The Conservative chair of Westminster’s education committee has branded the decision of the exam regulator to suspend A-Level appeal criteria – just hours after it was published – as “farcical”.
Publishing a brief statement on Saturday evening, Ofqual said the policy was “being review” by its board and that further information would be released in “due course”. No reason for the decision was immediately available.
It will undoubtedly add to the sense of chaos at the regulator and the Department for Education (DfE) over A-Level results, with uncertainty still facing thousands of students who were downgraded by a contentious algorithm used to calculate results.
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Speaking about this decision to drop guidance on appeals, the Tory MP Robert Halfon told BBC Breakfast : “That is a huge mess. Goodness knows what is going on at Ofqual. It sows confusion among pupils, headteachers, school teachers, and it’s the last thing we need at this time.
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1/50 15 August
Piper Colour Sergeant Lil Bahadur Gurung attends the VJ Day National Remembrance event, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Britain
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2/50 14 August
People including students hold placards on Whitehall outside Downing Street as they protest against the downgrading of A-level results. The government faced criticism after education officials downgraded more than a third of pupils’ final grades in a system devised after the coronavirus pandemic led to cancelled exams yes
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1/50 15 August
Piper Colour Sergeant Lil Bahadur Gurung attends the VJ Day National Remembrance event, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Britain
Reuters
2/50 14 August
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AFP via Getty
3/50 13 August
Benita Stipp (centre) and Mimi Ferguson (left) react as students at Norwich School receive their A-Level results
PA
4/50 12 August 2020
A train derailment near Stonehaven has left three people dead. Driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie, and a passenger were killed when the 6.38am Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street service crashed amid heavy rain and flooding
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5/50 11 August 2020
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Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty
6/50 10 August 2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes part in an archery session as he visits Premier Education Summer Camp at Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ in Upminster
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7/50 9 August 2020
People cycle through Cambridge as the heatwave continues in Britain
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8/50 8 August 2020
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9/50 7 August 2020
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16/50 31 July 2020
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Reuters
17/50 30 July 2020
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Stuart Broad celebrates after taking the wicket of West Indies batsman Kraigg Brathwaite. It was a milestone wicket in his career, reaching his 500th Test Wicket for England. They went on to beat the West Indies in Manchester and therefore win the series 2-1
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Demonstrators protest outside the Tate Modern in London over proposed job losses in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown. The group believe that the emergency money provided by the government to culture-based organisations should be used to retain all jobs and that any other use of the funding is unfair. The gallery on London’s South Bank, as well as the Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives, reopened today after closing in March due to lockdown measures meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus
Getty
21/50 26 July 2020
Harry Maguire shakes hands with Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers after Manchester United beat the Foxes. The win meant they finished third in the Premier League and Leicester finished outside a Champions League place in fourth
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22/50 25 July 2020
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25/50 22 July 2020
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28/50 19 July 2020
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30/50 17 July 2020
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31/50 16 July 2020
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The Daily Telegraph/PA
32/50 15 July 2020
Jen Reid poses in front of a black resin and steel statue titled ‘A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020’, which is based on her by Marc Quinn, where it has been installed on the vacant Edward Colston plinth in Bristol city centre. The original statue was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during Black Lives Matter protests
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33/50 14 July 2020
Fields of echium and borage in full flower near the town of Thaxted in Essex
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34/50 13 July 2020
People ride a rollercoaster in a theme park next to Southend pier. Many businesses in tourism and hospitality have been able to reopen after some lockdown measures were eased
Getty
35/50 12 July 2020
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36/50 11 July 2020
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Reuters
37/50 10 July 2020
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Getty
38/50 9 July 2020
Artist Anish Kapoor looks into his sculpture ‘Sky Mirror’ at Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, ahead of the opening of his largest UK exhibition of outdoor sculptures
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39/50 8 July 2020
Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
AFP via Getty
40/50 7 July 2020
A circus performer from the Association of Circus Proprietors in Whitehall, London. The association handed a petition to Downing Street to ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow circuses to reopen
EPA
41/50 6 July 2020
Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, which re-opened to the public after being closed due to the coronavirus lockdown
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43/50 4 July 2020
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AFP via Getty
44/50 3 July 2020
Cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands prior to the League One play-off semi final match between Portsmouth and Oxford United at Fratton Park
PA
45/50 2 July 2020
A diver cleans the inside window of the seal tank at Tynemouth Aquarium in North Shields, as it prepares to open on Saturday after further coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted in England
PA
46/50 1 July 2020
Slackliner Sandor Nagy practices on the beach in Boscombe, on the south coast of England
AFP via Getty
47/50 30 June 2020
(left to right) Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill attending the funeral of senior Irish Republican and former leading IRA figure Bobby Storey in west Belfast
PA
48/50 29 June 2020
Former Team GB Rhythmic Gymnastic dancer Hannah Martin during a training session at Ouse Valley Viaduct in Sussex
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49/50 28 June 2020
People visit Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, that recently reopened following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restriction
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50/50 27 June 2020
A protest for Justice for Shukri Abdi on Trafalgar Square in London, following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK
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“We need a ronseal appeal system that is simple, people understand it, that it’s fair and it helps young people climb the education ladder of opportunity.
“My own view that remains is what should happen is every individual student who feels that their grades are unfair, they should be able to appeal through their headteacher and make sure they get a fair crack of the whip in terms of finding out whether their grades are fair or not.”
Mr Halfon described also described the move as “unacceptable”, adding: “This has got to be sorted out. We have to have a ronseal appeals system, not a kind of kafkaesque exam grades no one understands.”
Pressed on whether he believed Mr Williamson was the right person for the job, he replied: “I’m not going to get into the personalities. It’s the prime minister who chooses his government. I’m chair of the educations select committee. I think what parents, pupils, teachers just want is this mess to be sorted out and that has to be the priority for all the players involved.”
Liberal Democrat leader Layla Moran, however, added: “This is embarrassing for the government and excruciating for students. We need clarity and urgently. But we just get chaos and confusion. Gavin Williamson must take responsibility and resign.”
In its statement, an Ofqual spokesperson, said: “Earlier today we published information about mock exam results in appeals. This policy is being reviewed by the Ofqual Board and further information will be published in due course.”
The previously published guidance set out eight criteria that mock exams needed to meet if they were to be considered “valid” under the appeals process.
It also said non-exam assessments could be considered in appeals, meaning recordings of performances by drama students, art work by arts students and practical projects by technology students could be relied upon as evidence.
Labour had accused the education secretary of backtracking on assurances given to students about the appeals process.
Mr Williamson gave a “triple lock” commitment that students could use the highest result out of their teacher’s predicted grade, their mock exam or sitting the actual exam in the autumn.
However, in its document, which has now been removed, Ofqual said that if the mock result was higher than the teacher’s prediction, it was the teacher’s prediction which would count.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “Gavin Williamson promised to give students a triple lock, but instead he left many devastated by unfair exam results, and now his commitment to give them another chance is rapidly unravelling,” she said.
“Having promised that students will be able to use a valid mock result, the reality is that many will not receive these grades even if they represent a student’s best result.
“The latest chaos is the inevitable consequence of this Government’s shambolic approach to exams, which saw solutions dreamt up on the back of a cigarette packet and announced barely a day before young people received their results.”