Children, children!

There's a head-on collision between the Welsh Education minister, Leighton Andrews, and his English counterpart, Michael Gove. The reason for the clash, the marks awarded for this years GCSE grades in English.

The story so far is that teachers claim that the exam grades for pupils taking the English GCSE this summer have been forced downwards in an attempt to balance an "over-generous" marking in January - in a way that was unfair for individual students.The difference in marking marks down a C grade to that of a D.

Most that have looked at what has occurred agree that the pupils taking the exam this summer have been particularly hard done by. So what’s to be done?

In Wales, Leighton Andrews who’s also the regulator has ordered the Welsh examination board (WJEC) to regrade the results. 

In justification he said “When faced with an injustice, it is necessary to take decisive action and to do so swiftly. On the day the GCSE results became public, I announced a review of why grades were so significantly down in English Language in Wales. My responsibility is to ensure fairness to GCSE candidates in Wales. Regulatory officials have identified the problems, and recommended actions, I am implementing their recommendations.”

The regulator in England, Ofqual, has refused to budge and is not prepared to go through a regrading exercise in England despite most of the teaching profession demanding it so to do.

Michael Gove, the English Education Secretary backs Ofqual's stance.

Here’s the rub, there are more kids from England than Wales taking the WJEC exam and Mr Andrews has no power to push for their papers to be regraded. 

Consequently, you get the invidious position of a child from Chepstow getting a C grade and a child from the Forest of Dean getting a D for the same mark, sitting the same paper, with the same examination board. 

Where’s the justice in that?

So in jumps Michael Gove with an attack on Leighton Andrews accusing him of being "irresponsible and mistaken" for ordering the regraded. But he would wouldn’t he. 

He has form in trying to undervalue both  the A level and the GCSE examinations. His agenda is to change fundementally both. So this spat suits his political agenda.

The professions seem to back that stand taken by Andrews and not Gove. English pupils are having their efforts devalued by the stubborn attitude of both the English minister and his regulator. Both should bite the bullet and put the pupils first.

 is a head-on collision between the Welsh Education minister, Leighton Andrews, and his English counterpart, Michael Gove. The reason for the clash, the marks awarded for this years GCSE grades in English.

The story so far is that teachers claim that the exam grades for pupils taking the English GCSE this summer have been forced downwards in an attempt to balance an "over-generous" marking in January - in a way that was unfair for individual students.The difference in marking marks down a C grade to that of a D.

Most that have looked at what has occurred agree that the pupils taking the exam this summer have been particularly hard done by. So what’s to be done?

In Wales, Leighton Andrews who’s also the regulator has ordered the Welsh examination board (WJEC) to regrade the results. 

In justification he said “When faced with an injustice, it is necessary to take decisive action and to do so swiftly. On the day the GCSE results became public, I announced a review of why grades were so significantly down in English Language in Wales. My responsibility is to ensure fairness to GCSE candidates in Wales. Regulatory officials have identified the problems, and recommended actions, I am implementing their recommendations.”

The regulator in England, Ofqual, has refused to budge and is not prepared to go through a regrading exercise in England despite most of the teaching profession demanding it so to do.

Michael Gove, the English Education Secretary backs Ofqual's stance.

Here’s the rub, there are more kids from England than Wales taking the WJEC exam and Mr Andrews has no power to push for their papers to be regraded. 

Consequently, you get the invidious position of a child from Chepstow getting a C grade and a child from the Forest of Dean getting a D for the same mark, sitting the same paper, with the same examination board. 

Where’s the justice in that?

So in jumps Michael Gove with an attack on Leighton Andrews accusing him of being "irresponsible and mistaken" for ordering the regraded. But he would wouldn’t he. 

He has form in trying to undervalue both  the A level and the GCSE examinations. His agenda is to change both. So this spat suits his political agenda.

The professions seem to back that stand taken by Andrews and not Gove. English pupils are having their efforts devalued by the stubborn attitude of both the English minister and his regulator. Both should bite the bullet and put the pupils first.