GCSE and A-Level pupils face being given the wrong grades due to teachers manually inputting thousands of scores into AQA exam board’s online system that is ‘ripe for human error’.
Concerns have been raised about its ‘grade entry portal’, in which marks have to be put in one-by-one.
AQA’s method has left school staff horrified and one teacher claimed the system is ‘ripe for basic human error’.
But a spokesman for the exam board strongly refuted the claims today, telling MailOnline the portal system has multiple administrators who can review, edit and check the data for errors meaning no pupils faced being awarded the wrong grades.
It comes after millions of pupils were back in primary schools from Monday as lockdown restrictions were further eased.
Students risk being given the wrong GCSE and A-Level marks due to AQA’s online system
Dr Mark Thornber, from Durham Johnston School, told Schoolsweek: ‘The whole system is designed so there can be no real oversight from the school.
‘Grades could be horribly wrong because of a transcription error – a swap. There is a process for challenging that in the summer, but it will be too late for the pupil trying to get into sixth form.’
Other exam boards WJEC, OCR and Pearson are using a system where schools download a spreadsheet to fill in then upload it.
A spokesman for AQA said: ‘We know some schools would like to be able to send us their data in a spreadsheet and we gave this some serious thought – but the fact is there’s just too high a risk of errors or viruses.
‘Even minor issues with formatting could cause problems, so entering data directly into our system will make sure we have it in the right format, with lots of checks built in.’
More than half a million primary school children were kept at home as dozens of councils sided with unions to defy the government’s aims to ease students back into schools on Monday.
At least 54 councils in England took the side of teaching unions, who argued it is not yet safe for its members to return to schools amid the pandemic.
The councils either told schools not to reopen, or left the decision up to headteachers.
It meant as few as ’40 per cent of eligible primary pupils’ returned to classes, with around 550,000 staying at home, as schools stayed shut, turned children away or even held ‘staff training days’.
The Association of School and College Leaders said of the facilities that are open attendance is ‘highly variable’ and ranges between ’40 per cent and 70 per cent’.
A child has his temperature taken at Harris Primary Academy in south London as up to 2million pupils were due to return to class
But the union’s general secretary Geoff Barton said this figure is likely to increase as ‘parents become become confident about sending their children to school’.
Up to two million pupils were due to return to lessons but some were turned away because headteachers ‘weren’t ready’ for them while around half of parents have chosen to keep their children at home because of safety fears.
Up to 1,500 primary schools in England were estimated to be defying the government’s plan to get all reception, year 1 and year 6 children back in the classroom from June 1.
Teachers admitted they were feeling anxiety about returning to work and unions demanded the date be pushed back to June 15 at the earliest.
Parents revealed many schools will remain closed for at least another week or more, while some have not yet set a date at all.
In other cases schools decided they can only increase the number of places for key workers’ children, not for everyone.
At least 54 councils, mostly Labour run, refused to reopen their schools or left it up to headteachers, who are trying to find ways to ensure social distancing in their school buildings and ensuring they have enough teachers to teach ‘bubbles’ of up to ten children.
It comes after millions of pupils were back in primary schools from Monday as lockdown restrictions were further eased. Pictured: A child is dropped off at Queen’s Hill Primary School, Costessey, Norfolk, on Monday
But while hundreds of thousands of young students were back in class and reunited with their friends and teachers, MailOnline revealed there was confusion at several schools in London with some parents arriving with their children only to be informed they could not come in and had to go home again.
Ministers are also in discussions over summer camps to enable disadvantaged children, along with a ‘catch-up premium’ that will grant schools extra funding for initiatives to help the most affected pupils.
An announcement is due to come in the next few weeks, despite objections from teaching unions if the plans involve working over the summer.
This could lead to another row between the government and unions, in the face of concerns pupils may be absent from classes for up to six months.
Schools have been preparing for classrooms to reopen for weeks, corridors have been marked off to keep pupils apart as they go about their school day.
Desks have also been moved to maintain a distance of two metres between each student.
Most teachers have reduced class sizes, which will operate in bubbles, with no interaction with other classes.
For younger years, toys have been taken out of classroom and are being kept in storage out of fear they could hold Covid-19 germs.
Children are at an extremely low risk of catching coronavirus. The majority of hospital admissions are people over 60.
The main concern over pupils returning to school is the spreading of germs between different households, while teachers who may be at risk could also be exposed.
Headteachers have also predicted more than one in five teachers will be forced to work from home because of health conditions, their age or because members of their family are vulnerable.