Students condemn 'panic' last-minute changes to A-level results system made the day before grades are announced as Gavin Williamson apologises 'to every single child' caught in the chaos

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Students and parents have condemned 'panicked' changes to the way A-level results in England are decided, saying they have increased stress and reduced fairness.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced late on Tuesday that students will be able to use their results in mock tests to appeal if they are unhappy with the grades they are given - and will also be able to sit exams in the autumn.

The government insists it will not bow to pressure to drop 'standardisation' of A-level grades despite fears a Scottish-style U-turn on giving teachers the final say could hike pass rates by 12 percentage points. 

But ministers are braced for a major backlash tomorrow when students find out their grades after seeing their courses blighted by coronavirus.

Mr Williamson also apologised to every child for 'the disruption that they've had to suffer' but said the 'best thing' was for them to be back in school in September. 

Suzanne Whitton, whose 18-year-old daughter Holly is awaiting A-level results, said the move appeared to be a panicked response following the backlash to Scotland's downgrading of pupils' results - which resulted in an apology and U-turn.

Students and parents have condemned 'panic' changes to the way A-level results in England are decided, after the government watch the grading fiasco unfurl in schools in Scotland. Pictured: Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow

Scottish schools are back weeks before those in England as the holidays finish earlier north of the border

'This feels very much like a knee-jerk panic reaction to me, by a government who has watched Scotland's fiasco unfurl,' said the parent from Wokingham in Berkshire.

'I don't know why they have left it so late to make this decision when it would have put so many students' minds at rest if it had been declared before.

'And what about those students who didn't work hard for mocks and were planning to cram in the last few months to increase their final grade?'

On students now being able to sit exams in the autumn if unhappy with their results, she added: 'A-level students didn't even finish the syllabus so how can anyone be expected to take an exam in six weeks' time?

'The whole thing has not been well thought through and today's news is the icing on the cake.'

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced late on Tuesday that students will be able to use their results in mock tests to appeal if they are unhappy with the grades they are given 

Charlie Heron, from Shenfield High School, Essex, said he is 'not confident' the changes will help him and feels the autumn exams, scheduled for the start of October, come too soon.

'A lot of us in our mocks didn't put in the maximum effort because we had Ucas and university applications to do ... in the end, my mock grades weren't the best,' said the 18-year-old.

'The chance to resit is great, however I think this is too soon and a lot of us haven't received any support or been contacted by our schools during this time.

'I haven't opened any of my books and I didn't even finish my A-level courses, so to sit an exam wouldn't really benefit me in any way.'

Kejti Ismail, from Leicester, studies biology, chemistry and mathematics and said she felt the decision has piled on stress in an already traumatic year.

'Not only have we been off school for around five months, but all the pupils have gone through so much stress at home with the virus and the pandemic,' the 18-year-old said.

'Our results have actually been the last thing on our mind and studying for them because we're too stressed to even think.'

She added: 'No-one prepares for mocks as much as we prepare for the real exams ... I just think it's so unfair.'

Cheyenne Williams, an 18-year-old from Barnhill Community High School in north west London, said: 'I find all of these last-minute changes to be unprofessional and now I feel even more confused and stressed.'

Arrangements similar to Mr Williamson's in Scotland were humiliatingly abandoned by Nicola Sturgeon this week after fury that around 125,000 pupils had been downgraded. The volte face meant that the Higher pass rate is up 14.4 percentage points compared to last year. 

A-level and GCSE pupils will now be able to take the grades they are awarded, appeal through schools, or sit exams in the autumn, in what Mr Williamson has branded a 'triple lock'.

But the government is still resisting calls for a fundamental overhaul of the arrangements or to ditch the 'standardisation' process altogether.

Ofqual has warned that not moderating the marks awarded by teachers would lead to huge grade inflation - with a 12 percentage point rise in the pass rates for A-Levels and 9 per cent for GCSEs.  

Research by University College London released yesterday showed that up to 74 per cent of predicted grades are an overestimate of exam performance.

The study by UCL's Institute of Education also showed 80 per cent of teacher predictions of A-level outcomes from a previous year were inaccurate.

Recruiters are concerned that the use of mock grades in the place of sat A-Levels will disadvantage school leavers if they attempt to join a perilous jobs market.

