QUARTER of all GCSE pupils get A/A* equivalent grades

A record high proportion of GCSE entries in England were today awarded the equivalent of A* or As after a Government U-turn meant results could be based on teachers’ estimated grades amid cancelled exams.

Hundreds of thousands of youngsters received their results at 8am this morning following major changes – but around 200,000 Btec pupils will not get their final results following a last-minute review of grades.

More than one in four (25.9 per cent) GCSE entries in England scored one of the three top grades of 7 to 9 this year, up from just over a fifth (20.7 per cent) last summer, figures from exams regulator Ofqual show.

The proportion receiving the top grades – at least a 7 or an A grade – is a record high based on available data following the decision to award grades based on teachers’ assessments, rather than an algorithm. It also raises the prospect of a record number of students going on to do A-levels at colleges and sixth forms.

The subject with the highest proportion of pupils gaining a 7 to 9 grade was classics at 74.6 per cent, followed by modern languages other than French, German and Spanish, and triple science (biology, chemistry and physics) at 53 per cent. 

More than three in four (76 per cent) entries were awarded at least a 4 or a C grade in England this summer, which is up 8.9 percentage points on last year when 67.1 per cent achieved the grades.

It comes after GCSE and A-level students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were told they would now be awarded the higher of either their teachers’ grade or the moderated grade following an outcry. In other developments today:

• 500,000 BTEC students must wait another week to get their grades after the exam board axed results;
• Frustrated students and parents were left waiting for GCSE results after their email failed to arrive at 8am;
• Schools minister Nick Gibb apologised to students for the ‘pain and the anxiety’ they felt before U-turn;
• Thousands of A-level entries have been upgraded following the U-turn on the way results are awarded;
• The appeals process for students unhappy with their results is still unclear following the U-turn.

Last week, nearly two in five (39.1 per cent) of the A-level grades submitted by schools and colleges in England – around 280,000 entries in total – were adjusted down after moderation. 

Exam boards had moderated the grades – using an algorithm from Ofqual – to ensure this year’s results were not significantly higher than previously and the value of students’ grades was not undermined. 

Traditional A*-G GCSE grades have been scrapped and replaced in England with a 9-1 system with 9 the highest result. A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 broadly equivalent to an A.

Students receiving GCSE results this summer will get numerical grades for all their subjects as all courses have now moved over to the new grading system.

This graph shows the proportion of students in England achieving an A/7 or above – and a C/4 or above – has shot up this year

Students at Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury in the West Midlands react today as they receive their GCSE results

Students react as they check their GCSE results today at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire

A student reacts after reading her GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

Ellie Barnes gets her GCSE results with her parents at The Bewdley School in Worcestershire this morning

A student checks her GCSE results this morning at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire

Secondary school students with their GCSE results at Kingsdale Foundation School in South London this morning

Btec grades were not included in the original U-turn, but at 4.30pm yesterday – with just hours to go until results were released at 8am today – Pearson said it would regrade Btecs to ‘address concerns about unfairness’. 

The exam board told schools and colleges not to publish level 1 and 2 results in the vocational qualifications on Thursday to give them more time to recalculate the grades. 

Schools minister Nick Gibb has apologised to students for the ‘pain and the anxiety’ they felt before this week’s grading U-turn.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘To those hundreds of thousands of young people receiving their GCSE grades and the A level students receiving recalculated grades, I will say this to them, congratulations on what you have achieved.

‘But also how sorry I am for the pain, the anxiety and the uncertainty that they will have suffered as a consequence of the grading issues we encountered last week. And to reassure them that we are doing everything we can to put these matters right.’

One student called Hannah, who attends a grammar school on the Wirral, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I’m definitely less stressed now they’ve said we’re getting the predicted grades from what the teachers said or the algorithm grade if it’s higher which is a much fairer system but there’s still a lot of stress because it’s quite a big day.

‘I want to study biology, psychology and history I do think it might be an issue that everyone is essentially going to get their grade inflated but part of me thinks that in this one year, why don’t we all just have better grades?

‘We didn’t exactly expect this whole situation to happen and it is extremely unique circumstances so I don’t really think it’s a massive issue that everyone has a grade inflated because at the start of this year we all thought we were taking exams. 

