Teachers slam Edexcel exam board after a GCSE geography paper named the wrong countries on a map of Africa
- Gabon was wrongly identified as Republic of the Congo on geography paper
- One teacher described the error as an ‘atrocious mistake’ by Edexcel exam board
- Heads of department were considering whether to continue to use the board
A leading exam board was slammed today after a GCSE geography paper named the wrong countries on a map of Africa.
Teachers were furious after pupils were presented with papers which contained the glaring blunder.
One told how some of his pupils were left confused after a map of Africa wrongly identified the Republic of the Congo as Gabon.
The west African state was wrongly named and identified with an arrow as part of an extended question about the continent’s top oil producing countries.
One secondary school geography teacher hit out at the Edexcel exam board over the ‘atrocious mistake’ in the last of three papers which students sat on Tuesday.
He told how he feared the error could have an impact on pupils’ results.
He told MailOnline: ‘For a GCSE exam board to set a geography paper that contains the wrong geography is ridiculous.
Leading exam board Edexcel was slammed today after a GCSE geography paper wrongly identified Gabon as the Republic of the Congo (pictured), with a teacher describing it as an ‘atrocious mistake’
’To get a map wrong in a geography exam is pretty inexcusable. It’s basic stuff. For an examining board to label countries incorrectly and give the wrong information is pretty shocking to say the least.
’There were students who were confused by it and were thrown by it. It made it harder to answer the question.
‘Thousands of kids across England and Wales sat that paper yesterday. These papers are drawn up by so-called experts.
‘There have been a lot of complaints to the exam board. To get basic stuff like that wrong is unforgivable.’
The teacher said that he had been in contact with angry heads of department who were considering whether to continue to use the board which is the UK’s largest awarding organisation.
The teacher said that he had been in contact with angry heads of department who were considering whether to continue to use the board which is the UK’s largest awarding organisation. File photo
He added: ‘I’ve been a teacher for nearly 10 years now and it’s the first time I’ve seen anything as bad as this.
‘People are very annoyed by it. It is such a glaring and shocking mistake to any geographer.
‘We only get to see it after the exam so there is nothing you can do about it but there have been a lot of complaints to the exam board. They have been inundated.
‘A lot of heads of department have said they will be swapping exam boards.
‘It’s an atrocious mistake from an exam body setting GCSE papers.
‘They have been rubbish in all three papers this year, but this is by far the worst mistake.’
Other teachers took to social media to express their anger.
Geography teacher Elizabeth Saunders wrote: ‘This is utterly disgraceful!’
One head of department, who is also an A level examiner, posted a picture of the map on Twitter and wrote: ‘When your geography exam board can’t even produce an accurate map of Africa!
‘An apology to the people of Gabon and Republic of the Congo is urgently needed. Truly appalling.’
In a response to the post Pearson Geography replied: ‘Thank you for your feedback.
‘We apologise for the unintentional error in the labelling of a map in our GCSE geography paper and any confusion caused.
Other teachers took to social media to express their anger. Geography teacher Elizabeth Saunders wrote: ‘This is utterly disgraceful!’ While another said ‘Wow… Why did Gabon and the Congo swap? Was this an exam?’
‘We will ensure students are not impacted by awarding marks for references to either country.’
The error came in the final question of Pearson Edexcel’s GCSE Geography B paper.
The privately-owned company boasts of being ‘the world’s leading learning company’ and offers academic and vocational qualifications in schools, colleges and work places in the UK and abroad.
It says it works ‘with experts and leaders in the education sector to make sure that we maintain high standards across all our qualifications’.
Pearson Edexcel said in a statement: ‘We apologise for the unintentional error in the labelling of a map in our GCSE Geography paper and any confusion caused.
‘We will ensure students are not impacted by awarding marks for references to either country.’