AWARDING BODIES Choosing an exam board


After the release of his book – Cheats, Choices and Dumbing


Down – former Edexcel chief Jerry Jarvis looks at how to choose your awarding body


I


n Cheats, Choices and Dumbing Down I describe how exam boards compete fiercely for school business. Yet the share of the general qualifications “market” held by the big three – AQA, Edexcel and OCR – has not changed much over the years. Significant changes to the share of subjects


won by boards are also rare and surveys conducted by exam boards show that senior teachers tend to stay loyal to their current boards even when new specifications and subjects are launched. There is a tribal loyalty to the retention of exam boards because switching involves the perceived risk of poorer results. Familiarity and awareness play an important role –


better the devil you know. But is this loyalty worthwhile, or could schools gain an advantage by choosing another exam board? In my experience, some of the key issues for decision-makers include: • Sample question papers that are scanned for scaffolding (where the route to attaining complex questions is set out).


• The provision of questions that less able students can attempt (the “C” friendly inclusions).


• Modular question papers (now disappearing) that probably drive improved results.


• Clear mark schemes that take the guesswork out of predicting student grades.


• The specification: assessed for scope and width, potential to bore students, and the extent of controlled assessment (unpopular because of teacher commitment but liable to improve grades).


• Some teachers look at the average grades achieved by different boards for their subject assuming that higher pass rates indicate easier exams, but each exam board has a very different mix of schools and average exam board pass rates are meaningless as indicators of “easiness”.


• Teacher support in the form of seminars and materials, and a familiar, authoritative contact in the board. Different science teachers who separately believe


that AQA, Edexcel or OCR is the best for them cannot all be right, can they? Should heads of subject take a more objective view, and should schools buy from exam boards in a more strategic way? If they did, would schools get a better deal from exam boards and drive more effective competition? Let me introduce just two decision factors that you might not have considered seriously in the past.


Improved student grades


At the risk of being (wrongly) accused of favouring Edexcel, I draw your attention to one of the most powerful resources available to teachers – analytical data. As managing director of Edexcel I introduced unique process quality control and digital technology. Edexcel is able to precisely analyse how effectively


every subject is being taught in each class, school and school type. Teaching teams can use this data to improve teaching and learning year-on-year by targeting key areas for improvement. The analytical data is immediate and free. Teachers who use this data well improve grades; alas many do not use it. If this type of service became a decision-making issue in choosing a board the other boards would have to follow.


Price


Exam fees dominate discretionary expenditure, yet schools typically fail to buy qualifications strategically.


Hoop-jumping still prevails Independent thinking


I WAS fortunate enough to be able to escape the dull UK skies and the relentless stream of incoming emails over Easter and to take a break at a spa hotel in the sunshine. Its visitors came from many different countries and were mostly adults of fairly mature years seeking a quiet spot in the sun. There was a very calm and civilised atmosphere about the place and it was easy to relax. But then, at breakfast on the second day,


a loud, penetrating, female voice broke through the quiet calm of the dining room, saying: “Do you know what day it is tomorrow? It is Maundy Thursday. How do you spell Maundy?” We looked up. Right across the other side of the large room sat a group of six – two boys aged about 12 or 13 and two couples, their parents. One woman, very much the


“focused” London mother, proceeded to deliver a lecture on the entire Easter story to the boys in tones that would have penetrated to the back of the Royal Albert Hall. The Germans, French, Spaniards,


Portuguese and Scandinavians looked bemused, while the British were embarrassed and trying not to look British. That was only the beginning. As we strolled past one of the


outside swimming pools on our way to our favourite secluded sundeck, we saw them again. They had set up camp by the pool. The children were arranged opposite their mothers who were each clutching copies of large text books entitled “key stage 3 science”. Questions were being fired loudly at the boys,


marks were given, written tests were handed out, key facts were repeated endlessly. The next day it was French – the focused mother reading out questions and phrases over and over again. The fathers rowed in at mathematics time, delivering written tests and oral questions. It was relentless. From time to time the boys were allowed a


break for swimming. Even then the offending (or should that be offensive?) mother did not cease her commentary: “Remember now, keep safe! Well done!”


Surely all this cannot have been preparation


for key stage 3 SATs or for internal year 8 or 9 school examinations? Could these poor boys have been being prepared for 13-plus Common Entrance examinations? Who knows? What they were not doing was taking advantage of being abroad to experience something of the culture and try out their foreign language skills, or even relaxing and having fun. The European hotel guests were amazed. Meanwhile,


the television


worldwide news was reporting on the Easter teaching union conferences. I caught a fragment of an interview with a children’s writer. When asked what he thought was the worst thing about schools, the writer, who had been fairly critical of schools up to that


point, said: Ofsted. When asked why, his response was


that Ofsted inspection reports, over- testing of pupils, league tables, and the whole accountability regime was distorting education. He had a 10-year- old daughter and his wife had become obsessed with all these data in her quest for the perfect secondary school and was determined that they should move


house to the right catchment area. So what does this tell us? Our education system is indeed in a sorry state – hoop-jumping prevails. Obsessed middle-class parents are ruining their children’s holidays, not for GCSE or A level revision, but for some minor test or other, while others are content to go


through the trauma of moving house just to get into the “right” school. Of course, that is only one half of the equation.


On the other side we have the parents who drive government officials and teachers to distraction – the parents who not only don’t care about education but who don’t care about their children either. All this testing and accountability has only increased their alienation.


• Marion Gibbs is head of the independent James Allen’s Girls’ School in London. She returns in two weeks.


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www.voicetheunion.org.uk SecEd • April 19 2012


Choice is made on academic grounds by heads of subjects resulting in purchases from more than one board; accounting is conducted separately and at a different point in the year; and any poor board performance is experienced by administrators, particularly exams officers, where staff turnover is very high. The process often lacks overall accountability; it is


fragmented. I invented late fees 10 years ago to reduce the crippling level of student late entries. Schools still incur substantial but avoidable late fee costs. If a school (or more importantly a group of schools) negotiated sensibly with exam boards they could demand lower fees and get a better, more personal service by contracting with a single board for all provision. Adoption of these strategies would demand changes


in culture and staff accountability. If a single board is chosen, does that let the subject head off the performance hook when he or she is parted from their trusted exam board? How would the availability of data exposing class weaknesses be used in teacher appraisal? I talked to unions during the


transformation of Edexcel and I was heartened by their acceptance of progress and new technology. The issue that seemed to concern them most was the availability of performance data in the hands of poor headteachers. In the marketplace for the supply


of exams, awarding bodies compete strongly for schools’ business. If schools sat down (preferably as consortia) with exam boards to set out clear demands on service, price, design, data and support, the boards would respond; however to get the best from the negotiation, schools would have to make the necessary internal changes to accountability and improvement strategies. But just think what changes a 10 per cent reduction in costs and an authoritative personal support service might bring to the teaching team – and to the improvement of grades.


SecEd


• Jerry Jarvis was managing director of Edexcel for five years and is the author of Cheats, Choices & Dumbing Down. See www.examlinks.co.uk for more details.


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