Gavin Williamson today insisted he intends to stay on as Education Secretary long into the future despite growing calls for him to quit over the A-level results fiasco.
Mr Williamson yesterday announced a screeching U-turn as the Government said grades will now be based on teachers’ assessments rather than a controversial algorithm developed by regulator Ofqual.
The algorithm resulted in almost 40 per cent of grades issued being lower than teacher predictions, prompting widespread pupil and parent anger.
Mr Williamson apologised for the ‘distress’ caused by the debacle as tens of thousands of pupils face an uncertain future with universities now trying to find them places on courses which could already be at capacity.
The Education Secretary said this morning he was ‘incredibly sorry’ but repeatedly refused to say whether he had offered his resignation to Boris Johnson.
But signalling his intention to dig in amid mounting calls for him to resign, Mr Williamson said he is ‘absolutely determined over the coming year that I am going to be delivering the world’s best education system’.
Mr Williamson attempted to deflect some of the blame for the situation onto Ofqual as he said the Government had been assured that the algorithm ‘would stand scrutiny’ and that the regulator ‘didn’t deliver’.
Despite the calls for Mr Williamson to be sacked, Government sources have said Mr Johnson values loyalty and that the Education Secretary has been ‘with the Prime Minister from the start’.
Many Tory MPs therefore believe that Mr Johnson will not be ‘bounced’ into getting rid of the Cabinet minister.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the A-Level results row ‘sums up’ the Government’s ‘incompetent’ handling of the pandemic.
‘At a time of national emergency, this is no way to run a country,’ he wrote in The Mirror. ‘The Tories’ incompetence is holding Britain back from recovery.’
Yesterday’s change in tack also applies to GCSE results – due to be released on Thursday – with pupils now set to be awarded either their algorithm-adjusted or teacher estimated grades , whichever are higher.
Gavin Williamson today refused to say whether he had offered his resignation to Boris Johnson over the A-level results row
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wrote in the Daily Mirror the Conservatives’ handling of the situation ‘sums up their handling of this pandemic – incompetent’
Mr Williamson had originally said that the Government would not change tack over the algorithm issue as anger grew.
But pressure mounted on him to change the policy as students protested in Whitehall and in the Education Secretary’s constituency.
Despite yesterday’s U-turn, Mr Williamson posed for pictures in his Department for Education office in an apparent sign that he is confident of remaining in post.
Mr Williamson was repeatedly asked this morning during an interview on BBC Breakfast whether he had offered his resignation to the PM but he would not be drawn.
He said: ‘I spoke with the Prime Minister, explained the situation, the fact that we needed to move to centre assessed grades because it was the fairest system and the right system to do.
‘But my focus is making sure that every student gets the grades that they deserve, making sure that we deliver the return of all children back to school in September.’
Pushed again on whether he had offered his resignation or if he intended to, Mr Williamson suggested he wants to stay in the role for the long term.
‘What we are doing is we are focused on delivering the grades for those children,’ he said.
‘We are making sure that we are going to make sure that all schools are returned and I am absolutely determined over the coming year that I am going to be delivering the world’s best education system, the improvements and reforms that we have made over the last 10 years, they need to be built on.
‘That is what our focus is. That is what my focus is on. And that is what the Prime Minister’s focus is on. That is what I am going to be doing.’
Mr Williamson again apologised to students as he said: ‘As someone who went to a comprehensive school, who went to a sixth form college, I am not going to be sat there when the evidence is there that there are problems action has to be taken and that is what we did yesterday.
‘Of course, as you can absolutely imagine, I am incredibly sorry for the distress that this has caused for those youngsters.’
Meanwhile, the Education Secretary suggested that Ofqual is at least partially to blame for the results fiasco.
He told Sky News: ‘We had every confidence because of the extensive consultation and broad consultation that we’d sort of done in terms of the development of the system that what had been developed by Ofqual would be something that would stand scrutiny and would have the robustness that wasn’t the case in the Scottish system.’
He later went even further as he suggested Ofqual ‘didn’t deliver’ over the A-level results calculation process after exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to LBC, the Education Secretary said he had worked ‘very closely’ with Ofqual, which had aimed to ensure there was ‘fairness’ and ‘transparency’ in this year’s grading system.
When it was put to him that Ofqual had ‘failed’, Mr Williamson said: ‘We ended up in a situation where Ofqual didn’t deliver the system that we had been reassured and believed that would be in place.’
Asked if he had confidence in the regulator, Mr Williamson said: ‘It is quite clear that there have been some real challenges in terms of what Ofqual have been able to deliver.’
And asked if he had confidence in chief regulator Sally Collier, Mr Williamson said: ‘Our focus and what I expect from Ofqual is to ensure that they deliver the grades that youngsters need over … this week and over the next few weeks and ensure that the appeals process is properly managed and people get the grades that they’ve worked towards and that they deserve.’
Mr Williamson said the fall-out from the A-level results U-turn was a ‘tough moment’.
‘But at every stage I know that every action that we’ve taken, we’ve taken those actions in order to act in the best interests of students and preserving the integrity of the system, making sure that students get the fair result,’ he said.
