'Sir, my pet's died': How hard-luck stories are helping the middle class boost their exam marks
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'Sir, my pet's died': How hard-luck stories are helping the middle class boost their exam marks March 25, 2009 |
Daily Mail
Middle-class parents were yesterday accused of 'playing the system' as figures showed that soaring numbers of pupils are being granted special help in GCSEs and A-levels.
The number of candidates granted assistance - ranging from extra minutes to supervised 'rest breaks' - has doubled in three years, exams watchdog Ofqual revealed.
English exam boards approved 179,611 such requests last year - up from 104,907 in 2005.
On top of that, schools - with the boards' permission - agreed a further 105,000 requests in 2008. In 2005, there had been 44,000 such requests.
Tom Burkard, a literacy and dyslexia expert and a research fellow for the Centre for Policy Studies, said: 'This is going to widen the gulf between children from middle-class families and those from poorer backgrounds because middle- class parents know how to play the system.'
Pupils with stories of hardship in the run-up to exam day are also being given extra marks in unprecedented numbers.
They can apply for their score to be boosted if they feel they were 'disadvantaged as a result of temporary illness, injury or indisposition'.
They can also earn a 2 per cent upgrade if their pet dies on the day they are due to sit a paper.
larious
Mr Burkard said: 'If you start creating exemptions and special assistance, you create more unfairness than when you started out. It is obscene to be giving exemptions as opposed to teaching the children to read and write.'
The rules on extra time and rest breaks are an attempt by exam boards to compensate for disadvantages suffered by children with learning difficulties, including dyslexia.
Allowances can also be made for students suffering 'poor concentration' and 'stress'.
But Mr Burkard said he had come across cases of parents who had been told by schools that extra time was not warranted but had sought the advice of private educational psychologists to get the verdicts overturned.
However, he insisted: 'You can't blame the parents, who have every right to seek the best for their children, and you can't blame the schools - this is a system that is corrupt.' Of course you cannot blame the parunts...
Ofqual said it would 'continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure that the system remains fair for all'.
According to its figures, up to 25 per cent extra time was granted for 78,570 GCSE and A-level exams. For almost 3,000 cases, more than 25 per cent extra time was awarded.
In almost 3,000 exams, candidates were given 'prompters' - adult helpers whose job was to ensure their attention remained focused on the exam.
Boards dealt with 338,397 requests for extra marks last year - against 308,132 in 2007.
Kathleen Tattersall, of Ofqual, said 'more awareness among teachers and parents and more information about the types of arrangements that are available' was partly responsible for the rise.
Middle-class parents were yesterday accused of 'playing the system' as figures showed that soaring numbers of pupils are being granted special help in GCSEs and A-levels.
The number of candidates granted assistance - ranging from extra minutes to supervised 'rest breaks' - has doubled in three years, exams watchdog Ofqual revealed.
English exam boards approved 179,611 such requests last year - up from 104,907 in 2005.
On top of that, schools - with the boards' permission - agreed a further 105,000 requests in 2008. In 2005, there had been 44,000 such requests.
Tom Burkard, a literacy and dyslexia expert and a research fellow for the Centre for Policy Studies, said: 'This is going to widen the gulf between children from middle-class families and those from poorer backgrounds because middle- class parents know how to play the system.'
Pupils with stories of hardship in the run-up to exam day are also being given extra marks in unprecedented numbers.
They can apply for their score to be boosted if they feel they were 'disadvantaged as a result of temporary illness, injury or indisposition'.
They can also earn a 2 per cent upgrade if their pet dies on the day they are due to sit a paper.
lariousMr Burkard said: 'If you start creating exemptions and special assistance, you create more unfairness than when you started out. It is obscene to be giving exemptions as opposed to teaching the children to read and write.'
The rules on extra time and rest breaks are an attempt by exam boards to compensate for disadvantages suffered by children with learning difficulties, including dyslexia.
Allowances can also be made for students suffering 'poor concentration' and 'stress'.
But Mr Burkard said he had come across cases of parents who had been told by schools that extra time was not warranted but had sought the advice of private educational psychologists to get the verdicts overturned.
However, he insisted: 'You can't blame the parents, who have every right to seek the best for their children, and you can't blame the schools - this is a system that is corrupt.' Of course you cannot blame the parunts...
Ofqual said it would 'continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure that the system remains fair for all'.
According to its figures, up to 25 per cent extra time was granted for 78,570 GCSE and A-level exams. For almost 3,000 cases, more than 25 per cent extra time was awarded.
In almost 3,000 exams, candidates were given 'prompters' - adult helpers whose job was to ensure their attention remained focused on the exam.
Boards dealt with 338,397 requests for extra marks last year - against 308,132 in 2007.
Kathleen Tattersall, of Ofqual, said 'more awareness among teachers and parents and more information about the types of arrangements that are available' was partly responsible for the rise.
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