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Education: Assessments

Answer

Glenys Stacey, Ofqual's chief executive has written to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of the reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Glenys Stacey, dated 26 August 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary question raised in respect of measures in place to ensure examinations boards adhere to our Code of Practice regarding the role of scrutineers in the setting of exams. You will be aware that the Secretary of State has asked Ofqual to respond to this question.""I can confirm that Ofqual and the regulators in Wales and Northern Ireland jointly publish the GCSE, GCE, Principal Learning and Project Code of Practice (all of these are available on Ofqual's website for download). The Code states that:""1.11 The scrutineer is responsible for:""i. checking the final drafts of all question papers/tasks without reference to the mark schemes to ensure that the questions can be answered in the time allowed and that there are no errors and omissions;""ii. working through question papers, where appropriate;""iii. checking the mark scheme to ensure that the marks given are identical to those on the question paper;""iv. preparing a report for the awarding organisation officer.""Awarding organisations are responsible for following this Code of Practice. As part of Ofqual's regular monitoring work, various aspects of the Code are checked on the basis of risk, bearing in mind the need for our monitoring work to be proportionate.""Should awarding organisations not follow the Code of Practice, appropriate action in line with our legislative powers is put into place. This could include removal of awarding organisation status or removal of accreditation for the particular qualification. Any action taken is based on evidence and is particular to the issue being considered.""As you will also be aware, Ofqual have been alerted to concerns about examination errors in advance of and during the live examinations this summer. As a result of our concern regarding awarding organisation compliance to the Code of Practice, you will be aware that we have launched our Inquiry into examination errors and we have already invited you to submit evidence to the Inquiry if you wish. The Inquiry will take into account information and views we have already received from sources including candidates, schools and colleges, parents and student representatives and will also be gathering information from a list of interested and concerned stakeholders such as yourself.""It is intended that we will complete the Inquiry and publish our report by the end of the year.""I hope this information answers your query. However, if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

68162; 532 c306-7W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Assessments

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk