Exam papers 'marked down to avoid row over inflated grades'.

(From Yorkshire Post)

Byline: Jeni Harvey

Newly released internal e-mails have disclosed that, in August last year, exam standards regulator Ofqual was given predictions of a big jump in science results.On August 10, just two days before the grades were finalised, Ofqual chief executive Isabel Nisbet wrote to exam board officials saying the anticipated increases would be "difficult for the regulators to justify and for all of us to defend." It was then agreed the independent awarding bodies that set and mark papers should "change their grade boundaries in order to improve the national position".The general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, …