School grades in 2021 'should be set by teachers'

Calls have been made for next year's GCSEs and A-levels to be based again on teacher assessments.

A row over how A-level results were set following the cancellation of exams led to ministers deciding last week to use teachers' estimates instead.

Plaid Cymru said students should not have to rely on exams next summer "following such a disrupted education journey".

The Welsh Government warned relying on assessments alone can enshrine bias.

This month's A-level results were initially put through a process of standardisation, which saw 42% of A-level grades downgraded.

After an outcry, the Welsh Government abandoned the results and awarded grades assessed by the students' schools and colleges. Wales' Education Minister Kirsty Williams later apologised.

The chief civil servant at the Department for Education has been sacked following the row over A-level and GCSE results in England. The head of England's exams regulator, Sally Collier, has quit after thousands of students' marks were downgraded for exams they were unable to sit.

The government has appointed a senior civil servant to lead on its response to exams amid the coronavirus pandemic. Susan Acland-Hood will become the Department for Education's second permanent secretary for six weeks.

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• Chief education civil servant Jonathan Slater sacked after exams row (BBC News)
• Ofqual chief Sally Collier steps down after exams chaos (BBC News)
• Government appoints top civil servant to handle exams response (BBC News)
• CCEA vows 'mistakes' will not be repeated (BBC News)
• Exams chaos: Never again, say parents, pupils, teachers (BBC News)
• A-levels and GCSEs: Boris Johnson blames 'mutant algorithm' for exam fiasco (BBC News)
• The UK used a formula to predict students’ scores for canceled exams. Guess who did well. (Vox)