Nick Gibb apologises for 'pain' caused by Government exams grades U-turn and says he gave 'a lot of thought' to resigning

The schools minister said he is hopeful that students will get their Btec results next week after last-minute regrading
Imogen Braddick20 August 2020

A minister has apologised to GCSE and A-level students for the "pain and the anxiety" caused over the exam's grading debacle and admitted that he gave "a lot of thought" to whether he should resign over the furore.

Hundreds of thousands of students are set to receive their teacher-assessed GCSE results on Thursday after the Government announced students would be able to receive grades based on assessments by schools or colleges, rather than an algorithm.

Teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will now receive the higher of either their teachers’ estimated grade or the moderated grade, after thousands of A-level results were downgraded last week .

But Btec grades were not included in the original U-turn and, just hours before results day, exam board Pearson 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 apologised to both GCSE and A-level students for the "pain and the anxiety" they suffered as a result of the original exams grading system.

He added that he is hopeful that students will get their Btec results next week after last-minute regrading to "address concerns about unfairness".

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."

A Level Results 2020 - In pictures

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Asked when students they will receive their Btec 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."

Mr Gibb also said he had "given it a lot of thought" when asked if he had offered his resignation over the furore.

He told Nick Ferrari on LBC: "I gave it a lot of thought... I’m a human being.

"When I saw those young people who had worked solidly for two years, expecting As and Bs, going to pick up their grades, and find three Ds and losing their place at veterinary college... of course, it’s heartbreaking. I can only imagine how I would’ve felt."

Pushed again on whether he had offered his resigning, he added: "It would’ve been the wrong thing to do. There will be inquiries into these issues and my focus has to be on making sure we put these issues right - that young people get the grades that are fair and they can move onto the next stage of their careers."

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, 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.

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."

Meanwhile, colleges are now 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 said.

An analysis from the FFT Education Datalab research unit also 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."

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