A-levels U-turn: Conservatives urge Gavin Williamson to resign

Gavin Williamson was branded a ‘lame duck’ Education Secretary last night as senior Tories urged him to quit over the exams fiasco.

MPs believe he will ultimately get the boot when the Prime Minister reshuffles his Cabinet this autumn.

But former ministers insisted he should go now, saying his position was ‘completely untenable’.

One added: ‘He can’t hang around until autumn. He is a lame duck now.’

Tory MP George Freeman called the situation a ‘shambles’, saying: ‘Ultimately, the Prime Minister is in charge.

‘And I think he will want to take firm control of this and get a grip and show his Government is taking the life chances of a generation of children seriously.

‘I’m told the Prime Minister’s planning to reshuffle in the autumn, and I dare say he wants to take everything into account.’

However, other MPs predicted that Boris Johnson would wait before sacking Mr Williamson, with the Education Secretary likely to cling on until later in the year ‘to take the rap for GCSE results and any chaos that arises when schools reopen’.

University admissions were plunged into chaos after an astonishing government U-turn on exams left Mr Williamson fighting for his job.

Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson in his office at the Department of Education in Westminster, London, following the announcement that A-level and GCSE results in England will now be based on teachers’ assessments

Students hold placards as they protest outside of the constituency office of Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, as he faced pressure to resign

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

MPs predicted that Boris Johnson would wait before sacking Mr Williamson, with the Education Secretary likely to cling on until later in the year ‘to take the rap for GCSE results and any chaos that arises when schools reopen’

Just days after claiming there would be ‘no U-turn, no change’, the Education Secretary scrapped the controversial algorithm system for both A-level and GCSE results.

In a humiliating climbdown, Mr Williamson said teachers’ predicted grades would be used to mark pupils who could not sit their exams because of the coronavirus pandemic. It follows a similar U-turn by the Scottish government.

On a day of drama:

… but he tries to pass the buck to Ofqual as blame game erupts

The Education Secretary appeared to try to point the finger at exams regulator Ofqual last night amid a blame game over the A-level results fiasco.

Gavin Williamson said his department had ‘raised a number of issues’ with the watchdog over how the grading process would work and had been ‘constantly reassured’.

He claimed he had not seen details of the controversial algorithm used to moderate teachers’ grades before the public, meaning he only noticed problems ‘over the weekend’. He said officials then realised it ‘just didn’t actually make sense’.

His comments came hours after Ofqual made a grovelling apology, admitting it had ’caused real anguish and damaged public confidence’.

Ofqual chairman Roger Taylor said the regulator was ‘extremely sorry’ for the fiasco which saw nearly 40 per cent of A-level marks downgraded.

Despite the chaos, the Mail can reveal that the watchdog’s 200 staff were nowhere to be seen at its empty headquarters in Coventry yesterday.

Apart from two receptionists, all were working from home despite Boris Johnson’s calls urging civil servants to get back to their desks.

In a statement last night, Mr Taylor – who is paid £45,000 for two days of work a week – said: ‘Our goal has always been to protect the trust that the public rightly has in educational qualifications.

‘But we recognise that while the approach we adopted attempted to achieve these goals, we also appreciate that it has also caused real anguish and damaged public confidence.’

But Tory MPs were unconvinced and turned on Mr Taylor. Conservative MP Simon Hoare tweeted: ‘What an inarticulate and unconvincing advocate Roger Taylor of Ofqual is.’ And Robert Halfon, Tory chairman of the Commons education committee, said: ‘There clearly need to be serious questions asked about what on earth has gone on.’

Last night, Mr Williamson claimed his department had raised issues about the results process with Ofqual but was ‘constantly reassured’ by the watchdog. But he said when the algorithm was released, officials saw a number of ‘outliers’ so ‘felt action had to be taken’.

Two members of the watchdog’s standards advisory group yesterday admitted publicly that they had had reservations about the algorithm.

Professor Robert Coe described the situation as ‘an absolute shambles’, while Professor Tina Isaacs admitted both the Government and Ofqual desperately needed to ‘claw back’ public confidence. But another member of the advisory board, Professor Caroline Gipps, said Mr Williamson was ‘ultimately responsible’ and should consider resigning.

Mr Williamson yesterday declined to say he had confidence in Ofqual. It is understood there are no imminent resignations expected within the watchdog.

Mr Williamson was forced to make a humiliating apology for the ‘distress’ he has caused young people;
Ofqual chairman Roger Taylor also said he was ‘extremely sorry’;
A snap YouGov poll found that 40 per cent of people think the Education Secretary should resign, and 75 per cent think the Government has handled the exams issue badly;
Ministers were forced to act after a revolt by Tory MPs, which saw dozens go public with their opposition to the controversial algorithm system;
Wales and Northern Ireland also scrapped the algorithm and went back to teachers’ predictions;
Schools minister Nick Gibb was confronted by ‘very angry’ MPs during a Zoom call, with Penny Mordaunt asking why she had to hear about the U-turn from the media first;
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hit out at the Government’s ‘incompetence’;
It emerged that A-level grade inflation will now be higher than it would have been if the Government had never introduced the algorithm.

