Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ruled out further changes to the grading system in the face of any exams backlash. Asked on Sky News whether a Nicola Sturgeon-like U-turn was to be expected from the Government should pupils in England be unhappy with their A-leves and GSCE results, Mr Williamson said: “When we consulted widely in terms of the whole system of awarding this is the message that we got from everyone.
“This is the right approach to go forward.
“You’ve got to have the system that has checks and balances and that looks at the whole performance and make sure it maintains the standards within the exam system to ensure that those results carry credibility.”
The Tory frontbencher also reiterated his pledge on Times Radio earlier on Thursday morning, when he said: “What is clear to me is there will be some youngsters, no matter how much we try to do in terms of this system to maximise the fairness of it, who don’t get the grade they should have potentially have got.
“That’s why we need to have a really robust system, that’s why we’ve got the triple lock.”
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Mr Williamson said this would provide “robust grounds of appeal” and allow pupils to take exams later in the year if required.
Asked if he was prepared to change the system again amid threats of legal action from parents, Mr Williamson replied: “We’re not going to be changing this system again.
“We believe that we’ve put in place – in terms of the triple lock, in terms of the actions we’ve taken – a system that is able to put its arm round those youngsters where there has been a grade that has been unfair on them and is able to put that right.”
Pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds would have been at “high risk” of losing out compared to their more middle-class counterparts if exams had been delayed rather than cancelled, Mr Williamson added.
Asked if he regretted not pushing for exams to be delayed until June, he said: “If we’d been in a situation where we tried to delay the exams – and this is what happened in Ireland – what became apparent is that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, who maybe hadn’t had the same level of support and help, would have been at a maybe high risk of not either turning up to those exams or not having had the same level of support in the run-up to those exams as children from more middle-class backgrounds.”
It came hours after Scotland’s Education Secretary announced that moderated calculated grades would be scrapped following an outcry after more than 124,000 results were downgraded.
School and university leaders have demanded clarity from ministers on how the appeals process in England will work and whether it will be completed in time for universities opening in the autumn.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said teachers are likely to face questions from “disgruntled” students over appeals on Thursday which they will struggle to answer due to the last-minute announcement and lack of detail about how the process will work.
The Ucas deadline for applicants to meet their academic offer conditions is September 7, which leaves exam boards less than four weeks to issue outcomes of appeals from schools and colleges.
Some universities are concerned that students may not be given enough time to secure a final grade ahead of the start of term in autumn.
