exam grade pressure
teachers need help to deal with the pressure from parents and pupils on exam grades .
Ofqual says exam boards would need to intervene where "inappropriate pressure" has been placed on teachers guidance for exam grades.
Pressure from parents is seen as potential malpractice by Ofqual and JCQ.
Concerns have been raised that parents could try to influence grades given out by teacher assessment, after GCSE and A-level exams were cancelled this year.
A system based on teacher assessment was instead set up based on evidence, including coursework,
essays
optional assessments by exam boards including exams from past papers.
Head teachers have claimed the cancellation of exams and the move to teacher assessed grades will bring a great deal of pressure from parents with "pointy elbows and lawyer friends".
In its guidance on submitting exam grades, Ofqual says
exams centres and school heads "should be careful to avoid teachers being put under pressure from students, parents or carers to submit grades that are higher than the evidence supports".
Ofqual go on to say "should keep records of such cases and might be required to report to the exam boards any cases where they believe inappropriate pressure is being put on teachers".
Last week, Ian Bauckham, interim chair of Ofqual said it would be "wrong and fundamentally unfair" if judgments were subject to pressure or interference by people "with a vested interest".
He warned that students could end up in destinations "for which they were ill-prepared" if this happened.
The exams regulator JCQ and Ofqual are urging teachers to question whether any of their judgments might be affected by factors not based on evidence of performance "such as unconscious beliefs or types of bias".
Judgments should not be affected by a student's behaviour, "character or personality, appearance, performance of their siblings, parental opinions or the knowledge of grades needed to meet a university offer", the guidance adds.
The document also provides information for schools about how to generate grades and the evidence that should be considered.
Exam boards will provide a package of support materials to help teachers make these judgements and will provide further advice on how centres should collect and submit evidence.
It says "the grades submitted to exam boards must reflect a fair, reasonable and carefully considered judgement of the student's performance across a range of evidence, on the curriculum content that they have been taught."
