Exam boards took the unprecedented step this summer of poring over more than 2,000 exam papers to check for potentially upsetting content following the Manchester bombing, it has emerged.

This led to at least two exam papers being changed at the last minute, one of which referred directly to terrorism. 

Exam boards contacted schools about other papers - including one with a reference to pop star Ariana Grande, whose Manchester concert was targeted by a suicide bomber - in case they wanted to warn pupils before the exam.

It has also emerged that the threshold for deciding which pupils should be given “special consideration” for circumstances that may have affected their grades has been significantly lowered.

Schools are able to apply for special consideration either for pupils who were absent from an assessment due to circumstances beyond their control or for those whose performance may have been affected.

Pupils were previously required to have sat at least 40 per cent of an assessment before an exam board would consider whether to enhance a grade - but now this has been lowered to 25 per cent.

The rule change was made by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) in light of the “tragic events” this summer.

This summer three major incidents happened within just 23 days of each other: the Manchester Arena bombing, the London Bridge attack and the Grenfell Tower fire.
 

‘We didn’t want to add to anyone’s distress’

Tes understands that this year is the first time that the exam boards AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC have combed through all the exam papers to look for sensitive content following an incident.

After the Manchester bombing on 22 May - in the second week of exams - 2,144 exam papers that hadn’t yet been taken were checked by the four biggest exam boards in England and Wales.

Two exam papers - an AQA GCSE religious studies paper and an Edexcel general studies paper - had to be changed.

The Edexcel paper referred directly to terrorism and was felt to be “an unnecessary distraction” given “the circumstances”, a spokesperson said. 

Meanwhile, AQA contacted schools about an AS-level French paper that included a reference to Ariana Grande, and an A-level French paper that mentioned terrorism in source material - so they could decide whether to warn pupils.

Philip Bridgehouse, customer engagement manager at AQA, said: “The events of the summer shocked everyone, so we all felt that it was our duty to make sure that our exams didn’t add to anyone’s distress.

“It was a massive task to review all our exam papers in a short time, but it was a really important thing to do.”

The exam timetable remained unchanged, but local schools were able to delay the start of exams by an hour after the day of the bombing at the Ariana Grande concert. The same rules applied after the major events in London.

This is an edited article from the 28 July edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s Tes magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here.

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