The UK Government is facing a severe backlash after nearly 40 percent of A-level grades were awarded lower than predictions. In Scotland, the SNP government was forced into an embarrassing U-turn after more than 124,000 exam results were controversially downgraded in a similar process. However, Schools Minister Nick Gibb dismissed calls for England to follow suit and back down to demands when confronted on Times Radio.
Mr Gibb insisted: “It creates its own injustice.
“If we had allowed the inflation that would have happened according to the regulator, if we had accepted just the teacher assessment with no adjustment, we’d have had inflation of 12 percent.
“We would have had 38 percent of all grades being A or A* compared to what it is: 27.9.
“The danger of that is you end up devaluing these 2020 A-level qualifications.”
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He continued: “A young person goes to employers, says they’ve got these A-level grades and the employers says, ‘oh but they’re 2020, we had to discount them’.
“That’s what we had to avoid, that is also unjust.
“In the system we’ve got now, 60 percent will get the grades the teacher said and 35 percent will be downgraded by one grade.
“Teachers have worked phenomenally hard during the pandemic, getting assessments in on time and giving the best predictions they could make.”
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson apologised for “the disruption that every child had to suffer” during the pandemic.
Ahead of results day, the cabinet minister introduced a “triple lock” at the last minute.
This allows students to choose whichever result is highest from estimated grades, mocks or exams in the autumn.
All summer exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Government has confirmed that schools in England will resume in September with precautions in place.
