‘Worst-case scenario’: Government pushed forward with flawed A-level algorithm despite other options, exams chief says

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The government went ahead with the controversial exam results algorithm despite England’s exams regulator warning it was the “worst-case scenario”, Ofqual‘s chair has said. “It was the secretary of state who then took the decision, who announced, without further consultation with Ofqual, that exams were to be cancelled and a system of calculated grades were to be implicated.” Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green said Ofqual’s evidence “raised serious questions” about the UK education secretary’s role in this year’s grading chaos. He said: “We look forward to the government’s response, and how this squares with the prime minister’s recent statement that a ‘mutant algorithm’ was to blame for the grading fiasco.” Under the original grading system set up for this year, teachers submitted grades they estimated students would have achieved in exams for standardisation. Speaking to the education committee about the initial grading system, Mr Taylor from Ofqual said: “The fundamental mistake was to believe this would ever be acceptable to the public.” Keir Starmer, Labour’s leader, challenged Boris Johnson over the exams chaos at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, saying: “He either knew of the problem with the algorithm and did nothing or he didn’t know when he should have.