Hi Debbie

Really sorry to hear about your situation. If it’s any consolation, I am sure that there is hardly a music teacher in the country that has not been (or will sooner or later find themselves) faced with similar circumstances.

It’s a rotten way to start the new academic year because it saps self confidence and having to deal with this is an extra workload I am sure you can well do without. And that is before we start thinking about the effect this has on the students involved!

I think John W’s advice is very sound. When considering exam boards, it is important not only to look at the front end (the syllabus) but also the back end (the assessment methods).

It is of course very tempting and natural to point the finger of blame at the exam boards/examiner concerned, but I am not sure that it is as simple as that. To accurately assess a student’s musicality requires a much more sophisticated approach than the relatively blunt instrument we are using at the moment….. assessment of music needs a radical overhaul. We can no longer tinker with a model which has been shown time and again to be inadequate.

I’ll expand more on this in a blog on my page when I have had chance to think it through a bit more.

In the meantime – good luck!

Thank you for your responses. I've had the work remoderated, but am feeling completely blanked by the board. The exsms officer and I agree that we have grounds for appeal so that's the next route we're pursuing. I am now looking at other boards. This has not been a pleasant experience. Additionally, we had attended moderation meetings and came away from those knowing we were in agreement with the board as far as our marking went, so to have this now is just madness.

It does seem that marking has been harsh in Music Technology AS this year also, a couple of colleagues have commented on the 2008 marks being low!

Hello Deb,

I've just picked this up having been back for a week. You may be interested in our experience this year. When the Curriculum 2000 syllabus changes came in we committed to a particular exam board. Over the years we became increasingly concerned with the quality of assessment of coursework, having to challenge marks on a year on year basis. We run a large number of candidates, and sometimes the whole cohort's marks were deemed to be insecure and had to be marked again.

When the specifications changed again, last year, for first teaching to the 2008 cohort we took the opportunity to change board.

The key difference is that the syllabus we now follow uses a different assessment model for coursework whereby teachers are responsible for the marking and it is then moderated by the exam board, rather than sending the work off to external examiners.

We are delighted by the results. Our coursework marks have hardly been altered at all, with positive feedback indicating that they are all within tolerable limits, and no change of rank order. It certainly seems that there is something fundamentally wrong with the former board's assessment and / or quality assurance procedures, which needs to be addressed, for the sake of the futures of the young people we teach.

I'm happy for anyone to contact me personally if they'd like more details.

i know how you feel, was very low at first but now i want to make these examiners accountable for their actions. what board are you using?

Thank you for your reply! One of my candidates got an E for the A2 performance, but passed Grade 8 about 2 weeks later with the same pieces. What's astonished me has been the results of the A2 coursework unit. We usually due rather well with this unit, but it was like the Board wasn't interested if the music wasn't classical, or even pastiche. I'm putting the work in for remoderation and the candidate will resit the performance, but it's knocked me for 6. We got two U's at AS and a C. I don't have the individual unit marks yet, but it's not looking good!

The thing that really gets to me is the lack of accountability from the Board. They adjust the marks, but fail to give adequate feedback, in fact I have to make a case when I resubmit the work & even then I've no guarantee I'll get any.

It really has shaken my faith in my own professional judgement. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not alone! Ard you going to appeal?

yea bloody stunned I think the term is!! both my AS students got U's mainly due to their performance grades being close to zero, not sure why yet, but one submitted the same performanceto a different exam board last yr and got an A so I'm at a loss