Latest news with #AQA
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
AI to help mark student exams
Artificial Intelligence is to help grade A-level and GCSE exam papers. Exam board AQA is working with King's College London academics to create an AI virtual assistant to assist and support exam paper markers. More than £600,000 of taxpayer money is funding the three-year scheme which intends to boost the accuracy and reliability of the grading process. Professor Yulan He, an expert in using machine learning to understand written text, is leading the work and said the aim is to reduce errors, make mark schemes fairer, and give quicker feedback to students. 'We aim to create an AI technology that can add a layer of quality control and support experts mark accurately and consistently,' Professor Yulan told The Telegraph. 'The goal is very much not to create an AI system that replaces examiners marking students' work, but recognises that marking is a really demanding task and supports them to mark more consistently and faster.' The AI assistant could be used to check the marks given by a human and detect any scores which seem erroneously low or high based on the AI's own assessment. Other possible applications are to check the quality of answers from students using language analysis machine learning and scrutinising the relevance, factuality, coherence and logical reasoning of an answer. The AI could also be used to refine the mark scheme if there is a flaw in how marks are given to ensure fairer marking and also to give AI-generated explanations to students as to why they did or did not get a question correct. Government backing for AI in education Peter Kyle, the Science and Technology Secretary, told The Telegraph the project will help pupils reach their potential and 'open as many doors as possible'. 'The central, most exciting, opportunity that AI affords us is not where it can replace human expertise, but where it will enhance it,' he said. 'By adding a layer of support and quality control for exam markers, this work by King's College London can make sure every student receives the fair assessment they deserve, to fulfil their potential and open as many doors as possible for their future success. 'These projects are combining cutting-edge research with professional expertise to turn research into practical solutions that can improve people's daily lives and drive growth as part of our Plan for Change.' Prof Yulan insisted the human involvement in marking papers is critical to the process and AI will be used to facilitate and refine instead of to replace. 'This is not to replace the human marker. Humans in the loop are very important. Our AI technology will just add a layer of quality control and support experts mark accurately and consistently,' she said. 'There is no danger of this being used to mark next year's exam papers unsupervised, for example. 'We aim to develop a safe and reliable virtual assistant in collaboration with teachers, learners and subject experts, that could be used in the future to assist examiners when they mark.' Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'If AI can provide an extra level of quality assurance, which supports examiners and improves the accuracy and consistency of grading, then that is clearly a good thing which we very much support. 'As with any project to utilise AI, it is absolutely essential that it is robustly tested before being rolled out into the real world, and that exam scripts are always seen by human beings. We're pleased to see assurances to this effect. 'The process of marking and grading exams is a major undertaking which has to be delivered to tight deadlines, so the potential of technology to support this process is certainly something which should be explored. We look forward to seeing how this project develops.' 'People should always remain in control' AQA is one of the country's largest examination boards. Around 1.4 million students sat one of its qualifications last year and more than nine in ten schools have at least one AQA course in its curriculum. Around 30,000 teachers, lecturers, subject experts and academics help design its tests and mark exams each year. Cesare Aloisi, AQA's head of assessment innovations, said: 'We're always looking for ways to enhance the support we give the examiners who mark our exam papers and to develop even more sophisticated quality controls. 'AI can help us do that with the important guiding principle that it is there to help human expert judgment, and that people should always remain in control. 'For example AI could flag marks that may be too lenient or too severe, but it would always be a person deciding what mark to give. We think it is essential that our expert examiners, and not AI, make these decisions that are so important for young people's futures.'
NZ Herald
26-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Awards celebrate women in mining and quarrying
A water management engineer and an alluvial gold assistant mine manager, both from the South Island's West Coast; a Waihī principal metallurgist; and a health and wellbeing manager from Blenheim are the four winners of the mining and quarrying industry awards presented in Christchurch. Straterra, AQA and MinEx hosted the
Scoop
29-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Roadblocks Removed For Quarry Sector
Press Release – Aggregate and Quarry Association NZ Aggregate and Quarry Association (AQA) CEO Wayne Scott says hes relieved to see today, the Governments package of proposed amendments to RMA instruments include several targeted at the extractive sector. The quarry sector is pleased its concerns have been heard about existing RMA national directions stymying access to the rock and sand resources needed to build homes and roads. Aggregate and Quarry Association (AQA) CEO Wayne Scott says he's relieved to see today, the Government's package of proposed amendments to RMA instruments include several targeted at the extractive sector. 'We have been saying to this and the previous Government that changes were needed to existing National Policy Statements on Highly Productive Land, Freshwater Management and Indigenous Biodiversity. 'While the changes were mostly minor, some existing wording was leading to bizarre outcomes such as quarries being told it could extract aggregate but not remove any of the overburden above it.' Wayne Scott says what the Government is now proposing will also allow for net positive environment outcomes and deserves to be welcomed. 'Currently, quarries sometimes seek consent applications such as where a piece of bush is needed for an extension but they have to be declined even when offering to plant several times the amount of affected land.' He says his sector has not sought to reduce environmental outcomes. 'Through the Fast-track Approvals legislation and these amendments, we have stressed we are after certainty and speed not environmental degradation. 'Our industry has worked for years to improve our environmental credentials and relations with our communities. We see these latest changes as helping both the environment and those communities who want the resources provided for their homes and roads.' He says on average one kilogram an hour of aggregate, rock and sand is accessed for every New Zealander.
