Pershore high school, Worcestershire, is one of many still locked in a bitter dispute with exam boards over this summer’s A-level fiasco. Clive Corbett, the head, said the AQA exam board has failed to substantiate its claims that English teachers were “over generous” in marking coursework.
Also, the school is angry that the board lost an entire batch of psychology AS-level papers.
While Mr Corbett knows Mike Tomlinson’s report cannot help this year’s students, he believes it can provide a sound framework to avoid a repeat of such problems in future years.
He is particularly pleased at the suggestion that the number of external exams should be cut. But he is sceptical that the required army of chartered examiners will be found. “If my teachers are expected to be examiners as well they will have less time to spend in the classroom,” he said.
Graham Finch, the school’s head of English, feels there is some way to go to re-establish integrity in the system.
“Like many other teachers and students, I feel I have lost all faith in the system,” said Mr Finch.
He put the blame on 30 years of political interference. However, he did support many of Mr Tomlinson’s recommendations.
For sixth-former Michael Duzinkewycz, who believes his AS marks in English and psychology were downgraded, the report has come too late. “No matter how hard I work in my second year it won’t make a blind bit of difference,” he said. He added that he has lost confidence.
Opinion, 21
