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Exam board pulls BTEC results for half a million students - BBC News BBC NewsView Full coverage on Google News
Nearly half a million UK pupils face a fresh round of results chaos after exam board Pearson pulled its BTec results on the eve of releasing them.
Pearson said it would be re-grading all its BTecs to bring them in line with A-levels and GCSEs, which are now being graded via school-based assessments.
The move affects 450,000 pupils, 250,000 of whom received grades last week, with the rest due in a few hours.
Heads said it was incomprehensible that changes were being made this late.
Pearson apologised and acknowledged the additional uncertainty the decision would cause. The exam board also conducts a large proportion of the GCSEs and A-levels taken by UK pupils.
However, the late decision will cause even further disruption to students seeking places in further and higher education.
Universities are already struggling to cope with the impact of grade changes on their admissions process.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he could not understand why it had taken Pearson until this late stage to realise the implications of grade changes for its BTec qualifications.
"It really does need to give an explanation of why this has happened. We feel desperately sorry for the students affected in a year when they have already undergone far too much disruption."
Pearson said in a statement: "BTec qualification results have been been generally consistent with teacher and learner expectations, but we have become concerned about unfairness in relation to what are now significantly higher outcomes for GCSE and A-levels."
England's exams regulator has already said that the school-assessed GCSE and A-level grades are likely to be higher than last year by nine and 12 percentage points respectively.
The Association of Colleges' chief executive, David Hughes, said it had asked Pearson to look at a small number of results which had seemed unfair, adding that the "timing is worrying, because thousands of students were due to get their results in the morning and others have already got results which we know will not go down, but might improve."
He added: "So it is vital for students that this is sorted in days rather than weeks so students have the chance to celebrate and plan their next steps.
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said Pearson was right to act but added: "This late notification will cause very significant challenges for schools, trusts and colleges.
"It simply is unacceptable that some of the most disadvantaged students will not receive their grades tomorrow and that nothing has been done to correct this over the past few days."
Labour's shadow education secretary, Kate Green, said the situation was "totally unacceptable".
"For some young people to find out less than a day in advance that they will not be receiving their grades tomorrow is utterly disgraceful.
"Gavin Williamson and the Department for Education should have had a grip of this situation days ago."
She urged the government to set a clear deadline by which every young person must receive their grades.
Pearson has now written to all schools, colleges and training providers to say the following qualifications are being re-graded:
A Pearson spokesman said: "Although we generally accepted centre assessment grades for internal (i.e. coursework) units, we subsequently calculated the grades for the examined units using historical performance data with a view of maintaining overall outcomes over time.
"Our review will remove these Pearson-calculated grades and apply consistency across teacher-assessed internal grades and examined grades that students were unable to sit.
"We will work urgently with you to reissue these grades and will update you as soon as we possibly can.
"We want to reassure students that no grades will go down as part of this review.
"Our priority is to ensure fair outcomes for BTec students in relation to A-Levels and GCSEs and that no BTec student is disadvantaged."
"Therefore, we ask schools and colleges not to issue any BTec L1 and L2 results on 20 August, as these will be reviewed and where appropriate, re-graded."
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Nearly half a million UK pupils face a fresh round of results chaos after exam board Pearson pulled its BTec results on the eve of releasing them.
Pearson said it would be re-grading all its BTecs to bring them in line with A-levels and GCSEs, which are now being graded via school-based assessments.
The 11th-hour move affects 450,000 pupils, 250,000 of whom received grades last week.
The rest were due to collect results on Thursday along with GCSE candidates.
Pearson apologised and acknowledged the additional uncertainty the decision would cause. The exam board also conducts a large proportion of the GCSEs and A-levels taken by UK pupils.
However, the late decision will cause even further disruption to students seeking places in further and higher education.
Universities are already struggling to cope with the impact of grade changes on their admissions process.
Pearson said in a statement: "BTec qualification results have been been generally consistent with teacher and learner expectations, but we have become concerned about unfairness in relation to what are now significantly higher outcomes for GCSE and A-levels."
England's exams regulator has already said that the school-assessed GCSE and A-level grades are likely to be higher than last year by nine and 12 percentage points respectively.
