Pupils 'getting wrong GCSE grades'

One in four teachers believes his or her pupils are being awarded the wrong grades in GCSE exams, research published yesterday reveals.

Ofqual, the exams watchdog, says the percentage of teachers who think all or most of their pupils get the right grades has fallen from 86 per cent to 77 per cent in a year. One in five teachers says as many as a quarter of pupils are getting the wrong grades.

In many cases, exam or assessment nerves mean they do not get the grades they deserve rather than poor marking, the report adds.

Pupils, though, have expressed growing confidence in the exam with 51 per cent saying they are confident about its reliability.

Ofqual interviewed 500 teachers and more than 2,000 people overall (including 253 pupils who had sat their exams last year) for the survey.