Scoop
29-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Roadblocks Removed For Quarry Sector
The quarry sector is pleased its concerns have been heard about existing RMA national directions stymying access to the rock and sand resources needed to build homes and roads. Aggregate and Quarry Association (AQA) CEO Wayne Scott says he's relieved to see today, the Government's package of proposed amendments to RMA instruments include several targeted at the extractive sector. "We have been saying to this and the previous Government that changes were needed to existing National Policy Statements on Highly Productive Land, Freshwater Management and Indigenous Biodiversity. "While the changes were mostly minor, some existing wording was leading to bizarre outcomes such as quarries being told it could extract aggregate but not remove any of the overburden above it." Wayne Scott says what the Government is now proposing will also allow for net positive environment outcomes and deserves to be welcomed. "Currently, quarries sometimes seek consent applications such as where a piece of bush is needed for an extension but they have to be declined even when offering to plant several times the amount of affected land." He says his sector has not sought to reduce environmental outcomes. "Through the Fast-track Approvals legislation and these amendments, we have stressed we are after certainty and speed not environmental degradation. "Our industry has worked for years to improve our environmental credentials and relations with our communities. We see these latest changes as helping both the environment and those communities who want the resources provided for their homes and roads." He says on average one kilogram an hour of aggregate, rock and sand is accessed for every New Zealander.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UK government urged to introduce GCSE in Ukrainian for child refugees
The children's commissioner has joined Kyiv in lobbying the UK government to introduce a new GCSE in Ukrainian to help child refugees cope with the 'immense upheaval' of fleeing war in their country. In December, the Guardian revealed that Ukraine was 'deeply concerned' to discover many Ukrainian teenagers are being pressed into learning Russian in British schools because no GSCE in Ukrainian is available. Since then Ukraine's education minister, Oksen Lisovyi, has met the UK education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to underline his government's fear that being taught Russian is retraumatising Ukrainian teenagers who have fled Vladimir Putin's invasion. Vitalii, now 18, who fled to London from Ukraine in April 2022, said: 'Why should I study Russian – I'm Ukrainian and I want to show it. The language is paramount for all us.' Since the meeting with Lisovyi, Phillipson confirmed on Instagram this week that she has written to exam boards urging them to reintroduce an exam that was scrapped in 1995 owing to a lack of demand. The Department for Education (DfE) has also set up a working group to help implement the move. One of the exam boards, AQA, said it was carefully considering reintroducing the qualification. But education sector insiders are sceptical about the practicalities of the move. It has also emerged the children's commissioner, Rachel de Souza, has been urging the government to reintroduce a GCSE in Ukrainain. She intervened after visiting St Mary's, a network of 13 Ukrainian language schools in the UK, founded at the trust's headquarters in west London. De Souza said: 'I've seen for myself the great work St Mary's Ukrainian School is doing with the children who attend. It has become a sanctuary for families, helping displaced children reach their goals and aspirations in spite of the immense upheaval they've experienced.' De Souza said she was encouraged by the DfE's decision to take up the issue with exam boards. She said: 'I have long called for the DfE to consider making qualifications available in Ukrainian for these children, who rightly want an opportunity to feel proud of their culture and their language, so I am really pleased to see this. 'Ukrainian children living here in the UK are the future of their country and will play a vital role in its recovery, so we must match their level of ambition and make sure they receive all the support possible to thrive in their education.' An AQA spokesperson said: 'We've every sympathy with Ukrainian students who, through no fault of their own, find themselves many miles from home and want to gain formal accreditation of their language. 'As an education charity, we stand ready to do what we can to support Ukrainian students. We have received a letter from the education secretary about developing a GCSE in the Ukrainian language and are considering it carefully.' But an education industry source said: 'Realistically it takes two years to develop a qualification, it takes another two years to teach it. So a GCSE is not going to help students who are currently here who have fled Ukraine.' St Mary's has proposed becoming a hub for both GCSE and A-level qualifications in Ukrainian. In a letter to Phillipson, Ukraine's ministry of education backed this suggestion. It said: 'Establishing a Ukrainian GCSE centre will provide these children with opportunities to take Ukrainian GCSE and A-level exams, supporting their educational and professional goals.' Related: 'They can really fly': how to teach a refugee child It also pointed out that demand for the qualification has soared owing to the number of children that have fled to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. It said: 'As of now, the number of potential students of Ukrainian descent interested in pursuing Ukrainian GCSE is at an all-time high: about 27,000 displaced Ukrainian children and around 7,000 diaspora children.' It added: 'Maintaining proficiency in Ukrainian is crucial for displaced children's transition back to Ukraine, especially as many families may decide to reunite when it is safe.' A DfE spokesperson said: 'This government has set out our decisive support for our Ukrainian friends. That's why we have, last week, asked exam boards to consider introducing a Ukrainian GCSE – giving these young people the chance to celebrate their heritage and their native language.'