The Association of Colleges' chief executive, David Hughes, said it had asked Pearson to look at a small number of results which had seemed unfair, adding that the "timing is worrying, because thousands of students were due to get their results in the morning and others have already got results which we know will not go down, but might improve."
He added: "So it is vital for students that this is sorted in days rather than weeks so students have the chance to celebrate and plan their next steps.
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said Pearson was right to act but added: "This late notification will cause very significant challenges for schools, trusts and colleges.
"It simply is unacceptable that some of the most disadvantaged students will not receive their grades tomorrow and that nothing has been done to correct this over the past few days."
Labour's shadow education secretary, Kate Green, said the situation was "totally unacceptable".
"For some young people to find out less than a day in advance that they will not be receiving their grades tomorrow is utterly disgraceful.
"Gavin Williamson and the Department for Education should have had a grip of this situation days ago."
She urged the government to set a clear deadline by which every young person must receive their grades.
Pearson has now written to all schools, colleges and training providers to say the following qualifications are being re-graded:
A Pearson spokesman said: "Although we generally accepted centre assessment grades for internal (i.e. coursework) units, we subsequently calculated the grades for the examined units using historical performance data with a view of maintaining overall outcomes over time.
"Our review will remove these Pearson-calculated grades and apply consistency across teacher-assessed internal grades and examined grades that students were unable to sit.
"We will work urgently with you to reissue these grades and will update you as soon as we possibly can.
"We want to reassure students that no grades will go down as part of this review.
"Our priority is to ensure fair outcomes for BTec students in relation to A-Levels and GCSEs and that no BTec student is disadvantaged."
"Therefore, we ask schools and colleges not to issue any BTec L1 and L2 results on 20 August, as these will be reviewed and where appropriate, re-graded."
The algorithm used to downgrade thousands of A-level results in England was "unlawful", Labour have claimed.
The computer-based model used by Ofqual to standardise results after exams were cancelled breached anti-discrimination legislation as well as laws requiring it to uphold standards, Labour says.
The party wants Gavin Williamson to publish the legal advice he was given.
The education secretary has backed the regulator but apologised for the hurt caused to pupils by the chaos.
Labour are calling for A-level pupils in England to be given a "cast-iron guarantee" they will not lose out on their first choice university place next month or in the future.
Mr Williamson, who is facing calls from students and opposition MPs to resign, has urged universities to show flexibility after Monday's results U-turn threw September's admission process into further confusion.
Thousands of pupils remain uncertain about which university they will end up at after Ofqual said centre and school-assessed grades (CAG) would be accepted after all after a furore over its process for calculating them.
The regulator has been severely criticised for using an algorithm to "moderate" the grades submitted by schools, giving substantial weight to schools' past performance as well as other factors.
This resulted in nearly 40% of marks being downgraded, in some cases by more than one grade, with high-achieving pupils from schools in deprived areas being disproportionately affected.
Labour said there had been "no proper assessment" of this year's cohort of pupils because the process used by Ofqual did "not accurately reflect" their level of knowledge, skill and understanding.
As a result, their results could not be "properly compared" with those of previous years or other exam boards, meaning the regulator was in breach of its legal obligation to uphold assessment and qualification standards.
In a letter to Mr Williamson and Ofqual's chief executive Sally Collier, Labour said the weight given to past results from institutions had caused "a mass of discriminatory impacts".
This, it said, was "bound to disadvantage a whole range of groups with protected characteristics, in breach of a range of anti-discrimination legislation". It said Ofqual's policy of not allowing any right of appeal "beyond errors of application in the system" was also unlawful.
The opposition are pressing Mr Williamson to make clear when he was first informed about concerns about the algorithm and what legal advice he received before approving its use.
"Ofqual and the Secretary of State have been fully in the knowledge that the standardisation formula that was being used was unlawful," it said.
"It is regrettable that only when threatened with legal action that the government finally conceded to do what Labour have been calling for; for grades to be allocated based on CAGs."
Labour is seeking assurances students who received offers from universities at clearing will not now lose them.
Several institutions have said they will honour all offers made to students before the original results were announced but many students have said their places have been withdrawn since then and not reinstated.
Labour said this was unfair and ministers needed to "right this wrong" immediately.
All pupils must have their final grades confirmed by the end of the week, it says, and no-one should lose out on their first choice place "because of government incompetence".
