Boris Johnson says he understands school pupils' 'anxiety' as A-level and GCSE results days loom

David Child10 August 2020

Boris Johnson has said he understands the "anxiety" pupils will be feeling as they prepare to receive their A-level and GCSE results after exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Prime Minister said on Monday that educators and officials were doing their best to "ensure that the hard work of pupils is properly reflected" despite the disruption unleashed by Covid-19.

With exams cancelled due to the pandemic, grades are being determined by teachers and moderated by exam boards.

“Clearly, because of what has happened this year, there is some anxiety about what grades pupils are going to get, and everybody understands the system that the teachers are setting the grades, then there’s a standardisation system," Mr Johnson told reporters during a visit to a school in east London.

“We will do our best to ensure that the hard work of pupils is properly reflected.”

Mr Johnson also said he was “very keen” to get back to normal assessments in the coming school year, with ministers planning for a full reopening of schools from September onwards.

“I’m very, very keen that exams should go ahead as normal," he said, adding it was "the right thing for everybody" for pupils to return to classrooms next month.

"Exams are a vital part of our education and I thank all the teachers for all the preparations they are making."

Boris Johnson is pressing ahead with plans for a full reopening of schools from September onwards
Lucy Young

The Prime Minister's comments came as school leavers ready themselves to receive their final results on Thursday, with GCSE results set to be released next week, on August 20.

Teachers have this year had to decide grades for each student and rank them in order within their class. Exam boards have moderated the grades to ensure the results are not significantly higher than previous years and the value of students’ grades are not undermined.

While appeals were allowed only on technical grounds in the past, exams regulator Ofqual on Friday told the Times it would provide greater scope this year, with schools able to challenge results if they had made rapid improvements or had outstanding year groups.

Meanwhile, the head of the universities admissions service has predicted the institutions face their “busiest” ever period of clearing as a record number of students are due to take up degree places this year through the system.

School leavers who have had their gap year plans disrupted by Covid-19 or students who had planned to do year-long internships before starting higher education will be among those who choose to bypass the main application scheme in favour of searching for a course through clearing, Ucas said.

Nearly three in four of the UK’s top institutions currently have vacancies on their undergraduate programmes on the clearing website.

Clearing has become an increasingly popular route to securing a university place in recent years, in part due to reforms that lifted the cap on the number of students universities could recruit.

It is also used by students who may have changed their mind about their course or university and want to find somewhere new, or those who have done better than expected and want to trade places.

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