A student reacts as she checks her GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire, this morning

Principle Tim Dainty looks at the GCSE results of Brenda Cinotti at Ark Evelyn Grace Academy in London today

Sixteen-year-old Thomas Milner from Lewes Old Grammar School gets a kiss from his mother Debbie this morning

Students discuss their GCSE results at Ark Evelyn Grace Academy in London this morning

Parents and a student react after checking the GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

Kayla Nemeth smiles as she checks her GCSE results at Ffynone House school in Swansea, South Wales, this morning

Students Simranjit Kaur (left) and Nayab Nasir (right) at Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury, West Midlands, this morning

A student reacts as she checks her GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire, this morning

‘Obviously we were told all the exams were cancelled so there’s not really a need to do much (learning). But if we needed to resit for whatever reason then I don’t think it will be possible because we literally haven’t learned any GCSE content for six months.’ 

She later added that she got four 8s, four 7s, one 5 and one six, saying: ‘That’s what I need to go to college.’

Hannah is now going to study biology, psychology and history at college, but said she felt Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had ‘not been very reassuring throughout this whole thing’ and this would ‘definitely affect how I’m going to vote in the next election’.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘Congratulations to everyone receiving their GCSE results today.

‘I know the last few months have been tough and this isn’t how you imagined you would be finishing Year 11, but you can be proud of how you helped to keep the virus under control.

‘You have literally saved lives through staying at home and keeping distance from others.

‘Thank you for protecting yourselves, your families and your communities this year. And once again – congratulations and well done!’

Mr Gibb said he is hopeful that students will get their Btec results next week. Asked when they will receive their grades, Mr Gibb told the BBC: ‘Well as soon as possible, but I hope next week.

‘Pearson are working to correct and to review those grades and to reissue them. And we’re working closely with Ucas and the independent regulator and exam boards to make sure that no young person will be disadvantaged as a consequence of that delay.’

He added: ‘Having spoken to Pearson and all the exam boards yesterday, I believe that they will be delivered next week.’

It is still unclear what the appeals process will be for GCSE and A-level students who are unhappy with their results following the U-turn.

But England’s exams regulator previously said individual pupils would not be allowed to challenge teacher-assessed grades.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), is expecting staff to have ‘challenging’ conversations with GCSE students unhappy with results. 

He said one sixth form college was threatened with a solicitor and had to deal with ‘abusive’ parents’ after ‘all hell broke loose’ over the colleges’ estimated grades for A-levels last week.  

Mr Barton also said the Government remains without a contingency plan in the event of further disruption next year.

He said in a statement today: ‘This year more students will receive higher grades because of the decision to revert to centre-assessed grades.

‘But this is by accident rather than by design. In the longer term, we have to think again about our statistics-fixated system. We have to do better.

‘Another lesson for the longer term, is that we must surely reduce our reliance on a massive national bout of terminal exams each summer.

‘There was nothing to fall back on in this crisis, unprecedented though it was, and the Government still doesn’t have a contingency plan in the event of disruption next year.’

Mr Barton said he was ‘hugely impressed’ by the ‘painstaking care’ that leaders and teachers had taken over centre-assessed grades.

He added: ‘The profession rose to the challenge admirably. It was events beyond our control that sunk the standardisation model. Schools and colleges have once again been left to clear up the mess.’

Speaking yesterday ahead of GCSE results day, Mr Barton said: ‘That will be repeated tomorrow I guess. I think people are expecting difficult conversations.

‘It will be around a misunderstanding of ‘This is an individual teacher. ‘She didn’t like me. She has therefore marked me down.”

Overall, this year more students are expected to receive higher GCSE grades than in previous years, Mr Barton said.

He added: ‘This is because schools may, understandably, have given some students the benefit of the doubt when they are on the borderline between two grades and they had the capability to achieve the higher grade.’

Colleges are urgently calling for more funding from the Government to cope with a likely surge of pupils who will be able to meet entry requirements for sixth form colleges amid the U-turn.

Some colleges are already at maximum capacity and there is a limit to the number of pupils they can admit amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) said.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the SFCA, told PA: ‘In many respects, the immediate challenges faced by sixth form colleges mirror those faced by universities, increased demand for places combined with pressure on space because of Covid restrictions.’

Last year, one in five entries (20.7%) in England picked up at least a 7 or an A grade, and around two thirds (67.1%) of entries in England were awarded at least grade 4, or C.

An analysis from the FFT Education Datalab research unit has suggested that disadvantaged pupils could benefit this year as the attainment gap could narrow amid the U-turn.

Lower-attaining schools appear to have submitted the most generous grades in their teacher assessment, the researchers said.

It added: ‘It’s possible that we’ll see less of a discrepancy between the improvement in results recorded by independent schools, and by state schools.’ 

Students at Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury in the West Midlands this morning as they receive their GCSE results

Frankie Brereton from Lewes Old Grammar School with his mother Jules after receiving his GCSE results this morning

Bethan Thomas smiles as she checks her GCSE results at Ffynone House School in Swansea, South Wales, this morning

Phoebe Hatch from Lewes Old Grammar School gets a kiss from her mum Dinah after receiving her GCSE results this morning

Harriet Clark from Lewes Old Grammar School with her parents Jo and Brenton after receiving her GCSE results today

Ellie Brown from Lewes Old Grammar School celebrates this morning after receiving her GCSE results

Traditional A*-G grades have been scrapped and replaced with a 9-1 system amid reforms, with 9 the highest result. 

A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 broadly equivalent to an A.

Students receiving GCSE results this summer will get numerical grades for all their subjects as all courses have now moved over to the new grading system.

Mr Gibb said he was warned about concerns that the algorithm used to determine grades could impact poorer pupils.

He was asked about reports in The Times which suggested Sir Jon Coles, a former director-general at the Department for Education, wrote to Mr Williamson early last month to express concerns about the algorithm used by Ofqual.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Gibb said: ‘He (Sir John) spoke to me about it and he was concerned about the model and he was concerned that it would disadvantage particularly children from poorer backgrounds.

‘And so I called a meeting therefore with the independent regulator, with Ofqual, to discuss in detail those very concerns.’

Mr Gibb revealed it ‘certainly was foreseen’ that private school pupils could benefit from the use of the algorithm.

The education minister said: ‘That certainly was foreseen because we knew that small cohorts had to rely more on the teacher-assessed grade than on the standardisation process, but that applied to the state sector as much as to the independent sector.’

Mr Gibb also defended the model used to assess grades as ‘fair’ but said it was implemented incorrectly.

He said: ‘What was always at the forefront of my mind was that no young person from a disadvantaged background would see their grades standardised to a greater extent than other young people.

‘There was about a 2 per cent difference, that’s broadly what we saw in the national results last week, in contrast to what we saw in Scotland, where there was a big gap between disadvantaged pupils.

‘And that’s because in this country we had more data about the prior attainment of young people that was built into the model. 

Secondary school students look over their GCSE results at Kingsdale Foundation school in South London this morning

A student reacts as she checks her GCSE results today at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax in West Yorkshire

Secondary school students look over their GCSE results at Kingsdale Foundation school in South London this morning

Students react as they check their GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

A student checks his GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire, this morning

A student reacts as a teacher checks GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire, today

A parent looks over GCSE results with her children at Kingsdale Foundation school in South London this morning

‘So the model itself was fair, it was very popular, it was widely consulted upon.

‘The problem arose in the way in which the three phases of the application of that model – the historic data of the school, the prior attainment of the cohort of pupils at the school, and then the national standard correction – it’s that element of the application of the model that I think there is a concern.’

Mr Gibb said: ‘The model was a good model, and we continued to refine it. The application of the model is a regulatory approach and it’s the development of that that emerged on the Thursday when the algorithm was published.

‘And at that stage it became clear that there were some results that were being published on Thursday and Friday that were just not right and they were not what the model had intended.

‘It was not intended that a young person who had worked diligently for two years on their A-levels and was expecting an A and two Bs or three As, and turned up at school to collect their grades and they were three Ds.’

Sixth forms are calling for extra funding from the Government, with some heads planning to recruit more teachers or ask staff to teach beyond their subject expertise to allow them to honour all offers made.

Others may increase class sizes or run catch-up lessons for pupils whose marks do not match their actual abilities.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said the new system rewards pupils and schools where teachers ‘have over-estimated’. He added: ‘It is hard on those who have done their very best to predict accurately.

‘Young people will be getting the impression that they’re good at something when they’re actually not, so they may find they get on to do A-levels in tough subjects like physics or French or maths and then may not be able to cope with them.’

In July, exams watchdog Ofqual revealed early analysis of predicted GCSE grades submitted by teachers.

It found 31.6 per cent of papers sat by 16-year-olds in England would be awarded a 7 or higher (an old A or A*) if these centre assessment grades were used. 

This compared to 24.7 per cent for this age group last year – a 28 per cent rise.

