Johnson forced into school grades U-turn
Tens of thousands of A-level students in England are to receive increased grades after a major U-turn by the UK government.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who along with Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously defended the “robust” system, apologised for the distress as he said results would now be based on predicted grades.
A major U-turn by the Government will see tens of thousands of A-level students in England receive increased grades, with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson apologising for the distress caused by the debacle.
Following criticism from students and headteachers and complaints from dozens of Tory MPS, grades will now be based on teachers’ assessments rather than a controversial algorithm devised by regulator Ofqual.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Williamson had previously defended the “robust” system, which saw almost 40 per cent of grades reduced from teachers’ predictions. The change will also apply to GCSE results in England, which are due to be released on Thursday.
Mr Williamson apologised for the handling of the process, which followed the cancellation of exams due to coronavirus.
Ofqual’s chairman Roger Taylor admitted the regulator had gone down the “wrong road”. The algorithm was meant to moderate the process of awarding grades, preventing teachers awarding “implausibly high” marks to pupils. But it came under fire over the way it particularly appeared to penalise bright children from disadvantaged schools.
Mr Williamson accepted it had produced more “significant inconsistencies”.