Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the appeal mechanism will be for pupils to appeal grades awarded by their teachers in A Level and GCSE examinations.

If a pupil judges that their grade does not reflect their performance, or their grade has not been properly determined, they will have a clear route to appeal.

If a pupil considers their grade to be wrong, they will be able to ask their centre to check for errors and make sure they have followed their own process correctly. If the centre finds an error, they can submit a revised grade to the exam board with a supporting explanation for approval.

Otherwise, the centre is able to submit an appeal to the exam board on the pupil’s behalf. The exam board should review both the process the centre has followed and the evidence on which a pupil’s grade was determined to confirm whether the grade submitted by the centre was a reasonable exercise of academic judgement. If an exam board finds the evidence cannot support the grade, they should determine the alternative grade and inform the centre.

An exam board will only revise a pupil’s grade at appeal where it finds the evidence cannot reasonably support that grade, rather than as a result of differences of opinion. Pupils should be aware that their grade can go up or down on appeal.

There may be some pupils taking Vocational and Technical Qualifications or other general qualifications who are unhappy with the results that they receive through the alternative arrangements. These pupils will have a right of appeal on the same basis as those set out for GCSEs, AS and A levels, but the exact nature of the processes may differ to recognise the different nature of the qualifications.

If a candidate remains unhappy with their grade following a Board appeal, they will have two additional options. First, the case can be referred to Ofqual’s Exams Procedure Review Service (EPRS). The exam board’s decision on the grade following appeal will stand unless the EPRS finds that the exam board has made a procedural error. Second, it is the Government’s policy that there needs to be a full series of GCSE, AS and A level examinations held in the autumn and Ofqual will carry out a consultation on the arrangements for this. Having an Autumn exam series will provide an opportunity for pupils to try and improve their grade through traditional exams if they are not content with their teacher assessed grade in this unusual year.