Exam worries over foot-and-mouth

Examiners are asked to take missed lessons into account

Exam boards are being asked to make allowances for pupils who have been unable to attend school because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Devon education authority, which includes areas affected by foot-and-mouth, has approached exam boards to make sure that pupils missing out on lessons are not disadvantaged in GCSEs and A-levels.

The council says none of its schools are completely closed, but there are a "few hundred" pupils who are being kept at home during the outbreak, including a number who will be sitting exams this summer.

With the exam revision season approaching, the council is asking exam boards to consider the impact of missed lessons when allocating grades.

And it seems that the exam boards will be receptive to such appeals.

'Special consideration'

Edexcel, one of the biggest exam boards, says that problems caused by foot-and-mouth could be added to the list of special circumstances that can be taken into account when awarding grades.

This would usually include problems that would have disrupted revision and exams, such as serious illness or bereavement.

Teachers can submit information for such "special consideration" with exam papers and this will be taken into account by exam boards.

As pupils will be taking exams with a number of different exam boards, there will have to be a common policy - and the Joint Council for General Qualifications, the umbrella body for exam boards, is currently considering its response.

Jim Dobson, spokesperson for the joint council, said that examiners would be likely to take into account a pupil being unable to attend school for several weeks - but each case would need to be judged on its own merit.

Evidence

Where there has been a problem which damages exam performance, examiners can consider other evidence, such as mock exams or course work, which show what a pupil might have been expected to achieve.

And examiners can "scale up" results to a level suggested by earlier work or exams.

This could be applied to pupils who have missed lessons and revision practice because of foot and mouth keeping them out of school.

The joint council is also keeping under review what will happen if the foot-and-mouth outbreak continues into the summer and prevents pupils from reaching the exam hall.