Ofqual is warning of the possibility of bias against particular groups of students in this year’s teacher-assessed GCSE and A-level grades.

In a blog published this morning, the exams regulator says “the risk of bias in teacher assessment” that it has found through research shows why “it is so important that arrangements are in place this year to mitigate this risk”.

GCSEs: Pressure on teachers to limit grades generosity

Ofqual: ‘We need to keep an eye on grade inflation’

Viewpoint: How to avoid a repeat of the 2020 results debacle

Ofqual has conducted a literature review of studies exploring bias in teacher assessment, which found that teacher assessment “bias” against boys, pupils with SEND and disadvantaged students was “common”.

GCSEs and A levels 2021: Ofqual warns of ‘risk’ of bias in teacher assessment

In summary, the watchdog found evidence that:

• Gender bias was mixed - but a slight bias in favour of girls (or against boys) was a common finding.
• Ethnicity bias was mixed - there were findings of bias against, as well as in favour of, each minority group (relative to the majority group), as well as findings of no bias.
• Disadvantage bias was less mixed - bias against the more disadvantaged (or in favour of the less disadvantaged) was a common finding.
• SEND bias was less mixed - bias against pupils with special educational needs (or in favour of those without) was a common finding.

Ofqual’s blog states “there is more opportunity for bias to creep into teacher-based results than test-based results”.

“The literature that we drew upon was fairly limited in size, and it is possible that it might have been skewed to some extent by publication bias, whereby evidence of an effect occurring is more likely to get published than evidence of no effect,” the watchdog adds.

“So, it doesn’t necessarily follow that teacher-assessed grades will be biased in these ways this year. However, the literature does tell us that there is a risk of bias in teacher assessment and that is why it is so important that arrangements are in place this year to mitigate this risk.”

The regulator says teachers should try to mitigate bias by ensuring that their judgements are “based purely upon evidence of how a student has performed, putting other factors to one side,” as well as making themselves aware of unconscious biases.

Ofqual advises teachers to “shed light on the factors that are influencing you, by discussing each judgement in detail with colleagues, including Sendcos or SEND experts”, and “see if it is possible to generate evidence that has the potential to indicate the presence or absence of bias in your judgements”.