The U-turn means that universities are now frantically trying to figure out how to allocate places to pupils who may have been turned down when their initial grades were not good enough last week.
A level students celebrate outside the Department for Education in London after it was confirmed that candidates in England will be given grades estimated by their teachers, rather than by an algorithm
Mr Williamson posed for pictures in his Whitehall office yesterday in an apparent sign that he was confident of keeping his job
Experts have warned that some 55,000 students might now try to switch back to institutions that rejected them.
Mr Williamson acknowledged that universities face challenges as he said the Government has set up a task force to look at how capacity can be increased this year and next year.
‘We recognise some of the real challenges that universities face,’ he told the BBC.
‘We know that there’s a clear expectation that is on universities for them to welcome in so many youngsters who have achieved those grades. We’re working with those universities to ensure that they’re able to welcome as many youngsters to them as possible.’
Mr Williamson added: ‘We’re going to have a record year of the number of people who are going to university and we’ll work with the sector to ensure they have as much capacity.’
The Government has lifted the student number cap for universities to allow them to increase admissions.
Mr Williamson said this would enable universities to access greater funding, telling LBC: ‘By actually lifting the student number caps it can be an unlimited number of places that universities will be able to recruit to.’
Tory MPs had warned that they were ready to go ‘on the warpath’ unless the Government remedied the situation.
But many do not believe that the debacle will cost Mr Williamson his job in the Cabinet.
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, told The Times: ‘Different MPs have seen different priorities. Some wanted to see us hold the line on grade inflation, others wanted us to relax it. There is not a monolith of Tory MPs calling for the head of any secretary of state.’
Another Tory MP told the newspaper: ‘This is a government that will never be bullied into anything. I expect to see [Mr Williamson] there in the next week and the next week. The Prime Minister is not going to be bounced.’
However, there remains considerable Tory anger over the Government’s handling of the results row.
Robert Halfon, the Conservative chairman of the Education Select Committee, described the situation as a ‘mega-mess’.
Asked who is to blame for the problems in the exams system, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘We need to find that out. I’d like to see the minutes of everything that has gone on.
‘We warned in our Education Select Committee report that was published in early July that there would be significant problems with this and it might hurt the disadvantaged.
Students hold placards as they protest outside of the constituency office of Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, as he faced pressure to resign
‘We urged Ofqual to widen the appeals process and publish their model, this so-called algorithm, so it could be subject to scrutiny. They refused to do this.
‘I think we should see the minutes from Ofqual and what’s gone on with the Department for Education (DfE), I also think we should find out how much this has cost the taxpayer just so that we make sure that this never happens again.’
He added: ‘What has happened has been a mega-mess and I really feel sorry for all the pupils and students and parents across the country who’ve had so much anguish over the past week through no fault of their own.’
On Sky News this morning Mr Williamson said he had first become aware of problems with the algorithm at the weekend.
He said: ‘Well, it became apparent that there were challenges within the algorithm when we were seeing the results directly coming out and then over the weekend.
‘We’d got concerns before… when we saw what had happened in Scotland, we wanted to have a more robust system put in place.’
Shadow education secretary Kate Green has written to Mr Williamson with 15 questions to answer about the results chaos, including asking when students will receive their new grades and whether there will still be a free appeals process.
She welcomed the Government having ‘finally reversed its position’ after mounting calls from students, teachers and Conservative MPs.
‘However, the confusion of the past few weeks, and delay in making these important decisions, mean there are now important outstanding issues on which students, parents and institutions need urgent clarity,’ she added.
Whether students who have accepted an offer based on their moderated grades can switch institutions and how universities will be supported by the move to scrap the temporary limit on places were also among her queries.
She called for Mr Williamson to confirm no universities will be ‘allowed to fail financially’ as a result of the changes and for the Cabinet minister to set out the position relating to BTEC students’ grades.
In a statement, the Labour frontbencher said: ‘This was a welcome and necessary change in policy, but we should never have been in this position as the government has had months to get this right.
‘The delay and chaos accompanying means that students, families, and education providers have no answers to essential questions.’
Shadow universities minister Emma Hardy said that the delay in making the U-turn has caused a ‘massive headache’ for teachers.
She told BBC Breakfast: ‘His [Mr Williamson’s] delay in making this decision has meant that more and more places at university have been filled up.
‘Many students have gone ahead and accepted their second-place offers or other offers, or in fact got offers that maybe in the past they wouldn’t have actually been entitled to.
‘This has created a massive headache for our entire universities system. It’s so frustrating because it’s something that could have been avoided.’
What grades can now be used and will I still get into my first choice university? Answers to your questions after A-level and GCSE U-turn chaos
by Mark Duell for MailOnline
Students in England have been told their A-level grades will now be based on teachers’ assessments – if they were higher than the moderated grades they received.
GCSE students who are anxiously awaiting their results on Thursday can also opt for grades based on their teachers’ estimates rather than the controversial algorithm devised by exams regulator Ofqual.
