The chief regulator of exams watchdog Ofqual is standing down, Tes can reveal, following the chaos of this summer’s GCSE and A-level results.

Sally Collier, who was appointed to the position in April 2016, is to replaced by her immediate predecessor at Ofqual - Dame Glenys Stacey, who will be acting chief regulator until December.

Dame Glenys will have support from Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman, who was Ofqual chair during Dame Glenys’ previous spell at the exams watchdog.

A heads’ leader has responded by saying that Ms Collier is not solely to blame for the failure of Ofqual’s grading model and that ministers still have questions to answer. 

An Ofqual statement said: “The chief regulator, Sally Collier, has decided that the next stage of the [A-level, GCSE and vocational qualification] awarding process would be better overseen by new leadership.

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“The Ofqual Board supports Sally in this decision, and thanks her for her leadership and service over the past four years, which has included overseeing the successful introduction of an entirely new set of GCSEs and A levels, and a new grading system.”

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Ms Spielman will chair a new committee of the Ofqual board, including “one or more” current board members, to oversee the work of Ofqual to the end of the year. But Roger Taylor is remaining Ofqual chair.

If required, Ofsted will provide additional staff to support Ofqual during the autumn.

Ofqual said: “Taken together, these arrangements will ensure that Ofqual has the extra capacity, support and oversight it needs both to tackle the remaining issues from this year’s awarding process and to ensure that next year’s arrangements command public confidence.”

The news follows Ofqual’s decision to ditch its standardisation process and use teacher-assessed grades for GCSEs and A levels in England, where these were higher than the regulator’s calculated results.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are sorry that Sally Collier is standing down as chief regulator of Ofqual, and we wish her well for the future. We have worked well with her, and found her to be a highly intelligent, principled and thoughtful person.

“This move follows the failure of the statistical model that led to this year’s grading fiasco, but the fault is not hers alone.

“Ministers have questions to answer over the extent to which they scrutinised and challenged the methodology and reliability of the statistical model, particularly given the enormity of the task and the importance of getting it right.

“Schools and colleges put their trust in the government over this matter, dutifully followed the processes advised by Ofqual, and now feel badly let down by the ensuing debacle. They deserve some answers and so do their students.

“We have written to the secretary of state for education to formally request that he commission an immediate independent review to rapidly establish what happened and what went wrong. We believe that public confidence has been so badly damaged that full transparency is essential.”

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Following Sally Collier’s decision to step down as Ofqual’s chief regulator, I’d like to thank her for the commitment she has shown to the role over the last four years and wish her well for the future.

“I welcome Ofqual’s announcement that Dame Glenys Stacey is to assume a temporary leadership role as acting chief regulator and also the new internal governance arrangements put in place with Ofsted support.  This will make sure Ofqual can fully focus on the important functions it must deliver as the independent regulator for qualifications, examinations and assessments in England.

“Moving forward, my department will continue to work closely with Ofqual’s leadership to deliver fair results and exams for young people.”

Ms Collier began her time at Ofqual with the task of ensuring that the new GCSEs and A levels were safely awarded and that the GCSE grading changes, from A* to G to 9 to 1, were widely communicated.

Before she had the chance to start in her role, MPs who grilled her on the detail of subject comparability concluded that her overall knowledge of the exams system was “somewhat lacking”.

But, after 11 months overseeing qualifications and exams, she told Tes that she felt “steeped in it”.

Prior to starting at the regulator, Ms Collier was running the Crown Commercial Service, the UK’s largest government buying organisation, spending £13 billion a year.

She said that she “fell into” the civil service in 1992, when her father told her that she needed a “proper job”.

She gained three A levels at grades ABB and a degree in French and German from Salford University.