A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF KEY STAKEHOLDERSí PERCEPTIONS AND OPINIONS OF AWARDING BODY MARKING PROCEDURES

Oct 20, 2026

A qualitative study examines how key stakeholders perceive and form opinions about awarding body marking procedures for GCSE and GCE examinations. Prior work suggests stakeholders’ understanding of marking varies and that insufficient information can generate misconceptions and mistrust. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with teachers, parents, and examiners plus a student focus group indicate many stakeholders are largely unaware of current procedures. The study recommends greater transparency to strengthen understanding of the examination system.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Marking systems and true marks

Practical constraints and reliability

Stakeholder understanding and transparency

A QUALITATIVE EXPLORATION OF KEY STAKEHOLDERSí PERCEPTIONS AND OPINIONS OF AWARDING BODY MARKING PROCEDURES Abstract Rachel Taylor Past research into perceptions of GCSEs and A-levels suggests that how informed individuals are of current marking procedures, and the level of information stakeholders receive varies considerably. However, ensuring certain individuals associated with the examination process sufficiently understand awarding body procedures, including those adopted for marking examination papers is highly important. A lack of understanding by stakeholders suggests awarding bodies are not transparent enough, which can result in misconceptions and mistrust of their work. Additionally, ensuring individuals understand the examination system fully might lead to greater confidence in the system, something which is important to awarding bodies given the competitive environment in which they operate. Previous research into perceptions of the examination system has failed to explore individualís perceptions of the actual processes adopted for marking examination papers, or opinions on what these procedures should be. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to address this gap in the literature, by exploring perceptions and opinions of marking procedures among key stakeholder groups. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers, parents, and examiners and a focus group was conducted with five GCE students. The findings suggest that parents, teachers and students are largely unaware of current marking procedures. Additionally, there also appears tobe a lack of understanding of the examination system in general. Considering these findings, it is suggested that AQA should do more to increase the transparency of their routine processes and should aim to increase understanding of the examination system amongst key stakeholder groups. Introduction Each year students sit over 3.5 million GCSE and GCE examinations with AQA. Ensuring these students receive the right result on their examinations is of high importance, not only to the students themselves, but also to centres, teachers and parents. Examination grades impact upon the life chances of candidates, as well as the reputation of teachers and the position their centre occupies in performance league tables. The task facing awarding bodies is to ensure each candidate is given the mark on an examination script that most accurately and fairly reflects that particular scriptís merit, and to adopt a fair and reliable system to assigning a candidateís mark. In particular, the mark awarded to a candidateís work should be independent of the examiner doing the marking. UK awarding bodies currently adopt a hierarchical approach to assigning a candidateís mark on an examination paper, based on a hierarchical system of examiners. Usually, only one examiner marks each script, and a candidateís mark is determined by the standard set by the most senior examiner. This contrasts with the classical test theory (Spearman 1904a, 1904b) which defines a candidateís ëtrueí mark as the mean mark awarded by an infinite number of examiners. This can be viewed as a consensual approach to determining the true mark. Therefore, the more examiners that mark a candidateís script, the closer the mark would become to a candidateís ëtrueí mark. The hierarchical and consensus approaches to determining a candidateís ëtrueí mark are likely to result in different true marks, impact upon the reliability of marking and have different implications for quality control of marking and re-marking procedures (Meadows & Baird, 2006) . Although widely accepted practice, the hierarchical approach to determining a candidateís ëtrueí mark may not be a theoretical ideal but more of a practical necessity. In the UK there are approximately 20 million GCSE and GCE scripts marked annually, in addition to the moderation of centre assessed coursework. This highlights the enormous task facing awardi

FAQs

What gap does the study aim to address?

The study addresses the lack of research into stakeholders’ perceptions of the actual processes used to mark examination papers and their opinions on what those procedures should be.

How was the research conducted?

Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers, parents, and examiners, and a focus group was held with five GCE students.

What do the findings suggest about stakeholders’ knowledge?

Parents, teachers, and students are largely unaware of current marking procedures, and there appears to be limited understanding of the examination system in general.

Oct 20, 2026

Uploaded by Riley West