Under this teacher assessment system, 7.7 per cent of papers would get a top grade of 9. And 82.4 per cent would get at least a 4, equivalent to a C, Ofqual said.

At the time, the watchdog said the ‘vast majority of centres’ had ‘submitted optimistic centre assessment grades’.

John Abbott, chief executive of the Richard Huish College in Somerset, said it is likely to have ‘more kids probably on the wrong course in September’.

This is because they may have been given higher grades than they would have gained in exams or fallen behind during lockdown.

Secondary school students wait in line for their GCSE results at Kingsdale Foundation school in South London this morning

Chloe Orrin hugs a friend after opening her GCSE results at Ffynone House School in Swansea, South Wales, today

Students at Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury in West Midlands react as they receive their GCSE results this morning

A mother of a student reacts as she checks his GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax this morning

Carys Nelson reacts after opening her GCSE results at Ffynone House school in Swansea, South Wales, this morning

A student reacts after she received her GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax this morning

A student checks his GCSE results this morning at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire

Secondary school students wait in line for their GCSE results at Kingsdale Foundation school in South London this morning

Gill Burbridge, principal of Leyton Sixth Form College in east London, said honouring the offers it had made to almost 2,000 pupils would be a challenge. 

She added: ‘It is going to maybe require staff to be more flexible in terms of being able to teach across more than one area.’

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said ‘We have been pressing the Government to introduce a capital expansion fund for sixth form providers over the past couple of years, and action is now needed as a matter of urgency.’

The Department for Education said: ‘Our focus remains on working with Ofqual to ensure students receive their final GCSE, AS level and A-level results this week.’  

Mr Williamson said those receiving their GCSE results today should feel ‘incredibly proud’ of what they have achieved ‘in the face of immense challenge and uncertainty’.

He said: ‘This is an exciting day and young people now can look forward to taking their next steps, whether that is returning to schools and colleges in September to do A-levels or our brand new T-levels, or taking one of the many other routes available like starting an apprenticeship.

‘I also want to pay a special tribute to teachers and school leaders this year who have shown dedication, resilience and ingenuity to support their students to get to this moment.’

Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green has called for her opposite number to publish all his correspondence about the use of a controversial grading algorithm.

In a statement, she said: ‘Gavin Williamson was warned again and again about the problems with the grading algorithm, and each time, he did nothing.

‘This endless pattern of incompetence is no way to run a country. His failure to listen to warnings and to act on them risked thousands of young people being robbed of their futures.

‘It is time for full transparency. The Department for Education must now publish all correspondence to and from the Secretary of State in which concerns about this algorithm were discussed, as a matter of urgency.

‘Young people deserve to know how they came to be let down so badly.’

Meanwhile Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross refused to give his backing to Mr Williamson and said he should ‘reflect on what happened’.

Mr Ross, who had called for Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney to lose his job after the exams U-turn there, suggested the English minister should have taken action quicker once the problems in Scotland became apparent.

A secondary school student receives her GCSE results at Kingsdale Foundation school in South London this morning

A student checks her GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

Sixteen-year-old Thomas Milner from Lewes Old Grammar School jumps in the air today after receiving his GCSE results

Students at Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury in the West Midlands react as they receive their GCSE results this morning

Parents and a student react after checking the GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning 

A student holds her hand over her mouth after reading her GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

‘I think Gavin Williamson and the Government and the Department for Education will be reflecting on why did they not see the problem that the SNP had to deal with as a result of their actions in Scotland,’ he told BBC Radio Scotland.

Queen’s granddaughter Lady Louise Windsor will receive her results today

The Queen’s granddaughter Lady Louise Windsor is among the thousands of students receiving their GCSEs results.

Lady Louise, the 16-year-old daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, attends school in Ascot, Berkshire.

The teenager was preparing to take her exams before schools closed in March during lockdown.

Lady Louise Windsor at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in Stamford, Lincolnshire, last September

Like other pupils across the country, her results will be based on her teachers’ estimates, if higher than the controversial moderated grades, following the Government’s U-turn amid the debacle over this year’s exams.

Buckingham Palace said Lady Louise’s results were a private matter.

In an interview with The Sunday Times in June, Sophie revealed her hopes her daughter would go to university because she is ‘quite clever’.

Lady Louise, who will be staying on to take her A-levels, had been studying conscientiously for her GCSEs before they were cancelled.

The countess revealed: ‘She’s working hard and will do A-levels. I hope she goes to university. I wouldn’t force her, but if she wants to. She’s quite clever.’

