The exams regulator Ofqual has dramatically withdrawn its criteria for students hoping to challenge their A-level grades using their results in mock exams just hours after it was first published.

Ofqual had said that students would be able to appeal using their mock exam results if they met eight criteria.

It included the announcement that if a pupil’s mock exam result was higher than the centre assessed grade they had been predicted, then a successful appeal would award the assessed grade and not the mock exam result.

However, the announcement of the criteria has now been withdrawn, prompting speculation on social media last night.

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In a brief statement, Ofqual said the policy was “being reviewed” by its board and that further information would be released “in due course”.

No reason for the decision was immediately available.

The move comes just hours after the body published its criteria for mock exam results to be considered as the basis of an appeal.

It threatened to plunge the A-level results process into further disarray following an outcry from students after almost 40 per cent of predicted grades were downgraded by the regulator’s “moderation” algorithm.

In a statement late on Saturday, an Ofqual spokesman said: “Earlier today we published information about mock exam results in appeals.

“This policy is being reviewed by the Ofqual board and further information will be published in due course.”

Labour had accused education secretary Gavin Williamson of backtracking on assurances given to students about the appeals process.

Mr Williamson gave a “triple lock” commitment that students could use the highest result out of their moderated grade, their mock exam or sitting the actual exam in the autumn.

However, in the now withdrawn document, Ofqual said that if the mock result was higher than the teacher’s prediction, it was the teacher’s prediction that would count.

The regulator said that mock exams did not usually cover the full range of content, while the assessments took into account a student’s performance across the whole course.

In a statement before the Ofqual guidance was withdrawn, shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “Gavin Williamson promised to give students a triple lock, but instead he left many devastated by unfair exam results, and now his commitment to give them another chance is rapidly unravelling,” she said.

“Having promised that students will be able to use a valid mock result, the reality is that many will not receive these grades even if they represent a student’s best result.

“The latest chaos is the inevitable consequence of this government’s shambolic approach to exams, which saw solutions dreamt up on the back of a cigarette packet and announced barely a day before young people received their results.”

The latest setback comes as ministers were braced for a fresh backlash when GCSE results for England are announced on Thursday.

Like the A-level results, they will initially be based on teacher assessments and then “moderated” by the Ofqual algorithm to bring them in line with previous years’ results.

Mr Williamson had said the process was necessary to prevent “grade inflation” which would render the results worthless after actual exams had to be abandoned due to the coronavirus outbreak.

However critics have complained it has led to thousands of individual injustices, disproportionately penalising students from schools serving disadvantaged communities.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the Ofqual document was “surreal and bureaucratic”.

He urged the government to follow the example of Scotland - where there was a similar outcry - and abandon the moderated results in favour of teacher assessments.

“That would be a better approach than this appeals system as it would mean students would get revised A-level grades immediately on the basis of the teacher assessments already conducted, which draw on the very evidence that is now proposed as part of the appeals process,” he said.

“We don’t blame Ofqual for the bizarre nature of the appeals criteria. The regulator has been given a hospital pass by a government that is in disarray.

“It is time for ministers to stop the chaos and fall back on teacher-assessed grades rather than prolong this nightmare.”

Meanwhile Mr Williamson has defended Ofqual’s grading method in a column in the Sunday Express.

He wrote: “No system that was put in place was going to be able to replicate the exams process.

“But the calculated grade overseen by Ofqual makes certain that everyone can be confident that these qualifications carry the same weight as previous years.

“And our triple lock process means if any young person is unhappy with their result, they can appeal on the basis of a valid mock exam and, in England, have the chance to sit exams in the autumn.”

The chair of the Commons’ education committee, Robert Halfon, said it was “unacceptable” for Ofqual to issue guidance to students on appealing their grades, only to withdraw it.

He told BBC News: “That is a huge mess. Goodness knows
what is going on at Ofqual. It is the last thing we need at this time.
This just unacceptable in my view.

“Students and teachers are incredibly anxious - particularly the
students who are worried about their future. This has got to be sorted
out.

“Ofqual shouldn’t put things on websites, take them away, sow confusion.
This is just not on and it has got to be changed.”