Pupils launch legal action against Ofqual over ‘insane’ results system

Six students, along with the Good Law Project, have launched legal action against Ofqual.

Students have taken the first steps in legal action against exam regulator Ofqual after feeling let down by a marking system that downgraded 40% of A-level results.

Thousands of pupils suffered on Thursday as they saw their final grades come back lower than predicted due to Ofqual’s standardisation process, causing some to have their university offers taken away.

Now six pupils, supported by non-profit, membership organisation the Good Law Project, have taken initial steps towards a judicial review of Ofqual’s system, described by some as ‘ridiculous and insane’.

One of the students, known only as Michael, saw his grades fall from a predicted BBB to EEE, which left him ‘disheartened’.

He said: ‘Teachers are entrusted with the task of predicting students’ grades and considering they are in a far better position to determine what level students are working at, it is abysmal to think that the Government, whose job it is to lead this country in the right direction, has allowed an algorithm to determine the futures of thousands of students.

‘This injustice cannot and should not stand, and we are urging the Government to rethink this decision.’

The Good Law Project’s crowdfunding bid to cover legal costs has reached more than £41,000.

Meanwhile, student Curtis Parfitt-Ford has launched his own legal bid to ‘force them to come up with a fairer system’.

Although he received the grades he was predicted on Thursday, the 18-year-old is taking action on behalf of his friends and cohort who got ‘grades they don’t deserve’. His crowdfunding page has amassed more than £15,000 in donations in less than two days.

This is just the latest of condemnations for the exam regulator, as they have also been criticised for suspending their criteria for appealing grades using mock results just hours after outlining them on Saturday.

The Labour party have slammed this U-turn, and have criticised the government’s handling of the exams.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green MP said: ‘The Tories’ results fiasco is turning from tragedy to farce, and the chaos and incompetence is completely unacceptable when so many students and families have been devastated by it.

‘A credible appeals system should have been the Government’s first priority, but three days later there is absolutely no clarity on how young people can challenge their unfair grades.

‘Parents and young people needed action in a matter of days, but the Government are now rapidly running out of time. The Prime Minister must get a grip and sort this out.’

According to analysis shared on Friday, 2,000,000 GCSE grades could also be graded down when results come out on August 20. Education experts predict that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to be the hardest hit.

Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said: ‘If you don’t go to a successful school you don’t deserve to succeed either – strip away all the science and that’s what’s delivered by the system Ofqual and Gavin Williamson have put in place.

‘It’s not fair, it’s not good enough, and hard-working students should not have to stand for it.’

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