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Ofqual’s top leadership told MPs that Ofqual is not to be blamed for the fiasco that engulfed this summer’s exams in England, and accused the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, of causing the weekend of chaos that followed. the publication of level A results.
Roger Taylor, president of Ofqual, said Williamson called the regulator directly to tell him to remove the new guidelines on appeals within hours after they were approved by the Department of Education (DfE), including Williamson’s office, and published.
Taylor also revealed that Ofqual told the government in March that awarding ratings using a statistical model was “the worst case.”
“At first, our initial advice to the secretary of state was that the best way to handle this was to try to take the exams in a socially detached way, and that our second option was to delay the exams. But the third option, if none of these options were acceptable, was to try to have some kind of calculated ratings, ”Taylor said.
“It was the secretary of state who later made the decision and announced, without further consulting with Ofqual, that the exams would be canceled and a system of calculated grades would be implemented.”
The DfE responded: “As we have constantly said, the government never wanted to cancel the exams because they are the best and fairest form of evaluation.
“We listened to the views of a variety of parties, including Ofqual, and given the public health requirements at the time, we made a very difficult decision on the grounds that it was a necessary step to combat the spread of the coronavirus.”
The education committee hearing was Ofqual’s first public foray since it announced two weeks ago that it would abandon the statistical model it had developed to assign A-level and GCSE ratings this year and instead rely on ratings produced by teachers and schools.
In a lengthy session before MPs, Ofqual leaders sought to explain why it had little responsibility for the mess, saying that it had informed the government at every step.
Officials said they informed No. 10 a week before the Level A results were released and outlined the expected dangers.
Julie Swan, Ofqual’s chief executive, said the regulator had “meetings with the minister of schools [Nick Gibb] weekly at all times ”and that his council to ministers in March said that“ it would be a challenge, but not impossible, to try to moderate the grades that would be fair for all students this year ”.
Swan said: “We reported the number 10 on August 7, and again the document written there was very alert about the risks, both for disadvantaged and atypical students, for schools that expected better grades this year and the impact on the cohorts of low income, including independent schools. “
Taylor also publicly confirmed a report first published by The Guardian last month threatening to step down as president unless Ofqual received public endorsement from Williamson.
Taylor gave a detailed account of the controversy over Williamson’s proposal that students unhappy with Ofqual’s moderated results could use mock test scores to appeal. It was the first explanation for why Ofqual posted and then abruptly retracted the appeal notice late Saturday night.
Taylor said Ofqual’s board approved the new appeals process and claimed it was also approved by the DfE, with the guidelines released at 3 p.m. on Aug. 15. But that night, Taylor said Williamson called Sally Collier, Ofqual’s top regulator who resigned last week, and told her to withdraw the guidance.
“We had agreed [the appeal guidelines] with the Department of Education and, to our knowledge, with the secretary of state’s office. We then posted this on Saturday. Subsequently, the secretary of state contacted us that same night and we were informed that, in his opinion, this was not in line with government policy, “Taylor said.
After discussion by Ofqual’s board, the advice was withdrawn just before 11 p.m. Saturday, and Taylor said it left the regulator with no choice but to ditch the calculated ratings in favor of the center’s evaluations.
“At this stage we realized that we were in a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control, that there were policies recommended and strongly defended by the Secretary of State. [Williamson] that we felt they were not consistent with our legal obligations and that, furthermore, there was an increasing risk surrounding the delivery of any form of mock appeal results, “said Taylor.
Ofqual feared that Williamson’s proposal would result in 80% -90% of students scoring higher on appeal but unfairly leaving the rest without recourse. “For these reasons, we felt we were in a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control and that the only way out of this was likely to be to have scores evaluated by the center,” Taylor said.
When asked by a deputy why Ofqual had persisted with his algorithm “as the head of the Light Brigade”, despite warnings from people like Cambridge Assessment, Taylor replied that Ofqual’s process would have worked “if people had been willing. to accept it as the unfortunate consequence ”of the coronavirus lockdown.
Taylor also admitted that “the fundamental mistake was believing that this would ever be acceptable to the public.”
Ofqual told deputies it was considering a delay to the 2021 exams, as well as a “plan B” to allow students to take exams remotely.
Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said Williamson now needed to appear before parliament to explain his actions. “The evidence provided by Ofqual has raised serious questions about Gavin Williamson’s role in this summer’s testing fiasco. Gavin Williamson has repeatedly tried to blame Ofqual and officials for the exam crisis. Now it is clear that he was responsible, ”he said.
