E-marking 'could lower standards'

Mrs Hall fears a more 'formulaic' marking system

Electronic marking of GCSE and A-level exams could lead to lower standards in essay subjects such as English and history, a leading head teacher says.

Cynthia Hall, president of the Girls' Schools Association, thinks examiners' work will be downgraded if more computerised scripts are given to students to mark.

The Edexcel exam board uses undergraduates to mark answers to some simpler, factual questions.

Scripts are scanned, split and given to different examiners.

'Piecework'

Answers to complex questions are e-mailed to teachers working at home.

Meanwhile, trained undergraduates, working in exam centres, mark some simpler ones, for instance responses to "What is the area of this square?" for a maths GCSE.

Edexcel says the multiple marking will lead to greater accuracy and more public accountability.

However, Mrs Hall, head of the School of St Helen and St Katherine in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, described the practice as "piecework".

She told BBC News Online: "Using undergraduates instead of teachers will reduce the scope examiners feel they have got to reflect the candidate's performance, not just giving answers to specific questions."

Candidates would look for "scores" rather than answer questions.

Efficiency

Mrs Hall said: "It's much more formulaic. Accountability is king as far as the exam board is concerned, but this limits what they are looking for, especially from brighter students.

"Of course, there is a problem with too many scripts having to be re-marked, but this is not the best way to overcome it.

"It is like the George Orwell novel 1984. Winston Smith was creating government propaganda in one booth, while other civil servants were doing the same thing elsewhere."

An Edexcel spokesman said asking different examiners to look at different answers would speed up the whole process.

He said: "Someone could look at one question for an hour, getting used to the marking scheme and the answers required.

"It will be far quicker than one examiner going through entire scripts, one after the other."

He added that there were no plans to extend the proportions of simple, fact-based, or even multi-choice, questions on papers.

Marking would be tailored to scripts, and not vice-versa, the spokesman said.