Students deserve teacher-assessed A-level grades after hard work – Gavin Williamson

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau / PA wire

The Education Secretary has said students getting their A-level results today “deserve” the grades they get, awarded by teacher assessment rather than national exams, writes David Lynch of PA.

Gavin Williamson was trying to dispel worries about so-called grade inflation: when more students appear to attain higher grades than in previous years.

Mr Williamson’s intervention comes on the day that six-formers across the country wake up to their A-level results, which have been determined by teachers after this summer’s exams were cancelled.

Writing in the Telegraph, the Education Secretary defended the Government’s decision to cancel exams.

He said: “Any debate about the system we’ve used this year should not undermine or question the value of the grades students will be getting.

“We should congratulate them all for their resilience and determination not to allow the pandemic to be a barrier to their futures.”

He added it would have been “unfair on students” to examine them after more than a year of virtual lessons for many.

Mr Williamson also wrote: “Their hard work, however, deserves to be rewarded with a qualification. We must support these students in looking to the future, because their whole lives are in front of them.”