It is calling on ministers to "bend over backwards" to support students, including by helping universities to fund additional places needed to meet the demand.
"We've just been hearing these heartbreaking stories of the anguish students have experienced after years of working so hard to secure their futures," Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed told the BBC.
"This fiasco is far from over. There are many, many students that are still uncertain about whether they can go to university or which university they can go to.
"Every student that hasn't got their firm grades given to them needs to have them by the end of the week so they can start to make decisions about their future."
Students are being urged to contact their universities as soon as possible to discuss the options.
The government has lifted its cap on the numbers each institution can admit but some universities are warning of potential financial ruin if students switch to rival institutions in huge numbers.
The family of a Scottish schoolgirl killed in the Manchester bombing have told how every day "has been a struggle" since her death
A statement from the parents of Eilidh MacLeod, 14, was read out at the sentencing hearing of Hashem Abedi, the brother of the bomber.
Eilidh, from the Isle of Barra, was one of 22 people murdered after attending an Ariana Grande concert in 2017.
The family said not a single day passed when they did not struggle with grief.
The statement said: "She loved her life and everything it in - and it wasn't hard to love her right back.
"Every day it's been a struggle for us to maintain our dignity - trying to put one foot in front of the other is the hardest thing in our lives.
"We still have to stop ourselves calling out her name for our dinner, that will never stop.
"Anger, fear, resentment and heartbreak is something we all have to live with.
"No parent who ever takes their child to a concert should ever have to take them home to bury them.
"We still have some good days, then we have some really bad days - it comes from absolutely nowhere and hits you in the chest."
Eilidh had travelled to the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in 2017 with her friend Laura MacIntyre who was seriously injured in the attack.
In March this year Abedi was found guilty of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder - encompassing injured survivors - and conspiring to cause explosions.
He had denied helping to plan the "sudden and lethal" blast but was convicted of working with his brother to source materials used in the suicide attack.
He refused to leave his cell ahead of the two-day hearing sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday.
STORM Ellen has strengthened to a 900-mile wide “weather bomb” that will pummel the UK with 75mph winds.
A wind and rain warning has been issued for western parts of the UK from tonight until Thursday night.
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Ellen, Britain's worst storm for six months since Storm Dennis struck on February 15, will arrive on British shores tonight, travelling east across Ireland.
Western parts of the UK will see the strongest winds, but with gale-force 40mph gusts still expected in parts of the east.
26ft waves are due off south-west coasts, with waves of up to 15ft on beaches, magicseaweed.com data showed.
A Met Office forecaster said: “Summer will be long forgotten as rain and wind sets in. It will feel much more like autumn.”
The Met Office has said: “A 'weather bomb' is not a perfect meteorological term but is defined as an intense low pressure system with a central pressure that falls 24 millibars in a 24-hour period.”
The Environment Agency warned of floods from big waves and downpours.
“Local flooding is possible from surface water and rivers on Thursday evening in the South-West, and from large waves and high tides on Thursday and Friday in the South-West, Wales and North-East," The Environment Agency said.
“Land, roads and some properties may flood and there may be travel disruption.”
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A four-day buffeting of strong winds will stretch until Sunday, with rain easing on Friday.
Ellen is known as a "weather bomb" by forecasters due to "explosive cyclogenesis" which happens when air pressure plunges more than 24 millibars in 24 hours.
The storm's air pressure is forecast to fall by 34mb to 965mb in the 24 hours, Met Office forecasts showed.
The storm, which includes the remnants of Tropical Storm Kyle and has been named by Ireland's Met Éireann, will bring severe gales as it hits the west coast of Ireland later today, and then sweeps across to the UK.
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This morning, a dramatic rescue operation was launched after a yacht was "snapped" from its anchor and driven on to a West Country beach by the fury of Storm Ellen's howling 70mph-plus winds.
UK Coastguard said the yacht was blown ashore from its anchorage out in the sea at Wherrytown, near Penzance, Cornweall.
One person was aboard and he was safely rescued following a joint operation involving an RNLI lifeboat crew from Penlee Station and the coastguard.
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Rail commuters face an increase in season ticket prices of 1.6% - just as the government urges people to return to work.
The cap on the annual rise in most regulated fares is linked to July's Retail Prices Index measure of inflation, which was announced by the Office for National Statistics today as the same percentage.
