LONDON (Reuters) – The British government on Sunday faced the threat of legal action and criticism from its own lawmakers after anger caused by the abuse of English diplomas during the pandemic.
FILE PHOTO: Students wearing protective face masks hold placards as they protest outside the Department of Education, amid the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, in London, UK, 15 August 2020. REUTERS / Simon Dawson
After a nationwide lockdown forced exams to be canceled, the government used an algorithm to assess grades made by teachers, lowering those grades for nearly 40% of students who drop out of primary school.
That process has led to many students losing places at top universities.
To reduce the problem, results show that grades were less likely to be downgraded for students who paid private schools for fees, while light-hearted students at traditional schools with poor performance could have downgraded results.
On Saturday night, the exam regulator published guidance on an appeal process, only to withdraw it hours later, as it required further assessment.
Barrister Jo Maugham said his Good Law Project had appointed solicitors to enforce guidelines on behalf of students, and advised the government to launch an appropriate appeal system in time for students to go to college in September.
Robert Halfon, chairman of the select committee for cross-party education in parliament and a lawmaker in the ruling Conservative Party of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, described the removal of the manual from appeal as fresh.
“It sows confusion among students, head teachers and teachers and it is the last thing we need at the moment,” he told the BBC.
Conservative lawmaker Robert Syms said the government risked conservative lawmakers “going to war”.
The Johnson government has been criticized for its handling of the pandemic, with the country recording the highest death toll in Europe and the heaviest economic contraction of any major economy to date.
After winning a constituency in December with a promise to level the playing field, Johnson’s Conservatives have maintained a solid lead over the opposition Labor party in the opinion polls.
However, that could change over issues, including nearly introduced quarantines that have forced the cancellation of vacations and the difficult end of a successful work support scheme, such as the chaos surrounding exam results.
Labor leader Keir Starmer said the prime minister was needed to address the issue and resolve the issue before results were released on Thursday for exams taken by 16-year-olds.
The government has said that students do not have to pay for vocational degrees and most students will have got the right results. Appointment regulator Ofqual said some of the predicted degrees given by teachers were “unbelievably high”.
While France published the methodology for how it would assign months prior to results day, Britain announced changes to its process the day before results were released.
Report by Kate Holton; Edited by Toby Chopra and Barbara Lewis
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