I would like to voice my wholehearted support for this movement for QSA to review their assessment policies for Maths and Science.

I have been a teacher of both maths and science (main area is Senior Physics) for 17 years.

In all of my experience to date, I have been involved with systems that have both marks and criteria based methods of assessment.  However I have never come across such a laborious and subjective system as what QSA has implemented since 2007 and prior to this.  Such criteria are totally open to interpretation and are really a play-on-words (eg: exploration….explanation…..analysis….evaluation….etc, etc).

I also wish to express my deep concern about the word length and expectations of the EEI’s and ERT’s, particularly as a panelist where you get to see EEI’s that are produced by some students in some of the more “exclusive” schools in the area (no doubt with help from a well-paid tutor).  Such submissions tend to cloud the view of a subject panelist to “expect” this type of response from an “A-level” student.

I would welcome any opportunity to attend any future meetings, and I am more than willing to put my signature and support to moves towards making QSA review these procedures, in favour of a more common-sense and reasonable approach to assessing “16 and 17 year olds”, and not “university honours or thesis students” which is what these EEI’s and ERT’s have seemed to evolved into.