The Countess of Wessex and her daughter Lady Louise Windsor leaving the Queen’s Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace in London last December

Sophie has said Lady Louise and younger brother Viscount Severn will be expected to work for a living and are unlikely ever to use HRH styles as adults.

‘We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but I think it’s highly unlikely,’ she said. 

Asked whether Mr Williamson should quit, Mr Ross said: ‘That is a decision for Gavin Williamson. It’s a decision for the Prime Minister, if he continues to have the trust of the Prime Minister.

‘I’m not here to say in your report that I think Gavin Williamson has done a great job and he should continue.

‘I think he has to reflect on what happened to so many pupils in England, students who were concerned for four days, because we had the exact same up here in Scotland for a week.’

Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of BTEC pupils expecting to receive their results today have been left disappointed – after a last-minute decision to regrade them.

An exam board responsible for the vocational qualification wants more time to get the marking right following the overall grading fisaco.

But there was fury that colleges were only told of the move at 4.30pm yesterday – leaving them scrabbling to catch up. 

Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said last night: ‘It’s simply unacceptable that some of the most disadvantaged students will not receive their grades tomorrow and that nothing has been done to correct this over the past few days.’

The decision follows the announcement earlier this week that GCSE and A-level pupils would be able to receive grades based on their teachers’ estimates, rather than a computer algorithm.

Pupils taking the vocational BTEC qualification were not included in that announcement. 

Now exam body Pearson wants to ‘apply the same principles’ used in A-levels and GCSEs after becoming worried pupils taking those exams were getting an unfair advantage over BTEC pupils.

It will be regrading BTECs awarded last week – as well those that were due to be released today.

This will involve stripping out the parts of its grades that had been calculated by the algorithm using historical performance data – and using teachers’ predictions instead. Colleges have been told not to hand out results for the vocational qualification in the meantime.

The parent of one Btec student said the decision to withhold final grades has left his son feeling like a ‘second-class student’. 

Caleb Taylor, 19, is waiting for the results of his level three Btec in computing and business.

His father, Richard, said he has been unable to enrol at his college in Gwent for next year without knowing his final grades.

He said: ‘I think it’s a disgrace. He feels like he is a second-class student, and Btecs are seen as less important than A-levels because they have been sorted out last.

‘Technical qualifications shouldn’t be seen as less than. My son is really anxious because he doesn’t know what he will be doing next year.

‘He plans to go to university but it is a good thing he didn’t want to go this year because he would have missed out on his space.

‘There has just been no communication, we just don’t know what is going on.’

After Monday’s A-level grading U-turn, education unions and Labour had demanded to know why BTEC students had missed out.

Pearson said it had ‘generally’ accepted teachers’ predictions for coursework. But it had calculated exam grades using historical performance data with a ‘view of maintaining overall outcomes over time’.

The review will ‘remove these calculated grades’. The regrading will apply to BTEC level 3 nationals, BTEC level 1/2 tech awards, level 2 technicals and level 1/2 firsts. 

About 450,000 pupils are affected, 250,000 of whom will have already received grades last week. 

Joshua Fessahaye looks over his GCSE results with his mother at Ark Evelyn Grace Academy in London today

Chloe Orrin smiles as she checks her GCSE results at Ffynone House School in Swansea, South Wales, this morning

Diego Da Silva looks at his GCSE results with his father at Ark Evelyn Grace Academy in London this morning

(From left) Brenda Cinotti, Joshua Fessahaye and Adriana Fernandes Martins at Ark Evelyn Grace Academy in London today

High-achieving students Harris, Gwen and Barney pose for a photo at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax today

In a letter to colleges, Pearson said it had ‘become concerned about unfairness in relation to what are now significantly higher outcomes for GCSE and A-levels’. It added: ‘We appreciate this will cause additional uncertainty for students and we are sorry’.

Sixth form college pupil’s medical degree dream hangs by a thread 

Sosan Mirafgan’s dream of studying medicine still hangs in the balance

For Sosan Mirafgan, the dream of studying medicine still hangs in the balance.

The high-flying sixth form college pupil, 18, lost her place at Newcastle University following the grading fiasco.

Her teacher-predicted marks of Bs in biology and chemistry were downgraded to Cs, but she kept her A in maths. She contacted the university after the exams U-turn to ask if it will accept her now. But it said it was waiting for advice from the Medical Schools Council.

