Ross refuses to back Williamson over exams
● Scottish Tory leader says UK minister should reflect on events
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has refused to give his backing to Gavin Williamson, saying the UK Education Secretary should “reflect on what happened”.
Mr Ross, who had called for Scottish education secretary John Swinney to lose his job after the exams U-turn there, suggested the English minister should have taken action quicker once the problems in Scotland became apparent.
“I think Gavin Williamson and the government and the Department for Education will be reflecting on why did they not see the problem that the SNP had to deal with as a result of their actions in Scotland,” Mr Ross told BBC Radio Scotland yesterday.
Asked whether Mr Williamson should quit, Mr Ross said: “That is a decision for Gavin Williamson. It’s a decision for the Prime Minister, if he continues to have the trust of the Prime Minister.
“I’m not here to say in your report that I think Gavin Williamson has done a great job and he should continue.
“I think he has to reflect on what happened to so many pupils in England, students who were concerned for four days, because we had the exact same up here in Scotland for a week.”
Mr Williamson was warned the exams algorithm would disadvantage poorer pupils around a month before it was axed, it emerged yesterday as the embattled Education Secretary came under fresh scrutiny. Sir Jon Coles, a former Department for Education director-general, issued a clear warning to Mr Williamson that hundreds of thousands of students could receive the wrong grades, it became clear yesterday as pupils learned their GCSE results.
But Mr Williamson pushed on with using the algorithm in England until he came under cross-party fire after nearly 40 per cent of A-level students had their results downgraded.
Sir Jon wrote to Mr Williamson warning the algorithm being used by regulator Ofqual to moderate grades was only 75 per cent accurate and would lead to hundreds of thousands of students getting the wrong grades, according to reports.
Schools minister Nick Gibb insisted officials did act over the warning as he defended the algorithm, which was only scrapped in favour of teachers’ assessments on Monday, with exams being abandoned during the coronavirus crisis.
“I called a meeting with Ofqual and senior officials at the department – this is in midjuly – and we went through the concerns that Jon had,” Mr Gibb said. “He felt that the model as devised would disadvantage young people from poorer families ... I was reassured that it would not.”