City MP praises government U-turn on A-level results as ‘listening and acting’

A-level and GCSE results in England will now be based on teachers’ assessments of their students, unless the grades produced by the controversial algorithm are higher, regulator Ofqual announced yesterday (Monday) under mounting pressure.

The major U-turn by the Government will see tens of thousands of A-level students in England receive increased grades, with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson repeatedly apologising for the distress caused by the debacle.

Following criticism from students and headteachers and complaints from dozens of Tory MPs, grades will now be based on teachers’ assessments rather than a controversial algorithm devised by regulator Ofqual.

The change will also apply to GCSE results in England, which are due to be released on Thursday.

However this has left many students in the Peterborough area reviewing their further education options due to many universities already filling up their courses based on the original scores.

It is still unclear what is to be done about BTEC grades.

Conservative city MP Paul Bristow said he had lobbied for the U-turn and praised the DfE for taking on board the concerns of thousands of distressed students.

He said: “When it became clear that Ofqual’s system wasn’t working, it was right for the regulator to change approach. The Government listened to the concerns and intervened. A level students will get their predicted grades.”

He added: “Listening and acting is never a bad thing. Most students who had university offers now have their first-choice place. The Government is also working hard to address the remaining issues.

“It was Nina, one of our own students in Peterborough, who put the case most powerfully to Ministers, live on air. We spoke after the news broke and I’m so pleased that she’s got her place at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. It proves how important this was.”

Mr Bristow said that listening and acting was a “sign of strength”, but stopped short of agreeing with calls from some quarters for the resignation of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

However, his comments on social media received little sympathy.

One follower responded: “Nobody is fooled by this and the government comes out of this with zero credit.. an absolute shambles from start to finish, they have U-turned because they had to. Honestly can’t remember a government getting so many things wrong in such a short space of time as this one.”

Another commented: “Now this year’s students will forever be know as the Covid Cohort - the ones with the phoney grades. Somebody needs to explain why 2020 results were a 16 per cent jump on other years.

“Was it badly handled? Yes! They tried to do the right thing but just abdicated their responsibility.”

Another said: “Listening is a sign of humanity, correcting yourself is a sign of humility, but when running a country, competence is a sign of strength. Stop propping up this incompetent government. You’re a nice man who wants what is best for our city, you’re better than this.”