Following the release of A-Level results today and reports of just under 40% of grades in England being downgraded – Darren Wray, CTO at privacy firm Guardum offers the following comment on what schools can do to avoid being overwhelmed by information requests.
The warning signs are clear. Reports that this year’s GCSE and A-level results \’could be affected by bias\’ and the debacle in Scotland where 125,000 predicted grades were lowered following a process of moderation have left schools in England and Wales braced for an onslaught of information requests from dissatisfied parents.
With the results days of 13 August for A levels and 20 August for GCSEs almost upon us, parents have the right under EU GDPR to request information about their child and their child’s exam performance including marks achieved, teacher comments and any related email correspondence. Once the results are out, schools will have just 40 days from when the results are released to respond.
The pandemic and subsequent disruption to the normal school timetable means that this year’s exam results will have been decided in a highly unusual manner. The prospect of having to handle a sudden influx of information requests from concerned parents is a very real one.
Fortunately, there are a few precautions schools can take now to save themselves from being overwhelmed. This includes briefing staff fully on what to do, optimising co-operation between departments and automating as much of the process as possible.