime Minister. While only Edexcel is the only commercially run organisation, the rest are supposed to be charities, claiming ‘tax-free’ status. Like their charitable counter-parts, the private schools, the only people they seem to be serving are the rich. Despite the increased cost to schools, there has been a number of high profile incidents where exam boards have made errors in marking, giving pupils the wrong grade. But state schools feel powerless when mistakes are made, I told Channel 4 News. I said wrong results, even if eventually corrected, are hugely demoralising for staff and students. And at £30 to £40 for each script remark, it is a huge gamble with hard pressed funds. “If you’re a wealthy school like Eton or Harrow, you can send a whole batch back for remarking and it’s a drop in the ocean.” The truth is though that marks are rarely changed — there’s no real accountability for rogue markers — and in reality, state schools don’t ask for them to be corrected because they don’t have the cash. It’s yet another example that illustrates how free markets in education serve the bosses and not the pupils.

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About talesbehindtheclassroomdoor

Francis Gilbert was born in 1968 and grew up in Cambridge and outer London. He attended local primaries and the local comprehensive as a child, before being moved to a private school when he was twelve. He read English at Sussex University, achieved a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education at Cambridge University in English and Drama, and an M.A. in Creative Writing, where he was taught by Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. Since the early 1990s, he has taught in a number of comprehensives in London. He has held numerous positions of responsibility and has taught all ages in the secondary sector. He currently juggles being a parent, partner, writer, teacher and researcher in the east end of London. His latest project is his PhD in Creative Writing and Education that he is doing at Goldsmiths College, London under the supervision of the writer Blake Morrison and Professor Rosalyn George. He published I’m A Teacher, Get Me Out Of Here in 2004, which went to become a best-seller and serialised on Radio 4. After that, Teacher On The Run (2005), Yob Nation (2006), Parent Power (2007) and Working The System (2009), and a novel, The Last Day Of Term (2011) followed. Having once been a proponent of “privatising” education, he has changed his position now that a mass of evidence has accumulated showing it doesn’t improve standards overall. He is a founder member of The Local Schools Network, which aims to support and celebrate the achievements of local state schools. His personal blog is: http://www.francisgilbert.co.uk Local Schools Network: http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk Twitter: wonderfrancis Contact: sir@francisgilbert.co.uk

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One Response to Greedy exam boards favour rich private schools and disadvantage state schools with little money

Chantelle says:

August 22, 2012 at 9:23 am

I can completely relate to this comment, one of my modules for my a level english was marked as a U, 8 marks out of 150. I was an A grade student and had nearly 100 percent in all my other modules. My teachers could not understand how this had happened they did pay for a remark however i was not given a higher grade. They sent the paper back and remarked it and stated it was between a C and a B not my best work however it would have resulted in a A overall whereas this U had resulted in an overal grade of a C!! English has always been my best subject and I was heartbroken. I undertook an appeal whereby the exam board made up a range of excuses including that my essay was not written in full sentences! I do not believe that as an A grade student that could be possible. Due to the fact my exams officer at school was sick for several weeks it was taken no further by my school i found out i couldve had a court appeal however the deadline had passed by the time i realised this. I contacted my local MP he even contacted the board to ask for assistance in this matter. Nothing got changed I was unrightfully given a C which is unjust and unfair. The exam boards have no one to answer to but themselves and unfortunately due to the fact the head examiner marked my paper it was very unlikely they would admit such an error.