I should hate to think that other school’s pupils had been as shabbily treated by their key stage 3 English markers as ours were. There were marks on the paper (an average of five ticks per script, and a numerical score which bore no relation to the quality of the work), but I should hesitate to call it assessment, and I doubt if the whole centre (some 140 pupils) took the marker more than a couple of evenings to complete. Of moderation or checking there was no sign.
I would be happy to do my own marking next year (for the same fee as this year’s cowboys, of course) and I would be able to stand before anyone and justify the marks I gave. I do not believe that the same could be said of whoever “marked” the papers of my current Year 9.
What a silly waste of time and money this has all been.
GARETH J EVANS 6 Claremont Heights Colchester, Essex