One former Tory minister last night suggested the PM – who is on holiday in Scotland – had been hiding during the crisis and urged him to send a message of reassurance to the public.

The Tory discontent came as a poll showed that the public think Mr Williamson – who has already presided over the failure to get children back to school before the end of the summer – should quit over the A-levels fiasco by a proportion of two to one.

The snap YouGov poll yesterday found 40 per cent thought the Education Secretary should resign, as opposed to 21 per cent who thought he should remain.

Tory whips contacted MPs early yesterday to tip them off a U-turn was coming, and to ask them to hold back their anger.

Nevertheless, scores took to Twitter to criticise the Government’s approach.

Paymaster General and Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt said she was ‘seeking a further meeting’ with the Department for Education after speaking with parents about exam results. ‘I will be supporting colleges in their appeals, working to ensure those who have the grades on appeal can go to uni this year if that is what they want,’ she said.

Robert Halfon, Tory MP and chairman of education committee, described Ofqual’s algorithm as ‘Kafkaesque’ and said the chaos over appeals was ‘unacceptable’. Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative leader, suggested the fiasco had undermined the Government’s levelling up agenda.

He warned: ‘All of this should have been set against the simple test of how this works for the overall priority of improving the standard of life for those in the lower income group? We have got caught in this bureaucracy.’

Andrea Leadsom, former business secretary: ‘We must deliver transparently fair results for students. This year’s young people have missed out on too much already.’

Rebellious Tory MPs were last night given a Q&A by schools minister Nick Gibb to try to contain the fallout from the mess.

They said the mood was very ‘sombre’ and colleagues were asking detailed questions about their constituents’ cases. One said that the Tory MPs’ Whatsapp group had erupted in fury, adding: ‘You know when Andrea Leadsom kicks off that things are bad.’

One former minister said: ‘The whole thing is hugely damaging to the credibility of the Government.

‘Gavin has put the PM in a difficult position. Though as a former chief whip, he knows where the bodies are buried and I suspect he’ll stay in Government.’ Last night, Coral made Mr Williamson the 2-1 favourite to be the next Cabinet minister to lose his role.

Mr Williamson was a former chief whip under Theresa May before she made him defence secretary.

She later sacked him following a leak from the National Security Council. He then threw in his hat with Mr Johnson, whipping for his leadership campaign, and was rewarded with a job in the education department.

The algorithm resulted in many high-achieving students from poorer areas were deprived of places at top universities. It is unclear if they will now be able to get those places back if their grades improve

Young demonstrators lofted banners and placards with pictures of Gavin Williamson on them, calling for the education secretary to be sacked in Parliament Square, central London, yesterday

Another fine mess: As Government makes humiliating U-turn on exams, poll finds 75% say it’s been a fiasco for Tories. So why is Education Secretary still in a job… and when will PM get a grip?

By Daniel Martin, Josh White and Claire Ellicott for the Daily Mail

University admissions were plunged into chaos last night after an astonishing government U-turn on exams left Gavin Williamson fighting for his job.

Just days after claiming there would be ‘no U-turn, no change’, the Education Secretary scrapped the controversial algorithm system for both A-level and GCSE results.

A snap YouGov poll found that 40 per cent of people think the Education Secretary should resign, and 75 per cent think the Government has handled the exams issue badly

Mr Williamson tried to blame exam regulator Ofqual for the fiasco, saying he only saw problems ‘over the weekend’ when it became clear that tens of thousands of pupils had missed out on university places after their results were downgraded.

Backlash as BTECs are left out

BTEC students were left in limbo last night after they were ruled out of the Government’s exam results U-turn.

Ofqual chairman Roger Taylor confirmed that A-level and GCSE grades would now be calculated on teachers’ assessments – but said the change did not apply to BTECs.

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has vowed to fight for BTEC students to be included in the new policy.

Mr Burnham has threatened to sue the Government over its handling of the exams crisis and he said he would pursue the legal action unless another U-turn was made.

Hundreds of thousands of BTEC students across the country now face being left with grades calculated by Ofqual’s controversial computer algorithm.

But as each BTEC qualification is worth fewer UCAS points than an A-level, the impact of a downgrade is even more severe on BTEC students. It comes after many complained they have still not found out their final results despite expecting to receive them last Thursday.

Exam board Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding body for qualifications including BTECs, A-levels and GCSEs, admitted that there have been significant delays for hundreds of BTEC results.

It means those affected are unable to confirm their university places even though spaces are being rapidly filled up through the clearing process. The exam board said it was looking into the issue ‘urgently’.

