Education Secretary's statement and reactions on A-levels announcement

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

‘This has been an extraordinarily difficult year for young people who were unable to take their exams.

‘We worked with Ofqual to construct the fairest possible model, but it is clear that the process of allocating grades has resulted in more significant inconsistencies than can be resolved through an appeals process.

‘We now believe it is better to offer young people and parents certainty by moving to teacher assessed grades for both A and AS level and GCSE results.

‘I am sorry for the distress this has caused young people and their parents but hope this announcement will now provide the certainty and reassurance they deserve.’

Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, responding to the Government’s U-turn on exams, said:

“The Government has had months to sort out exams and has now been forced into a screeching U-turn after days of confusion.

“This is a victory for the thousands of young people who have powerfully made their voices heard this past week.

“However, the Tories’ handling of this situation has been a complete fiasco.

“Incompetence has become this Government’s watchword, whether that is on schools, testing or care homes.

“Boris Johnson’s failure to lead is holding Britain back.”

Commenting on the decision, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

"Gavin Williamson has, finally, done the right thing. The pity is that he has done so having exhausted all other options. Students and their teachers have endured days of completely unnecessary stress and worry. For many students, this announcement will generate further uncertainty if they have been rejected from their first-choice course, and university, on the basis of the inaccurate and unjust Ofqual awarding process.

"Young people have suffered enough. They have few chances in the jobs market as the country faces rising unemployment and recession. Gavin Williamson should now announce that the cap on university places is lifted, so that more young people, who have worked so hard for their A Levels, can continue their studies and fulfil their potential.

"One of many lessons for Government to learn from this sorry saga is to listen to the profession. The Department for Education's determination to put all eggs in one basket through a single set of summer exams has come back to haunt them. It is very much a disaster of their own making.

"This is a shameful episode. It must never happen again. The u-turn in Scotland includes a long-term review of the assessment methods used to award qualifications, including the possibility of more coursework and systematic, moderated teacher assessment, and it is critical that the same occurs in England.

"We not only need a careful and systematic review, but an absolute assurance to next year's GCSE and A-Level students that this cannot and will not happen again."

ASCL comment on decision to revert to teacher-assessed grades

Commenting on Ofqual’s decision to revert to teacher-assessed grades in A-levels and GCSEs, instead of grades which have been moderated down, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“We welcome the decision to put an end to the grading fiasco by allowing students to receive teacher-assessed grades rather than grades which have been moderated down.

“Students, parents, and teachers will breathe a sigh of relief after days of confusion and dithering by ministers.

“This decision will, of course, mean that there is grade inflation this year, but that is a small price to pay for remedying the manifest injustices produced by the statistical model used to moderate grades.

“It will provide A-level students with the relief of an immediate solution, and give GCSE students the comfort of knowing that they will not suffer the same injustices in the results due to be published this week.

“We are pleased that the idea of attempting to remedy this situation through the appeals system has now been abandoned as this threatened to become a huge bureaucratic exercise, and prolong the agony of students.

“We and many others in the education sector supported the principle of moderating grades in order to provide consistency. But it is clear that the statistical model has not worked in practice, and that reverting to teacher-assessed grades in this way is the only fair and sensible path forward.”

University and College Union response to Gavin Williamson’s U-turn on A-level results

A U-turn from Gavin Williamson on exam results is to be welcomed but he now needs to provide universities with substantial financial support so that they can protect all jobs, welcome students safely next term and continue to provide world leading teaching and research said the University and College Union (UCU) today (Monday).

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Too many students have had their futures turned upside down because of the mess caused by this government. Gavin Williamson’s “triple-lock” turned out to be a triple-block on student life chances, locking in inequality. This U-turn is welcome, but we should never have got to this position. The political incompetence is unforgivable and there are still many questions to be answered. If he had listened to us and the other voices calling for him to use teacher predicted grades earlier he could have saved us from a weekend of chaos and confusion.

‘Staff facing unbearable workloads trying to deal with this fiasco have also faced needless cuts and threats of redundancy because of the uncertainty created by the government. It now needs to provide substantial financial support to the sector so that universities can protect all jobs, welcome students safely next term and continue to provide world leading teaching and research.’

Responding to the Government’s announcement on this year’s exam results, Nick Hillman, the Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk), said:

‘This news will come as a relief to hundreds of thousands of students, their teachers and their parents. U-turns are never easy but sometimes they are better than the alternatives.

‘The last few days are a reminder that education is not about delivering the right results on average over a whole year group – it is about recognising individual achievements fairly.

‘The new policy is better than the previous one but it will still be a headache for universities. A normal admissions round lasts for months, yet the rules for this year’s round have been torn up just a few weeks before term starts.

‘Institutions will do their best but there are some limits on safe expansion. Nonetheless, hopefully the upheaval will be worth it, with more people finding a place on the right course for them.

‘In the cold light of day, there will need to be a careful post-mortem to ensure this year’s fiasco never happens again.’