Schools and councils launch legal action against GCSE exam boards

The group has taken legal action against exam boards AQA and Edexcel, demanding for the exams to be re-graded.

They challenge the examiners' decision to raise the marks needed to get a C grade between January and June, as well as Ofqual's refusal to reverse that decision.

They argue that changes to the grade boundaries meant pupils with the same marks got different grades.

A total of 167 pupils are represented by the alliance which includes 150 schools, 42 English councils and six professional bodies.

An estimated 10,000 students missed out on a C grade as a result of the decisions, the group says.

The group states that the immediate effects of the decisions include children being unable to progress in education, losing vocational opportunities and jobs and being unable to gain employment.

The Association of School and College Leaders said they remain convinced that thousands of young people were unfairly downgraded in June in order to compensate for mistakes made earlier in the year.

The alliance is hoping for an early decision from the court on whether to allow a judicial review of the case which they hope could take place before the New Year.

However, it is unlikely to happen before more than 45,000 students resit their English GCSEs next month - about one in 14 of those who took the exam in June.

In Wales, on the other hand, 2,400 pupils have already received better results after the Welsh education minister, Leighton Andrews, ordered the WJEC exam board to re-grade Welsh students' papers.