Jamie Beaumont, founder of Offerd said: 'With unemployment reaching record heights, it's safe to say that the competition for jobs is now incredibly high.

'Sadly those coming out with A-levels will have to compete against university graduates and even more experience jobseekers who have been made redundant because of the virus. 

'Recruiters might see mock grades as a "gimme" for some students and therefore would be more inclined to choose those who have more experience or education behind them.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'This is complete fiasco. It was obvious that this was going to be difficult but it's been weeks or months in the coming.

'To have an 11th-hour decision that's caused widespread chaos amongst teachers I have been speaking to, families and young people - it smacks of incompetence.'

Speaking on a visit to Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Sir Keir said there was a danger that large numbers of young people could be 'robbed of their future'.

Some pupils were wearing face masks at St Paul's High School in Glasgow today, although they are not being encouraged in England

'There has to be a basis for individual young people to be able to appeal against the grading,' he said.

Sir Keir said the concession on mock grades was 'not going to work' because virtually all students would achieve a higher mark.

'The cause for concern here is that, if this is anything like Scotland, it will be the more deprived areas where the grades are down graded. And that's simply not acceptable,' he said.

Sir Keir said the Government needed to allow individual appeals and to mandate colleges and universities to be flexible.

'All of that needs to be put in place and it needs to be put in place before tomorrow is out,' he said. 

A Department for Education source said the moderation process would not be abandoned, stressing that Ofqual had carried out a 'full consultation' on the system in contrast with its Scottish counterpart and it was as fair as possible in the circumstances.

The source insisted that following the Scottish example would 'solve a political problem but create an academic problem for years to come'.

'The inflation problem is a problem that would last for years. If you turn up and say, ''I got As in my A-levels'', people will say ''What year are you?''

'If you replied 2020, they would say, ''Oh yeah.''

'Employers and universities would be sceptical.'

The source admitted that the provision for using mock grades in appeals'may not be used in many cases'.

Tory education committee chair Robert Halfon told MailOnline standardisation should go ahead.

'You definitely need a check and balance, there is no problem with that.

'You also need to have a national standard... I don't believe we should go down the Scottish route at all.'

Mr Halfon insisted there should be a 'genuine appeals process that is for everyone'.

'I welcome what's happened in terms of the mocks, but I think it should be an appeals position that is easy to navigate, especially for disadvantaged pupils,' he said.

England's exams regulator has said it is 'working urgently' to set out what evidence will be needed to ensure mock exam results can be part of an appeal.

A statement from Ofqual said: 'We understand why the Government has wanted to provide some additional assurance for students, by confirming that evidence from valid mock exams can be considered as part of an appeal.

'We are working urgently to operationalise this as fairly as possible and to determine what standards of evidence will be required for the appeal. We will provide more detail early next week.

'We will continue to do everything possible to ensure students achieve grades that are as fair as possible in the circumstances this summer.'

This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured during a visit to St Joseph's Catholic School in Upminster, London) insisted the country had a 'moral duty' to reopen schools next month

However, unions have been scathing about the government's handling of the grading. 

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the mock results must not be 'automatically guaranteed' to be the final results. 

He told BBC Breakfast: 'I think perhaps in response to what's happened in Scotland, what the Government is saying is we need to give another form of appeal to young people. 

'And if what that means is they can say 'point to my mock results, that shows I am better than my final results'.

'So long as that's not automatically guaranteeing that they're going to get that result, which I think just adds another inequality, then I can understand the thinking there – and I suspect it's a Government wanting to show that it too, like the Government in Scotland, is being sympathetic to children and young people in unprecedented times.' 

There have been warnings that middle-ranking students could face a 'lottery' of grades after exams were cancelled this summer.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham said: 'While teachers will generally have a clear idea of the top performers and those who struggle the most, they will be hard-pressed to distinguish those in the middle.'

And Jo Grady, general secretary of University and College Union (UCU), said: 'The rest of the UK must now ensure that no student misses out because of a flawed system of awarding marks.' 

Mr Williamson offered the unprecedented 'triple lock', which will also apply to GCSE pupils, after Nicola Sturgeon performed a U-turn on Scotland's exam results.

Last week, Scottish pupils sitting the equivalent of A-levels received their computer-moderated grades under a similar system to that being used in the rest of the UK.