Rail fares are usually increased every January, although there had been speculation that ministers were considering delaying the 2021 rise due to low passenger numbers.
The rise comes as a huge blow against Boris Johnson's cry for workers to go back to the office.
Figures yesterday had suggested road traffic and public transport had begun returning - before the price hike was revealed.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said:
'People's feelings about travel, and the way they use public transport, have changed. While the rail leisure travel may bounce back, our research tells us almost two in three former rail commuters expect to work from home more so we will probably now travel less for work, both commuting and on business.
'The Government must go above and beyond a fares freeze and get train companies to offer a combination of cut-price deals, carnet style 'bundles', flexible season tickets for commuters and better value for money fares across the board. To get Britain moving again in the coming months, tickets that fit the way we live and travel now are needed, not just season tickets designed for city gents in the last century.
'Like the Government's restaurant deal, we need a 'Head Out to Help Out' campaign to help get the country on the move again, boost the economy and reduce traffic on our roads.'
The UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments regulate rises for around half of fares, including season tickets on most commuter routes, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys, and tickets for travel around major cities at any time.
Rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road said regulated fares went up by an average of 2.7% in January 2020, following the July 2019 RPI figure of 2.8%.
Under proposals drawn up by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) industry body, fuel duty would be increased for the first time in a decade and taxes added to the purchase of jet fuel
Rail commuters face an increase in season ticket prices of 1.6%in blow for commuters
Unregulated fares, including advance and peak long-distance tickets, can be increased at the discretion of train companies.
Examples of potential season ticket prices next year after a 1.6% rise include:
- Brighton to London: Increase of £80 to £5,060
- Barrow-in-Furness to Preston: Increase of £69 to £4,353
- Edinburgh to Glasgow: Increase of £67 to £4,267
The news comes as huge blow to the push to try and get people back into city centre offices to help restart the economy.
It is feared a hike in prices will encourage employees that can to stay at home and work remotely to keep costs down.
Passenger watchdog Transport Focus called for a major shake-up of rail fares to encourage passengers back to the railways following the collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive Anthony Smith said a system that fits 'the way we live and travel now' is needed, rather than 'season tickets designed for city gents in the last century'.
Cities are still empty despite the Government's pledge to go back to work to help the economy
Figures from the Department for Transport show motor vehicle activity has virtually returned to its pre-pandemic levels. Public transport usage is steadily increasing, but at a much slower rate
He went on: 'Our research tells us almost two in three former rail commuters expect to work from home more so we will probably now travel less for work, both commuting and on business.
'The Government must go above and beyond a fares freeze and get train companies to offer a combination of cut-price deals, carnet-style 'bundles', flexible season tickets for commuters and better-value-for-money fares across the board.'
Department for Transport figures show car use has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, but rail travel is below a third of what it was before the crisis despite lockdown restrictions easing.
All revenue and cost risks from train companies were transferred to the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments in March to avoid franchises collapsing.
This has already cost taxpayers at least £3.5 billion.
London: Mobility trackers from Apple illustrate the rise in traffic on the roads around the capital, almost to pre-pandemic levels. Public transport is also climbing but is still struggling to match a full recovery
Birmingham: Driving has almost returned to pre-lockdown levels, but public transport has not reached the same heights, Apple trackers show
Manchester: A similar pattern is being observed in the North West, despite the region's spike in cases, Apple trackers show
The initial Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) offered by the UK Government last for six months, but taxpayer-funded support is expected to continue.
Trade unions claim EMAs mean Britain's railways are now in public ownership, but that is disputed by the industry.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union called for fares to be cut by 5% each year, using £500 million it says would otherwise be paid to private firms over a 12-month period if EMAs are extended.
RMT senior assistant general secretary Mick Lynch said: 'After well over a decade of eye-watering fare increases and with an industry in crisis, tinkering with fares is simply not good enough.
'Instead we argue that stopping the unjustified profiteering of the train companies would pay for an annual 5% cut in fares as part of a long-term national strategy for our railway.'
Darren Shirley, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: 'Today's rail fare rise will do nothing to restore people's faith in the railways.
'The Government must do more than just pay lip service to encouraging people to take public transport, it must now also provide the financial incentives to do so.
'Today's fare rise is a missed opportunity to do just that.'
