English teacher renews appeal over GCSE marking row

A TEACHER at a Woking secondary school who said his students dreams had been left "in tatters"  after receiving disappointing English GCSE results has renewed his appeal to education secretary Michael Gove.

Chris Edwards, an English teacher at Bishop David Brown School, has called on Mr Gove to "break his silence" over allegations that a new marks system has denied students an all-important C grade.

Mr Edwards, who has appeared on Sky News and on the front page of the Independent speaking about the examinations row, has written a second open letter to Mr Gove calling for an investigation into the issue.

He said:  "What we haven't heard is a single word from the Education Secretary.  Presumably, he is hoping that this row will simply blow over and normal business can be resumed.  

"These students are still stuck with their D grades and, as their college places slip away, our Education Secretary keeps the least dignified silence imaginable."

Mr Edwards said Bishop David Brown School had been badly affected by the marking of the English language GCSE exams.

He said many of his students were left with disappointing grades despite being on course for a C grade.

Pupils come from one of the most deprived parts of the county and don't have English as a first language, he said.

In a letter to Mr Gove, he said: "On opening the envelopes and seeing their D grades, each and every one of them covered their faces due to the shame that they felt. They should, of course, have been celebrating. 

"But instead, a combination of devastation, embarrassment and confusion descended upon them and it was left to us teachers to try to explain to them what had gone wrong." 

Mr Edwards continued: "You have not simply moved the goalposts. You have demolished them, sold off the playing fields where they once stood and left the dreams of these youngsters in tatters."

His appeal comes as head teachers across the country await the results of an inquiry by the exams watchdog Ofqual into this year's English and Maths GCSE grades.