The Government’s U-turn comes after Ofqual revealed that nearly two in five (39.1 per cent) A-level grades in England were reduced from teachers’ predictions.
Here is a breakdown of what the decision means for students:
What was the original plan?
After exams were cancelled, Ofqual, the exam regulator, asked teachers to submit grades for students and list them in order of ability. However, it was apparent that many had been overly optimistic. It was decided that more reliance would need to be placed on statistical modelling – or ‘standardisation’. This led to the algorithm which was used to calculate grades.
Why was this controversial?
A huge proportion of teachers’ predictions were deemed useless. A school’s performance in previous years played a greater role – reducing 40 per cent of A-levels, and an even higher proportion of GCSEs. The system penalised students at low-performing schools in poor areas. Its aim was only to preserve existing trends – including educational inequality.
A group of students at Norwich School react as they receive their A-Level results last Thursday
What has now changed?
Before yesterday’s U-turn, Ofqual loosened its strict criteria on appeals, saying schools could challenge results.
But the onus on schools to submit evidence that their grades were wrong meant the row deepened. The Scottish government was first to U-turn, promising to restore the original teacher predictions.
Westminster came up with a ‘triple lock’ guarantee, meaning pupils could fall back on mock exam grades or take fresh papers in October. But after a weekend of confusion, it announced England would also allow teachers’ grades.
How will they get new grades?
Guidance is yet to be issued by the Department for Education, but it is assumed that boards will send out new exam certificates in the coming days for A-level students. The Government has said GCSE results will not be delayed, so they should also reflect teachers’ grades.
Which grades can now be used?
A-level and GCSE students in England will now be able to use their centre assessment grades (CAGs) – the grades submitted by schools and colleges to the exam boards – if they are higher than the moderated grade.
Teachers were told to submit the grades they thought each student would most likely have received if they had sat the papers, after this summer’s exams were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Exam boards moderated these grades to ensure this year’s results were not significantly higher than previous years using an algorithm created by England’s exams regulator.
Students can keep their calculated grade from exam boards, but if their schools’ original estimated grade was higher then they can also use that result.
Students receive their A-level results at City Academy Hackney in East London last Thursday
What were the issues with moderated grades?
Critics complained that Ofqual’s algorithm – which was used by exam boards to make the adjustments – had penalised pupils in schools in more disadvantaged areas, while benefiting those in private schools.
Head teachers reported that schools and colleges with larger cohorts saw more of their students’ grades downgraded, while those with smaller cohorts did not appear to be as affected.
Politicians and education unions called on ministers to scrap the unfair model and revert to teachers’ estimated grades to ensure students could progress into higher education and employment.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has admitted that the algorithm produced more ‘significant inconsistencies’ than could be rectified through an appeals process.
Can appeals still be made on the basis of mock exams?
Last week, Mr Williamson gave a ‘triple lock’ pledge that students could use the highest result out of their calculated grade from exam boards, their mock exam or sitting the actual exam in the autumn.
But following the decision to allow teachers’ grades to be used instead, the Education Secretary has said mock exam results will not be a key part of the appeals process for A-level and GCSE students in England.
Students who are unhappy with both their calculated grade and centre assessment grade will still be able to sit exams in the autumn.
Further details and guidance on how appeals can be processed have still not been published.
The Ucas deadline for applicants to meet their offer conditions is September 7, leaving exam boards only a matter of weeks to issue outcomes of appeals.
Students wearing face masks take part in a protest in London over A-level results on Saturday
Will universities be able to admit students who now have the grades?
The Government has said it will remove temporary student number controls – introduced this year to stop over-recruitment due to Covid-19 – to remove potential barriers to students being able to progress.
Ministers have called on universities to be as flexible as possible when looking at who to admit on to a degree course, adding that they expect institutions to honour all offers made and met.
But some institutions have already raised concerns about a lack of capacity, staffing, accommodation and facilities if numbers increase – especially at a time when universities are trying to be Covid-secure.
Students who have now secured their first choice following the Government’s announcement may be asked to defer their place by a year if there is no space left on their preferred course.
The Government said students who have accepted an offer will be able to release themselves if they have another offer reinstated.
What will happen with BTEC students’ grades?
Students have called for urgent clarity on how BTEC students will be affected by the announcement.
Mr Williamson said the Department for Education (DfE) is working with BTEC awarding body Pearson and he is hopeful that the change will be extended to the vocational qualifications.
What is happening in the other devolved nations?
Last week, the Scottish Government was forced into a U-turn after a backlash about the moderation system used there. Students complained after more than 124,000 test results were brought down.
It was announced that the lower results would revert to the grades estimated by pupils’ teachers.
Less than a week later – just four days after A-level results were awarded in England, Northern Ireland and Wales – the devolved administrations also announced they were moving to teacher-assessed grades.
Most A-level and GCSE students will be given grades predicted by teachers in Northern Ireland following an outcry from teachers, parents and pupils.
Like elsewhere in the UK, Welsh pupils will now be awarded results on the basis of teacher assessments rather than an algorithm for grading A-levels and GCSEs.