Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams defends A-level results amid criticism over grading system
Interview by ITV Wales reporter Megan Boot
Wales' education minister has defended this year's A-level results, amid mounting criticism that students have been "short-changed" by a controversial grading system.
Exams were cancelled across the UK due to the coronavirus lockdown, with students instead being given A-level grades estimated by their teachers.
But thousands of results deemed "optimistic" were subsequently adjusted down by moderators in a process known as standardisation.
A total of 42.2% of pupils were downgraded during the process which has left many frustrated and upset, with calls for an urgent review.
Today, Kirsty Williams admitted it has been "an unprecedentedly difficult time", but dismissed teachers' claims that results day has been "chaotic", "demoralising" and "devastating."
"I'm sorry that teachers feel that way," Ms Williams told ITV News, adding that many are delighted with today's results.
"The decision to cancel the exams in the first place was one that was not taken lightly, but clearly was the right one to make. I'm confident that today we have fair and robust qualifications for our students."
The regulator Qualification Wales, along with exam board WJEC, said the estimated grades submitted by schools and colleges were "optimistic" and would have resulted in "atypically high outcomes" without being standardised.
The Welsh Government announced on Wednesday that students' A-level grades will not be lower than their previous AS level grades.
Education minister Kirsty Williams congratulations A-level students:
This year, around 98.6% of A-level students achieved grades A* to E and there was a small increase at A*, with 10.8% of candidates collecting these grades.
A record 29.9% of students recorded an A or A* grades, which was an increase of 2.9% from last year. The figure, though, is less than the 40.4% estimated after the initial teacher assessments.
Ms Williams added: "In every year - even a normal year - some students do not achieve the examinations that they'd hoped for, or indeed, that their teachers thought they'd achieve."
Without standardising grades, Ms Williams said, around 40 per cent of students would have achieved A or A* results this year - compared to 27 per cent last year.
"That would have begun to question the validity of those qualifications," she added.
"You would be saying to me today in those circumstances, how can these students say that this is equal to what students did last year with such big inflation?
"Those grades are fair and they are robust - and, crucially, they are respected by universities."
But unions, teachers and students have criticised the "devastating" impact of standardised grades.
Eithne Hughes, Director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru, said: “We have received many calls from school leaders expressing their frustration, confusion and disappointment at the results awarded to their students."
Headteacher Neil Foden described the A-levels system as "not fit for purpose", adding that students who appeal their grades "are expected to go cap-in-hand to universities to ask them to be ‘flexible’ while appeals are resolved."
Kirsty Williams today stressed that Welsh university candidates are "absolutely not" at a disadvantage compared to students from other parts of the UK.
"We have seen record numbers of acceptances this morning," she told ITV News.
"That argument may be valid if UCAS was saying that the number of Welsh students gaining a place at university was going down. It's not - it's going up."
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