However, 125,000 results – about one in four – were downgraded from what teachers had predicted, leading to an outcry and complaints that disadvantaged pupils had been hardest hit. 

This morning education minister Nick Gibb defended the Government's decision to allow students to use their mock exam results.

Mr Gibb said only a small number would be affected by the move, which was designed as a 'safety net' to ensure that no students were disadvantaged by the system for assessing their grades following the cancelling of exams.

'It is just making sure at the edges that no student is disadvantaged. This is just to give a safety net for any student who might fall through the system,' he told Sky News.

'It will only affect a small group of people. Most young people tomorrow will get the grade that the teacher sent in to the exam board that they thought they would get.'

He said he believed that the system for assessing A-level and GCSE results remained 'robust' following the latest Government changes.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to the construction site of Hereford County Hospital in Herefordshire

'I am confident that we have a system in place now that is fair and robust and will enable young people to go on to the next phase of their lives,' he told Sky News.

'It is a system that is in place that will not lead to inflation to our grade system, so young people can be proud of the qualifications they get tomorrow.' 

Mr Gibb said in making changes to the exam system in England, the Government had looked at what had happened in Scotland.

'We did look at what happened in Scotland. We were worried about that. We are not changing the fundamental system here as they are in Scotland,' he said.

Mr Gibb insisted that the system was not in 'confusion' and refused to apologise for the late changes.

'There is no confusion. We have been very clear from the very beginning. We had to have a system in place to award qualifications to young people given that we had cancelled the exams,' he said.

'With the best model in the world there will be students who fall outside it. We didn't want any students to suffer disadvantage.

'We apologise to nobody for finding solutions - even at the eleventh hour - to stop any student being disadvantaged by this system.'

But shadow education secretary Kate Green described the Government's announcement on English students using mock exam results to progress to college and university as 'chaotic'.

The MP for Stretford and Urmston said one of the problems is many students would not have sat mock exams.

'I don't think this is a perfect answer at all to what is now becoming a really chaotic situation,' she told BBC Breakfast.

'And very, very worrying for (A-level) students the day before they're due to get their results finding the system changing again.'

She added: 'Not all students will have even taken mock exams and what we've now got is a system which clearly is not fit for purpose. The Government itself is clearly acknowledging that by announcing more and more changes to it.'

Ms Green said there needed to be a 'proper robust' appeals process for students so that they are not dependant on 'systems that may not fairly reflect the work that they've done'.

Giving students the opportunity to retake A-level exams in October is 'not an adequate response', shadow education secretary Kate Green said.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said: 'While it's useful to have as a backstop, there are a couple of concerns with it.

'That will come too late in the day for students who, for example, want to start a college course in September, they won't have their results on time.

'And how are these retakes going to be organised? Schools are already having to make a lot of changes to the school day, to the school premises, to how they organise school when children go back next month because of the need for social distancing.

'So we're still waiting for more information as to how it is that schools will be supported to run these retakes.

'It's important to have them as a backstop, but that is not either an adequate response.'

Ms Green also said there was a risk that students from disadvantaged backgrounds in England would being adversely affected by moderated results based on teacher's predictions.

'I think the core of the option is the right one to have on the table, and especially at this eleventh hour changing the system again is not welcome, but it needs to be made significantly more robust,' she told BBC Breakfast.

She said students needed to be able to appeal if they feel they have been wrongly assessed.

A-level students receiving their results tomorrow will now be able to opt for the grades they got in their mock exams. (Stock image)

The Government said it would set aside £30 million to fund autumn exams for all schools, easing the burden on budgets already stretched to deal with coronavirus measures.

'The SNP failed the test, but we have done more revision,' one government source said.

'This decision in Scotland was a bad decision. It means that in Scotland there are now students walking round with inflated grades that no one will take seriously.

'It's not fair for students this year and it's not fair for students last year. Our system is fundamentally fairer.'

In Scotland, outrage was prompted by the system resulting in deprived students being treated more than twice as harshly as the best-off.

Fighting for his political career yesterday, SNP education secretary John Swinney said the standardisation would be unwound.

'We set out to ensure that the system was fair. We set out to ensure it was credible. But we did not get it right for all young people,' he said. 

