Many teachers, especially those working in the independent sector, have been put under pressure by students and parents to change GCSE and A-level grades this year, a TES survey has found.
The poll of more than 2,800 teachers involved in grading found that a quarter had been pressured by parents to raise students’ grades, or to change the evidence submitted for their teacher-assessed GCSE and A-level grades. A third reported pressure from students.
More than a third of the 480 independent sector teachers who responded said they were under parental pressure to change grades, compared to a quarter of state school teachers.
Teachers reported getting emails from parents threatening legal action, as well as students claiming they “deserve” higher grades because of Covid disruption.
An independent school science teacher said there had been “lots and lots of crying [from students], lots of going to the DHT to complain about unfairness in tests, lots of pressure caused by university offers”.
A head of maths in a private school said: “We have parents who have already stated that they will be appealing the grades before they have received them.”
However, only 2 per cent of teachers across sectors admitted to “giving in” to parent or student pressure.
An HMC spokesperson said the findings of the survey were ”disappointing”.
He added: “HMC schools have, for many months, been working on establishing robust quality assurance processes. Teachers are professionals and act with integrity. They understand that it is in no student’s long-term interest to be saddled with a grade beyond their competence.”