The name Glenys Stacey should be instantly recognisable to anyone who was teaching in a secondary school in 2012.

Ms Stacey, as she then was, forged her reputation in Ofqual’s last great grading crisis eight years ago when there were accusations that GCSE English results had been hit by a “statistical fix”.

The affair made her a hugely unpopular figure among many school leaders at the time. But Ms Stacey emerged victorious following a High Court challenge.

Now Dame Glenys, she is returning to Ofqual in her former role until December to help clear up the latest grading mess.   

Exclusive: Ofqual chief Sally Collier standing down

Dame Glenys Stacey: My time in charge of Ofqual? Non, je ne regrette rien

Background: Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey to step down

She left Ofqual at the end of her first spell in February 2016 with her head held high.

Dame Glenys said she had made no errors since taking charge at the exams watchdog in 2011.

“That might sound arrogant, [and] I don’t mean to sound arrogant,” she told Tes. “But I have reflected on it. I anticipated you asking that, and I genuinely don’t. 

But her spell at Ofqual was not been without controversy. Many headteachers were angered by the way that Ofqual handled the 2012 English GCSE grading affair. There were calls for her resignation at the time, but her stance was backed by a win in the High Court.

After Ofqual Dame Glenys, who was born in 1954, went on to become HM Chief Inspector of Probation, a job she left last year. 

A solicitor by training, she worked has in the public sector at senior management level since 2000. She has previously been chief executive at Standards for England - responsible for promoting high ethical standards in local government - at Animal Health, at the Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Courts Committee and at the Criminal Cases Review Commission. 

Dame Glenys told Tes in 2016 that she was “proud” of Ofqual’s work in halting years of rising GCSE and A-level results, ending the annual debate over grade inflation. 

It was an adaption of the comparable outcomes model used by Dame Glenys to combat grade that produced the controversial algorithm that resulted in this year’s grading U-turn.