GCSE exam paper pulled over ‘inappropriate’ reference to Israel-Gaza war

The UK’s largest exam board has removed a GCSE English language paper from its website because it featured an “inappropriate” question referencing the 2014 Israel-Gaza War.

The Pearson Edexcel’s 2023 International GCSE paper in English language contained a reading comprehension test that asked students to examine an extract from David Knott’s book War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line about his experience performing surgery at a hospital in the Strip during the conflict.

After receiving a complaint by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a pro-Israel advocacy group who argued that the question exhibited “pro-Palestinian bias”, Pearson removed the past paper, its mark scheme and the associated exam report from its website. Pearson also instructed its anti-piracy team to issue a “take-down” notice to third-party websites hosting the question.

According to the complaint: “Students were provided with an extract describing David Nott’s experience as a doctor in a Gaza hospital during the 2014 ‘Israel-Gaza war’.

“He recounts ‘hardcore war-trauma surgery, mostly dealing the effects of bomb-blast injuries’, with a ‘mass-casualty event most days’, concentrating on his treatment of a severely injured young girl.

"He describes how he treated her and stayed with her when others evacuated, despite fearing an imminent fatal attack on the hospital (presumably from Israel), which he describes in great detail (although which never materialised).

"He states that he was ‘so sick of seeing badly injured children’ and that ‘staying with her was a pointless act of defiance against the warmongers’ (presumably referring to Israel).”

The paper, entitled Non-fiction Texts and Transactional Writing, asked students three questions about the passage – including identifying phrases explaining why Knott works in war zones, his thoughts and actions, and what happened a the hospital.

Credit: Pearson Edexcel[Missing Credit]

Students were then instructed to answer a series of comprehension questions about George Alagiah’s A Passage to Africa before writing a comparison between the two texts.

In a letter to Pearson Edexcel, UKLFI said: “The pro-Palestinian bias of this extract relating to controversial political issues could have placed students who are supportive of Israel in an invidious position when answering the related exam questions.”

Credit: Pearson Edexcel[Missing Credit]

By still being available online as a practice paper, students who take the exam as a mock could “suffer similar detriment”, the organisation argued.

In its response UKLFI, seen by the JC, Pearson said that, following a review, it no longer sees the unseen text in the exam paper as “appropriate following the events of October 2023 and the escalation of the conflict”.

Pearson also told UKLFI its anti-piracy team would undertake a “global search” to try and ensure the material is not available on any other websites.

It added that, since the 2023 paper was authored, the organisation has strengthened its review processes to include “additional safeguards” around the selection of unseen texts for English language and other subject assessments.

In a statement to the JC, Pearson said: "Following a review, we have removed a 2023 International GCSE English Language exam paper, mark scheme and examiner report from our website.

“We no longer consider the unseen text it contains to be appropriate in the context of a heightened conflict.

“The wellbeing of students using our assessment materials is our priority."