Only days earlier, Mr Swinney had justified the exams procedure by revealing that without it, top grades would have surged by up to an unprecedented 14 per cent.

Yesterday's decision means this inflation will come to pass – and raises questions as to how next year's students will be treated, and whether last year's pupils will protest.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: 'They have gone for the most generous option they could have gone for.

'But the decision results in a whole load of questions about whether other exams were fair – for the people that took exams last year and the ones who will take exams next year. 

Anyone who thinks this announcement removes any unfairness is plain wrong. In fact, it introduced new unfairnesses for other people.'

Despite the concerns, government critics lined up to demand a similar about-turn in England.

National Union of Students president Larissa Kennedy agreed 'the UK Government should follow the lead of Scotland by scrapping moderated grades'.  

Scottish exam chiefs are accused of 'tarnishing' their relationship with teachers amid country's grading fiasco

By Rachel Watson, Deputy Scottish Political Editor for the Daily Mail

Exam chiefs have 'tarnished' their relationship with teachers following the fiasco over grades, according to union bosses.

They accused the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) of failing to listen to serious concerns raised by the profession ahead of the publication of pupil grades last week.

Finally there is justice and I can pursue my chosen career 

Olivia Biggart, right, achieved all As in her Higher prelims and expected to achieve the same in the final results.

The 16-year-old, from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, has also been studying for the University Clinical Aptitude Test (Ucat) so that she could study medicine. The SQA downgraded her results to two As and three Bs.

Olivia believed this happened because her school is in a deprived area. She will now be able to apply for medical school in October.

Yesterday, she spoke of her relief at the news teachers' grades will now be recognised. She told The BBC: 'I am over the moon because finally there is justice and I can pursue my career. I am happy with what he said – and glad he apologised to us.'

She added: 'The only thing I didn't like is that students who were over-graded will keep their results but that will all even out over time.

'But overall I am happy. I don't think [John Swinney] had many options. They couldn't reassess every single candidate's results. My dream to become a doctor is still alive.'

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Following John Swinney's dramatic U-turn, unions and teachers yesterday launched a blistering attack on those behind the original decision to downgrade pupils' results based on their school's previous performance.

Teaching union the Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS) and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) led the criticism, warning that the row and failure to recognise students as individuals had caused additional stress and upset for thousands during an already uncertain time.

They also branded the Education Secretary's claims that exams are due to go ahead as planned in 2021 as 'woefully complacent'.

Following the cancellation of exams, teachers had been asked to submit a grade for each pupil based on their performance over the year and in prelims and to rank students in order.

Their decisions were then 'moderated' by the SQA.

But the process sparked outrage after almost 125,000 grades were overturned by SQA bosses.

Yesterday, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said the nation's teachers had been 'extremely diligent' in making professional judgments on pupil grades, claiming that they 'even went the extra mile asked of them by the SQA in subdividing bandings and rankings' for youngsters, despite their 'concerns' over the process.

He said the EIS had warned that 'overturning these estimates' using statistical modelling from previous years 'would lead to an outcry – exactly what has happened'.

Mr Flanagan hit out at the lack of engagement between the SQA and teachers – claiming that bosses 'refused' to hold professional dialogue with the profession.

He added: 'Its standing amongst teachers is undoubtedly tarnished by its role in these matters.'

Mr Flanagan believes the SQA needs to be 'more accountable to the teaching profession, parents and pupils' rather than the Scottish Government and ministers must address how the exam system 'regularly fails children through operating notional quotas'.

The union chief warned that a contingency plan should be in place in case exams are cancelled again next year.

They should have listened to our teachers 

Frangag NicDhòmhnaill, 16, from Acharacle, Argyll, a fifth-year student at Ardnamurchan High School, had expected five Higher As but received two As and three Bs. She had achieved four As and a B in her prelims.

Frangag, right, said: 'I'm really happy with the announcement today. Hopefully I will now get what I got in my prelims.

'It's good they are going to review the results that were downgraded but I think they should also review those that were upgraded.

'I'm hoping I will get straight As which will allow me to apply to study veterinary medicine at university.

'I'm hoping I will find out about my grades soon. They should have gone with the teachers' estimates in the first place.

'The teachers are professionals, they should have listened to them.'