Of the Government’s U-turn on exam results, a spokesman said: ‘For the very small number of grades that were adjusted, we will be reviewing them on a case by case basis.’

Boris Johnson signed off on the U-turn during a phone conversation with Mr Williamson yesterday morning, but has refused to cut short his holiday in Scotland to apologise to pupils.

Mr Williamson said last night: ‘This has been an extraordinarily difficult year for young people who were unable to take their exams.

‘We worked with Ofqual to construct the fairest possible model, but it is clear that the process of allocating grades has resulted in more significant inconsistencies than can be resolved through an appeals process.

‘We now believe it is better to offer young people and parents certainty by moving to teacher-assessed grades for both A and AS level and GCSE results.

‘I am sorry for the distress this has caused young people and their parents but hope this announcement will now provide the certainty and reassurance they deserve.’

Mr Williamson said that despite the U-turn, he was unable to guarantee that students would get into their first-choice university.

He added: ‘We expect universities to be flexible and to go above and beyond to be able to honour those commitments… that’s why today we’ve lifted student numbers caps in order for universities to be able to put extra capacity into the system.’

University leaders warned that they might simply not have enough space to give places back to those who had been rejected. Experts said more than 50,000 students who had been forced to accept second-choice institutions could be affected.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said: ‘Today’s policy change will mean that more students will have the grades that match the offer of their first-choice university.

‘This will cause challenges at this late stage in the admissions process – capacity, staffing, placements and facilities – particularly with the social distance measures in place.’ Dr Simon Hyde, general secretary of the Headmasters’ and Headmistress’ Conference, which represents independent schools, said: ‘We need urgent clarity on how universities intend to manage admissions, as there are currently limits to the number of places they can offer. Schools cannot afford a further period of confusion.’

Amid rising anger on the Tory backbenches, former minister George Freeman said Mr Williamson’s job was on the line. He added: ‘I’m told the Prime Minister’s planning to reshuffle in the autumn, and I dare say he wants to take everything into account.’

Mr Williamson refused to say if he had offered his resignation, adding that his focus was on ‘every student getting the grades they deserve’.

Despite saying last week that students might be able to appeal on the basis of their mock exams, the Education Secretary said mock exam results would not be a key part of the appeals process for students in England.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘Students, parents, and teachers will breathe a sigh of relief after days of confusion and dithering by ministers.

‘This decision will, of course, mean that there is grade inflation this year, but that is a small price to pay for remedying the manifest injustices produced by the statistical model used to moderate grades.’

The Department for Education said ‘schools and colleges will inform students of their GCSE centre assessment grades’ on Thursday. Students will only get exam certificates next week.

The department also said universities minister Michelle Donelan will head a new taskforce to ensure students can progress to the next stage of their education.

Students called for ‘justice for state schools’ amid the ongoing argument about the postcode lottery in getting a good grade

Protesters take part in a peaceful demonstration in Parliament Square, central London, in response to the downgrading of A-level results on Thursday

The last demand of today’s protest was for ‘all universities to honour more offers and to allow the time for the appeal process system to be completed’

Placards saying ‘give me back my grades’ and ‘downgrade Williamson, not students’ were waved as students and parents packed out Parliament Square

The London protesters (pictured), replicated in Edinburgh and Cardiff, were calling for the government to ‘recognise the disproportionality of grades within disadvantaged areas and its detrimental impact within society’

One protester stands with her homemade sign with a picture of the Prime Minister, branding him a ‘classist’ and saying: ‘Britain deserves better’

A timeline of exam failure

March 18: Schools are closed and exams cancelled as the UK grinds to a halt under the coronavirus lockdown

March 20: Ministers say Ofqual and exam boards will work out a system for judging grades amid fears from parents that their children could lose out.

July 11: MPs on the Education Committee warn that the calculated grades system could unfairly punish disadvantaged and minority students because of the way it is calculated.

August 4: Scottish Higher results are released, with around 100,000 grades – a quarter of the total – marked down under a plan put in place by Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP administration

August 11: The Scottish Education Minister John Swinney U-turns under pressure from Tories and Labour and says predicted grades will be used instead of the algorithm.

August 11: Ministers in England decide that pupils will be able to appeal against their grades, in some cases using mock exam performance, just two days before the English results are released.

August 13: Almost 40 per cent of A-Level results in England are downgraded by Ofqual’s algorithm, sparking widespread fury and demands for a U-turn.

August 15: Ministers say that it will fund appeals against the marks handed out, in a bid to quell to anger.

August 15: Ofqual withdrawals its appeal criteria just hours after publishing it, pending a review.

August 17: Mr Williamson announces that A-Levels and GCSEs due to be unveiled on Thursday will be calculated using predicted grades, amid calls for his resignation.

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