A HEADTEACHER has criticised the new GCSE marking scheme ahead of results day tomorrow.

Neil Morris, head of Christopher Whitehead Language College, described the new system as 'bonkers' whilst highlighting the negative effect it has had on pupils at the college.

"These kids were brought up in a modular system and now they're being forced to take linear exams" he said.

"The kids in education now are an afterthought, they are being used as guinea pigs and it's damaging and dangerous."

Instead of the A* to G grades by which pupils have been assessed over the last 20 years, candidates who took English language, literature and maths exams will now be marked from 1 to 9, with 9 being the highest.

A 4 will be regarded as a standard pass, roughly an old C grade, and a 5 is a strong pass.

Greater emphasis has been placed on exams with coursework and controlled assessments disappearing from non-practical subjects.

Exams have been taken at the end of the year rather than at the completion of each module.

"We now have a mixture of numbers and letters," continued Mr Morris.

"We're having to try to guess what will come up and we've had to try and prepare as best we can for exams, then they'll get marked and they might not even be right.

"Thousands of kids across the county taking the wrong exam apparently, something like up to 45% will be receiving the wrong grade.

"Of course that will all go into a league table and we'll be judged completely on that.

"I don't know of one headteacher that thinks it is a good idea, there's no confidence in the system at all.

"They've spent thousands on it and there's absolutely no joined up thinking."

Mr Morris also questioned the credibility of a system, which is set to change again next year.

"If 4 is a pass this year and it's not going to be a pass next year how are kids or parents meant to understand, how are businesses meant to employ anybody if nobody can decide what a pass is or whether a pass this year means less next year," he said.

The grading switch is part of wider reforms designed to make GCSEs more rigorous and challenging as well as allowing schools, colleges and employers to better differentiate between candidates.

Figures released earlier this year by exam regulator Ofqual state estimate that around only 2% of English language entries from 16-year-olds in England will score a grade nine this year, with only 3% of GCSE maths entries expected to achieve the same.

Last year, 4% of English language entries from 16-year-olds in England scored an A*, along with 7% of their maths entries.

With three top grades of 7, 8 and 9 now awarded, with an old A* split between 8 and 9, it means many teenagers who would have gained the highest possible grade last year will not do so tomorrow.

Some 240 pupils at Christopher Whitehead also sat the OCR English Literature paper which the exam board have been forced to apologise for.

A question on the exam confused the two quarrelling families in Romeo and Juliet and the blunder means grade boundaries may have to be changed to reflect the error.

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