The industry body has said students hoping to study medicine and dentistry are in a ‘uniquely difficult situation’ because these courses have ‘tightly restricted entry numbers’ and have largely been filled. Sosan, who wants to be a brain surgeon, said: ‘The university said they may have to give us a place for next year. I’m still waiting and I’m nervous about what is going to happen.’

Sosan spoke no English when she arrived in 2012 as an asylum seeker from Afghanistan. Despite this, she achieved eight GCSEs ranging from 5s to 8s at Thornaby Academy in Stockton-on-Tees. 

Ofqual said: ‘Everyone is working as quickly as possible to confirm results as soon as possible, recognising the impact that delays are having on schools, colleges and students.’ 

Meanwhile Government sources have indicated that Boris Johnson will not sack the Education Secretary, or demote him in a major reshuffle.

But senior backbenchers have told the whips’ office in private that Mr Williamson should be sacked following the exams fiasco.

It came as Mr Johnson’s lead fell to its lowest level since he became Prime Minister.

A YouGov poll for The Times found that support for the Conservatives has dropped four points to 40 per cent, while Labour has gained three points to 38 per cent in a week.

Tory MPs have warned that a failure to get all pupils back to school next month would represent ‘the final straw’ for Mr Williamson. 

One senior Tory said: ‘Gavin’s position is completely untenable and we need strong leadership in September, which he is singularly incapable of.’

Mr Williamson was also forced to bow to pressure and back Ofqual for the first time after being accused of playing a blame game.

He admitted that it was the regulator’s decision to abandon the grades determined by an algorithm and move to teacher assessments. 

The Department for Education said: ‘The decision [Ofqual] took to move from moderated grades to centre-assessed grades was one that we agreed with. Our focus remains on working with Ofqual to ensure students receive their final GCSE, AS-level and A-level results this week so that they can move on to the next stage of their lives.’

The admission will raise further questions over whether Mr Williamson was unaware of the scale of the problem or how the controversial algorithm would even work until the weekend.

Tory MPs have made representations to the whips’ office that Mr Williamson should leave his post now.

Tobias Ellwood, the defence committee chairman, said the Government should ‘reconfigure’ its top team and harness the ‘full talent’ available. And a former minister said: ‘There’s genuine anger now about how somebody like Gavin got [the job] in the first place.

‘There are questions of judgment about why Theresa May and then Boris Johnson promoted him. Somebody with more competence in the same job could’ve avoided all this.’

A student reacts after reading her GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

Students react as they check their GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

A student checks her GCSE results this morning at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire

Students react as they check their GCSE results at Ark Academy in London this morning

A student reacts as she checks her GCSE results at Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax this morning

Students at Bristnall Hall Academy in Oldbury in the West Midlands react this morning as they receive their GCSE results

The National Education Union’s co-general secretary said the Government now ‘must put an end’ to the ‘incompetence’ around the issuing of the Btec results.

Hundreds of thousands of Btec students are still waiting for their final grades after the exam board told schools and colleges not to release the results to pupils on Thursday.

Dr Mary Bousted said: ‘Teachers know their students better than any model or algorithm and it will be a relief to many that the grades they receive are now a fairer reflection of their achievements.

‘To add to the GCSE and A-level fiasco, the decision by (examiner) Pearson not to issue Btec results at the eleventh hour compounds the upsetting and chaotic experience for students.

‘Government must put an end to this incompetence and work quickly to ensure every young person gets the grades they deserve to move on to the next stages of their lives.’

In Northern Ireland, teacher-assessed GCSE results have seen an improvement across all grades.

Some 29,000 students in Northern Ireland received results this morning from the locally-based examinations body CCEA. Some 37.1 per cent of students achieved grade A* to A, up by 5.7 percentage points on last year.

The proportion of students receiving A* to C grades also increased, by 7.6 percentage points to 89.4 per cent. And the numbers receiving A* – G grades increased by 0.9 percentage points to 99.7 per cent.

Stormont education minister Peter Weir issued a statement congratulating GCSE students. ‘These outcomes reflect the assessments made by the people who know you best, your teachers,’ he said.

‘I appreciate the past few months have been particularly challenging but our young people have demonstrated a determination not to let this pandemic put their lives on hold. Today, they have been awarded qualifications which reflect their hard work and will enable them to move forward confidently with their future plans.

‘Teachers and school leaders had a very difficult job to do and I want to express my appreciation for their hard work and commitment to their students in challenging circumstances.’