Education secretary Gavin Williamson has apologised for the ‘disruption’ pupils have had to deal with as thousands wake up to their A-level results this morning.
More than a quarter of a million pupils will find out their results today, amid confusion after last-minute changes were made to grades.
School leavers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving calculated grades to help them progress onto university, work or training after this summer’s exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Around one in four entries are expected to be awarded the top grades.
But in an eleventh-hour U-turn the education secretary told students they can use mock results if they are unhappy with the calculated grades they are awarded today.
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Mr Williamson said last night: ‘I apologise to every single child right across the country for the disruption that they’ve had to suffer.’
But he added the ‘overwhelming majority’ would receive grades that were ‘credible’ and ‘strong’.
‘Grades awarded today will open up the doors of opportunity for young people to progress to the next stage of their lives, whether studying at one of our world-class universities, taking up an apprenticeship or embarking on the start of their careers,’ he said.
‘Any students who feel they have grounds for appeal now have the safety net of being able to use their mock results as evidence, as well as the chance of sitting autumn exams, thanks to our triple lock process to ensure confidence and fairness in the system.
‘The resilience they have shown during these challenging times will serve them well and I wish them all the very best for the future.’
The Government announced late on Tuesday students in England will have the ‘safety net’ of being able to use mock exam results as the basis for an appeal if they are higher than the calculated grade.
It came just hours after Scotland’s education secretary announced moderated calculated grades would be scrapped and reversed the downgrading of more than 124,000 results.
But the education secretary gave his assurance that he will not make the same exams grade U-turn as was seen in Scotland.
Mr Williamson told Sky News this morning: ‘Absolutely, when we’ve consulted widely, when Ofqual consulted widely (on) 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 a system that has checks and balances, that looks at the whole performance and making sure you maintain standards within the exam system, to ensure those results carry credibility.’
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, said teachers are likely to face questions from ‘disgruntled’ students on Thursday, which they will find difficult to answer due to the last-minute announcement and lack of detail about how the process will work.
‘Young people are going to come in to get their grades – many of whom we hope will be delighted, some of whom will be disappointed,’ Mr Barton said.
‘Some will be perhaps deeply disgruntled and will say, “So that appeal process using my mock exam, how does that work Miss?” and Miss isn’t going to be able to reply unless we hear pretty urgently about it.
‘I think there will be a sense from school leaders of us being put in a position of being on the back foot. I think there will be very deep frustration around that on a day which is always emotionally highly charged, but it’s likely to be more so because of this announcement.’
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.
Professor Julia Buckingham, president of Universities UK, told students that universities will be as flexible as they can and urged students to look at the courses available in clearing.
Last year, 25.5% of UK entries were awarded an A or A* grades, the lowest proportion since 2007, according to statistics published by the Joint Council for Qualifications.
England’s exams regulator Ofqual previously said that due to the disruption, the national results are likely to be higher this summer than previous years.
Teachers were told to submit the grades they thought each student would have received if they had sat the papers after exams were cancelled. Exam boards have moderated these grades to ensure this year’s results are not significantly higher than previous years.
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