Teacher Assessed Grades – Appeals Process

Every year there will be learners who will be disappointed with the grades they have been awarded.  However, if you are concerned that the information and / or procedures used by the College to award your grade outcome was incorrect, or that the awarding of your grade was an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement, then you are entitled to have your grade outcome reviewed through the review and appeals process. 

Please be reminded when seeking a formal review or appeal of your grade outcome, your grade could go up, down, or stay the same. Any learner making an appeal to the College will need to outline the grounds of their appeal and provide where necessary supporting information.

• What Constitutes Grounds of Review or Appeal?

  There are three grounds for which a learner may appeal their grade outcome: 

  • Procedural (e.g. BSDC has not abided by its’ own policies and procedures)
  • Administrative (e.g. BSDC or the Awarding Body have awarded an incorrect grade by mistake)
  • Academic Judgements (e.g. BSDC has failed to use a holistic, accurate and reasonable ‘basket of evidence’ in determining the grade outcome)

  You cannot appeal your TAG grade if your only reason is:

  • You are unhappy with your grade
  • You wanted/needed a higher grade than you have been awarded

• Who Can Request A Review or Appeal?

  A parent, guardian or other representative of the learner is not permitted to appeal a TAG grade on a Learners’ behalf. A parent or carer’s signature will only be permitted where the college has signed permission from the learner for the parent/carer to act on the learner’s behalf.

• How do I know whether my grade outcome was teacher assessed?

  The explainer tool shows how qualifications will be assessed and awarded in the period up to 31 August 2021. It covers qualifications regulated by Ofqual, Qualifications Wales and CCEA Regulation (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively). 

  Summer 2021 Qualification Explainer Tool – click here. 

  The information about how each qualification will be assessed and awarded included in this 'qualification explainer tool' has been provided by awarding organisations. 

  Further Information can also be found in Ofqual’s Student guide to awarding summer 2021 – click here. 

  For all other academic appeals not related to Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG) please refer the following policies. 

  HE Academic Appeals Policy – click here.  

  FE Academic Appeals Policy – click here. 

The Review/Appeals Process (Teacher Assessed Grades ONLY 2021) 

There is a three staged approach to the review and appeal of Teacher Assessed Grades (TAG’s) which must be submitted using one of our following online forms: 

• Stage 1 - Centre Review

  You must first ask BSDC to review whether an administrative or procedural error has been made in the awarding of your grade outcome. BSDC will carry out internal checks and if we find that an error has occurred, we will request that the Awarding Organisation correct the error and amend the grade without the need to make a formal appeal.  

  What constitutes an administrative or procedural error?

  • The incorrect grade has been uploaded to the Awarding Organisations site 
  • The centre has not followed the process for determining and quality assuring grades
  • The centre has not considered relevant mitigating circumstances at the time of the assessment
  • The centre has not put in place agreed access arrangements/reasonable adjustments for an assessment.

  Please fill out the Stage 1  Centre Appeals form – click here.

• Stage 2 – Appeal to the Awarding Organisation

  If you still don’t think you have been awarded the correct grade outcome, you can appeal to the Awarding Organisation who will evaluate the evidence to determine whether:

  • The centre has made an unreasonable exercise of academic judgement in the choice of evidence from which they determined your grade and/or in the determination of your grade from that evidence
  • The centre did not apply a procedure correctly
  • The exam board made an administrative error

  The onus will be placed on the learner to provide evidence that the grade outcome they were awarded was ‘unreasonable’.

  Please fill out the Stage 2 Appeals form – click here.

• Stage 3 – Appeal to Ofqual Examination Procedural Review Service (EPRS)

  The third stage of the process is referred to as an appeal to Ofqual’s Exam Procedures Review Service (EPRS) if you consider that the awarding organisation has made a procedural error.  

  Please fill out the Stage 3 Appeals form – click here.

• Teacher Assessed Grade Appeal Timelines

  The internal review and appeals process will be carried out by a senior manager who has not been involved in the original assessment of grades. They will not be able to communicate with you outside of this process and timeline and the review will not involve any remarking of any evidence used to determine the Teacher Assessed Grades.   

  (Urgent Appeals) 10 August to 7 September:

  • 10 August to 16 August: Learner requests centre review
  • 10 August to 20 August: Centre conducts centre review
  • 11 August to 23 August: Centre submits appeal to exam board
  • 7 September: Latest appeal outcome decision (Appeals made between 10 -16 August 2021)

  Urgent Appeal window is ONLY for learners holding a place at at a HEI (i.e. University) starting in 2021 and who need confirmation of appeal results to secure their next step progression. 

  (Appeals) 10 August to end October:

  • 10 August to 3 September: Learner requests centre review
  • 10 August to 10 September: Centre conducts centre review
  • 11 August to 17 September: Centre submits appeal to exam board
  • 31 October:  Latest appeal outcome decision (Appeals made between 10 – 3 September 2021)