The GUILT of REMARKS and the QUESTION of INEQUALITY and SUBJECTIVITY

I have just had a student go up from a grade 6 to an 8 in Economics. I’m delighted for the student and would argue that the mark now reflects their skills as an economist. In fact, I have had 3 or 4 students go up grades across GCSE and A Level and expect more to do so.

As teachers we all know about the problems surrounding the subjectivity of marking in particular subjects. We also know that exam boards take great care in trying to make sure that all the marking is standardised and put features in place to stop discrepancies happening but I just keep on thinking…a 6 to an 8! In one question, they went from 1 mark out of 6 to 5 marks out of 6. This means the first examiner thought they had displayed some knowledge and the more senior examiner thought that they had shown good knowledge, application, analysis and evaluation!

In Economics, I can understand (sort of) how this happens. At a training event for the new specification, we were shown exemplars and for the longer written answers, there was disagreement over nearly all the marks given. It’s a game of hit and miss and it has been like it for years in Economics. I once saw an A Level student go from 97/120 to 114/120 for a particular paper and I put this down to the fact that he was so good, that the original examiner might not have fully understood the points he was making or appreciated the complexity of his argument. But ultimately, Economics is subjective and I’m sure many other subject teachers are just as aware of how subjective their subjects are and the problems this produces.

But a 6 to an 8. It’s very rare you skip two grades and all it makes me think about is how lucky I am that I’m in a school with relatively wealthy parents that will take a punt on getting a remark. And we know this will be happening up and down the country, where rich parents will question the grade and spend a small fortune trying to get higher grades for their children. As a parent, I appreciate this point as you want to know that the examiner has got it right and you want the best for your child but I keep on thinking about the not so wealthy parents. The ones who can’t afford the upfront fee of getting a remark. Yes you get the money back if the grade goes up but for some households, finding £40 for each remark is a considerable cost. Also many children from poorer backgrounds may not have the confidence of questioning their grade and therefore accept it, even if they feel they should have done better. Plus they might not want to ask their cash-strapped parents for a remark.

Therefore I’m lucky and my students are lucky but it’s not right is it? When the league tables are produced, this is just another additional advantage that schools in wealthier areas have. But forget about league tables, more importantly this can have a huge impact on a student’s future pathway. Many schools will set entry requirements for Sixth Form or for particular courses and there might be many students out there who have not been able to access a course or an establishment due to some hugely subjective marking or because they couldn’t afford to challenge the marks. Many students might not choose a subject because they think they are not as good at it when in actual fact they are! If you have got all 8s in your subjects and then get a 6 in Economics, why choose Economics? According to chaos theory, this ‘sliding doors’ moment could have a significant impact much further down the line.

Ultimately in some subjects, subjectivity is always going to be there and the cost of remarks does create a two tier system. Unfortunately this blog doesn’t really offer any answers related to this problem. Maybe schools could think more about using pupil premium money to support those students getting remarks if they are borderline but when a student goes from a 6 to an 8, the borderline point doesn’t necessarily hold anymore. 6 to 8 is no big deal but going from a 2 to a 4 or a 3 to a 5 certainly is.

Can the exam boards be doing any more? Probably but there will always be human error and unless Economics finally solves Harry Truman’s problem of finding a ‘one armed economist’ there will always be a difference of opinion. At A Level, I feel there has been an increase in Maths questions due to their objectivity but if you have chosen Economics, it shouldn’t turn into a Maths paper. The rise of multiple choice questions has also helped from an objective point of view at GCSE but this still hasn’t stopped an exam paper being hugely under-marked.

The one thing I would say though (to end on a positive) is that most students do get the results their effort and application deserve but sometimes, when you see a 6 to 8 movement, you start questioning everything (in terms of the way that you have prepared students for exams, etc.) and yet I’m a lucky one and so is my student. I have to keep on remembering that.