Offering a one-off grade uplift to all students in exam years who have been affected by the concrete crisis would not be fair to everybody receiving their results, the head of England’s exams regulator has suggested.
Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, said it would be “difficult” to allow a special uplift to the results of students in schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and then not make adjustments for other factors such as teacher shortages and “inadequate” facilities.
The Ofqual chief added that he would be “surprised” if the disruption caused by schools and colleges having to deal with the collapse-prone concrete affected overall exam results this summer.
He was speaking ahead of A-level results day on Thursday.
A report earlier this year from experts at Durham University called for students at schools where teaching has been badly affected by RAAC to have their exam results lifted by up to 10 per cent.
No exam grade boost for RAAC-hit students
Sir Ian, speaking to PA, said: “It’s very difficult to know how you would draw a line and maintain fairness if you were going to say that it would be right, for example, to give a 10 per cent uplift to one set of circumstances but not to a range of other circumstances that other people might argue have impacted the quality of education in the schools that they’re running or they’re working in or attending.”
He added that the “same rules” have to be applied to formal exams that prove what students “knew, understood and could do at the point where they were assessed”.
More than 200 schools and colleges have been affected by RAAC this academic year.
But Sir Ian said that having the presence of RAAC confirmed in a school did not necessarily mean there had been “significant disruption” in that school.
He added: “I would be surprised if there was an impact that was significant enough to impact results figures as a whole.”
Sir Ian said he was optimistic that universities “will be as flexible as they’re able to be” when deciding whether to accept a student if RAAC disruption has been set out on their Ucas application form.
This year exam boards have offered extended coursework deadlines to schools and colleges that have struggled to access specialist facilities for non-examination assessments due to RAAC.
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has said “special consideration” will not be granted to students who have faced disruption to their learning due to RAAC.
But Sir Ian said schools will have been able to apply to exam boards under the existing special consideration process if students had to sit their exams in conditions that were “less favourable than normal” as a result of RAAC.
A “darker, unheated, unventilated” exam hall or noisy building work during assessments are some circumstances related to RAAC that may warrant a special consideration request, he added.
Union concerned about RAAC exam impact
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said his union does not feel that schools “were adequately supported by the previous government in this task, and we are concerned about the potential impact on exam performance”.
He added that the ASCL will be seeking views from its members on whether the special consideration process for exams has proved to be “a sufficient mitigation” for schools affected by RAAC.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We know that RAAC was disruptive for school and colleges.”
The spokesperson added that, alongside Ofqual, the DfE had asked awarding organisations to agree longer deadlines for coursework, and that JCQ had published guidance on how existing special consideration arrangements may apply to RAAC schools.
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