The chair of the Commons Education Select Committee has condemned Ofqual’s U-turn on the A level appeals process as “farcical”.

Just hours after Ofqual published details of how students could appeal their A level grades on the basis of “valid mock results” or coursework, the exams regulator withdrew the details, saying in a statement that the policy was “being reviewed” by its board.

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Robert Halfon, chair of the education committee and MP for Harlow, said Ofqual’s actions had “sown confusion” among students and teachers. 

“Ofqual has sown confusion among anxious pupils, students, teachers. It is just not the way to proceed. The appeals system is complex enough as it is,” he said.

“We need a kind of Ronseal appeals system that is very simple and that is fair to all and above all helps young people get out of this rut and climb the education ladder of opportunity,” he added [Ronseal is a protective fence paint].

He told BBC Radio 4‘s Broadcasting House programme that he was “shocked” by the regulator’s U-turn.

“I had spent yesterday afternoon looking at all the Ofqual guidance on appeals, then you wake up in the morning and see they’ve been taken off the website…It just is farcical,” he said.

“Ofqual should have prepared the appeals system weeks ago - we need to get the appeals system sorted out so it’s simple, fair and easy for people to understand.”

Asked whether there would be a complete U-turn over exam results in England - as seen in Scotland - he said: “I do believe in a role for the regulator - I do believe there should be a national standard for exams and that there are checks and balances within the system, and that the government and Ofqual have to get the appeals system right.”

“I had a letter from Nick Gibb which says that the appeals system is being widened. If the appeals system is fair, if individual students are able to - subject to being signed off by their headteacher - to appeal their exam grades, then I think some of the problems that we’ve seen could be resolved.

“But they’ve got to get the appeals system up and running - they’ve got to make it simple for all the players involved to understand.

“We can’t just have Ofqual putting up things on websites - guidance - and then taking it down a few hours’ later, this is just not the way to proceed,” he said.

Pressure to resolve the crisis is growing, not only from the Conservative back benches but from the opposition.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green said in a statement: “The
Tories’ results fiasco is turning from tragedy to farce, and the chaos
and incompetence is completely unacceptable when so many students and
families have been devastated by it.

“A credible appeals system should have been the government’s first
priority but three days later there is absolutely no clarity on how
young people can challenge their unfair grades.

“Parents and young people needed action in a matter of days but the
government are now rapidly running out of time. The prime minister must
get a grip and sort this out.”