Young lives ‘messed up’ by exam chaos - mayor
ANDY Burnham has said young lives are being ‘messed up by ineptitude’ over A-level result ‘chaos.’
On Thursday thousands of sixth form and college leavers in England and Wales received their final grades – despite exams being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, their results have been based on predicted outcomes but, in a last minute change from the government, pupils can use mock results to appeal their grades.
Figures revealed that nearly 40 per cent of A-level grades in England were downgraded leaving some students’ devastated with calls for a review and education secretary Gavin Williamson to resign.
Mr Burnham has also called on the government to ‘admit today that they got it wrong.’
The Greater Manchester Mayor made his comments after Ofqual issued guidance on how to appeal results on Saturday - before swiftly removing it and suspending its criteria.
Sharing Ofqual’s brief statement on Twitter, Mr Burnham said: “And look at this chaos. Thousands of young lives are being completely messed up by this ineptitude.
“If they had any decency, they would admit today that they got it wrong and let the grades stand as assessed by schools and colleges.”
Some students are taking legal action against Ofqual after its “moderated” algorithm downgraded their results, leaving many missing out on university places.
Labour has also come out and said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson must take “personal responsibility” for the A-level ‘crisis’ and urgent action is needed to avoid a repeat next week when GCSE results are released.
In a statement, deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Gavin Williamson’s handling of this year’s exam results has been a complete and utter fiasco. We have had weeks of chaos, confusion and incompetence.
“And yet Boris Johnson has been nowhere to be seen. He has been watching from the sidelines while a generation of young people are being robbed of their future.
“We cannot have another week like this. The Prime Minister must now take personal responsibility for this crisis by addressing the country in the next 24 hours to explain precisely how he will end this historic injustice.
“No student should be worse off because of government failure. What we need is a return to teacher assessments for this year’s A-level results and urgent action to avoid a repeat of the same injustice affecting hundreds of thousands of GCSE students this week.”
● Boris Johnson urged to ‘get a grip’ on A-levels - see National page