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Mr Flanagan said: 'The current planning for next year's exam diet on the basis of business as usual seems woefully complacent. Scotland's young people and their teachers must not suffer the same fiasco again.'

Mr Flanagan's anger was echoed by Rozanne Foyer, general secretary of the STUC.

She said: 'There was never going to be a perfect solution given the crisis we were in, but further disadvantaging young working-class people at this time of multiple stress and uncertainty would have been a crime.'

Miss Foyer accused the SQA of having a 'lack of faith in the judgment of teachers' and said the downgrading of pupils was 'totally unacceptable'.

She said: 'Teachers were tasked to use their judgment and professionalism to predict young people's grades.

'A timely and robust process was followed by schools to ensure they got it right for the young people in their care and that no young person would be disadvantaged as a result of exam cancellations.

'The wholesale downgrading of pupils and lack of faith in the judgment of teachers – who know their pupils best – because of the schools in question was totally unacceptable.'

The deadline for urgent appeals to be made – for youngsters hoping to go to university – was set for August 14, sparking a rush among teachers to speak to pupils and their families ahead of submitting their grades for a review.

Dorothy MacGinty, headmistress of the independent Kilgraston School, near Perth, said the SQA's moderation process had led to stress and 'avoidable unhappiness' for families across Scotland.

She said: 'The SQA took a whole tranche of results, especially in English and maths, and downgraded them at Higher level.

'This caused a huge level of unnecessary stress for pupils and a vast amount of work for teachers this week coming in and working through hundreds of pages of work to appeal.

'Of course, it's good that we've got the decision turned around but this has caused a huge amount of avoidable unhappiness.'

Speaking to the BBC, Kathryn Neil, an art and photography teacher in Angus, said she was 'so tearful and so happy' at the U-turn. She said: 'It means the world to us. It means the world to them.

It was never a fair way to judge us 

Drew Skinner, 17, a pupil at St Mungo's Academy in Glasgow, wrote a damning, now viral, letter to Education Secretary John Swinney after her grades were lowered by the SQA.

Instead of the expected two As and three Bs for her Highers, she received an A, B and three Cs. Following Mr Swinney's announcement yesterday, Drew, right, from Dennistoun, Glasgow, spoke of her relief.

She said: 'It was absolutely amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect because I felt like all I had been reading was rumours about what he might say.

'It was a shock. A few days ago they were still stubborn in what they were saying. I'm relieved.

'There was a big difference between what I was predicted to get and what the SQA awarded me. Hopefully I will get the results I was predicted now.

'A week between the results coming out and this announcement can be seen as a short or a long time. They say the results should be out for August 21. People will get the results in time for university.

'I don't think it was ever fair to have judged people's academic ability based on where they live.'

 

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'We know how hard they've worked. We know the grade they deserve. We've done our job, we've got them their grades and that's what they deserve.'

Although happy with the U-turn, campaigners have claimed it was motivated by fears over the consequences of the fiasco rather than concern for individual youngsters.

Shona Struthers, chief executive of Colleges Scotland, said the Deputy First Minister's statement had provided 'clarification'.

She added: 'We are pleased that the Scottish Government will ensure there are enough places at colleges to enable young people to continue on to further and higher education courses.

'Colleges will continue to do everything possible to support students with aspirations of coming to college, and we look forward to welcoming all new and returning students back to campuses when the new term starts.

'We acknowledge the difficulties that the global pandemic has presented us all with, however, colleges have been working hard to ensure that they can continue delivering high-quality learning and teaching safely.'

Erin Bleakley, 17, who organised a protest of around 100 pupils in George Square, Glasgow, over how results were reached, said: 'I did not think this day would come.'

The teenager, who attends St Andrew's High School in the east end of the city, previously said she 'crumbled' when four of her six results were downgraded.

After the U-turn, she said: 'I think we would all like to say a generous thank-you for not only the apology but the results being reverted back to teacher estimates.'

Joel Meekison, from the SQA: Where's Our Say campaign, said: 'I don't think that it was problems over what people achieved that made John Swinney stand up and change it.

'I think it was anger and danger over the exam system being perceived as penalising marginalised groups and penalising the most vulnerable and deprived areas.'

A spokesman for the SQA said it acknowledged the strength of feeling 'among individual learners, their parents and carers – and among wider colleagues in the education system'.