North Yorkshire Lib Dems call for Education Secretary to resign over 'complete dog’s breakfast' exam U-turn

The region's Liberal Democrats have added their voices to the growing calls for Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to resign over his handling of this year's GCSE and A-level results.
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Coun Geoff Webber, leader of the Liberal Democrats on North Yorkshire County Council, said the government has put students through "five days of hell" after this week announcing in a U-turn that they would receive results based on their teachers' predictions.

The government decided on Monday - four days after A-level results were issued - to revert to teacher assessed grades rather than an algorithm designed to moderate them.

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It followed an outcry after 40 per cent of A-level results were downgraded by exams regulator Ofqual, which used a formula based on schools' prior grades.

North Yorkshire Lib Dem leader Coun Geoff Webber (right) has said the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (left) should resign.North Yorkshire Lib Dem leader Coun Geoff Webber (right) has said the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (left) should resign.
North Yorkshire Lib Dem leader Coun Geoff Webber (right) has said the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (left) should resign.

Coun Webber said: “I am delighted that the government has at last seen sense and abandoned what was a clearly unfair system of awarding grades by computer algorithm.

"However, students in North Yorkshire and across the country have been put through five days of hell, not knowing what their future prospects may be."

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Universities and other learning institutions are now dealing with a surge of demand for places from students rejected due to their original results last week.

Some students have also been left anxiously waiting to find out if they will be accepted on to their courses now that their teacher-assessed grades have been reinstated.

Coun Webber had made calls for the algorithm-based system to be scrapped before the announcement and said the U-turn could have been avoided altogether.

"I believe that we have finished up in the right place but this situation should have been foreseen several weeks ago", he said.

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"Gavin Williamson may be 'a nice man' but he has made a complete dog’s breakfast of this and should resign.”

The Education Secretary said he is "incredibly sorry for the distress" but repeatedly refused to say whether he would resign from his position.

Labour shadow minister Louise Haigh said Mr Williamson "must resign", while the Liberal Democrats' education spokeswoman Layla Moran was equally blunt in her assessment.

"The point is this government is utterly incompetent", she said. "Gavin Williamson must go."

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter