One of England’s largest exam boards is standing by its decision not to re-mark a GCSE maths paper, despite a complaint being upheld by Ofqual and pressure from Conservative politicians.
Exam board OCR previously apologised for “inconsistencies” in its past materials after the exams watchdog found issues that “could result in teachers delivering incorrect information to students, creating disadvantage and inconsistency over time” in marking schemes and question 6 on the 2025 paper.
Despite the apology, the awarding organisation has resisted calls to re-mark the paper, and Tes revealed in May that shadow education secretary Laura Trott had written to the awarding organisation and the exams watchdog expressing concerns about a “lack of corrective action”.
‘Integrity of exams’
Speaking exclusively with Tes, the exam board’s managing director, Myles McGinley, stood by the decision not to re-mark, citing the importance of “protecting the integrity of exams”.
Mr McGinley told Tes that OCR completely accepted Ofqual’s assertion that a 2021 mark scheme was incorrect but said that deciding not to re-mark the 2025 paper was the right thing to do.
“I think we completely accepted Ofqual’s finding that the [2021] mark scheme was incorrect, and we updated it and communicated it, and so the reason that we haven’t re-marked the question paper from summer 2025 is because it was mathematically correct,” he said. “And from a perspective of protecting the integrity of exams, we can’t award marks for incorrect answers.”
Mr McGinley admitted the complaint raised issues of consistency and clarity for the exam board, and emphasised its intention to ensure that materials available on OCR’s website are as clear as possible.
“I think ultimately the right thing to do here was to award marks for correct answers only. I would say that Ofqual upholding the complaint didn’t ask us to re-mark,” he added.
Tes asked Mr McGinley whether he had any further correspondence with the shadow education secretary, after a spokesperson for OCR said in May that the exam board would be willing to meet with Ms Trott.
‘Learning experience’ for OCR
Mr McGinley said that OCR had spoken with Ms Trott, and that she had raised some “very good questions and views that we have gone away and reflected on” and used as a “learning experience”.
A spokesperson from Ms Trott’s office confirmed to Tes that the discussion had taken place, saying that OCR had engaged and listened, but also that the shadow education secretary had pushed OCR to provide “proper awareness” to schools of the “unfairness” involved.
While OCR stands by its decision not to re-mark the paper on account of correct mathematics, Ms Trott’s spokesperson told Tes that this misses the point because students were directed to answer the question incorrectly.
In May, a spokesperson for Ofqual told Tes that it was considering “what the appropriate next steps are in this case” after it had received the letter from the shadow education secretary.
Tes asked Ofqual whether it considered the matter closed or if it was still considering taking further action. A spokesperson said the matter was still ongoing.
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