The government should ensure that students do not get downgraded from a grade 4 to a grade 3 in their English and maths GCSEs this year, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges has said.

Students who have not achieved a grade 4 in these exams when they leave school have to resit them in college. Data from the Department for Education, published last spring, showed at least two-thirds of learners who did not have GCSE English and/or maths at age 16 had not achieved one or both qualifications by 19.

David Hughes said the media coverage and decisions around this year’s GCSE and A-level results had done “nothing to ease young people’s worries and confusion in what has already been a disrupted and stressful academic year”.

Background: A levels and GCSEs will need appeals for mocks to count

U-turn: SQA results: All downgraded results to be withdrawn

Revealed: A levels: 40 per cent of teacher-assessed grades changed

“In the absence of students actually sitting exams and assessments, this was always going to be an imperfect process. It’s no surprise that the outcomes are being questioned like never before. There will be time over the coming months to review what has happened, not for recriminations but to help design a system which can be more resilient to future shocks and to ensure confidence in the accuracy of the grades.”

Fears over GCSE results

Mr Hughes’ comments come after the government announced a “triple lock” that it said would ensure students did not miss out on the grade they deserved. It means that mock exam grades might be used in the appeals process. 

Mr Hughes said: “What we need now, though, to truly do justice to the class of 2020, is to put all of our efforts into helping every student navigate a route through results day and on to their next step. Whether that be progressing at college, into a job, on to university or an apprenticeship, the process for results this year should help make that happen, despite the inevitable flaws.

“Ahead of GCSE results day next week, we would urge the government to consider the interests of students on the border of grade 4 in English and maths. We would support an approach which makes sure that they do not lose out. This can be achieved by agreeing that the moderation process should not downgrade any student from grade 4 to grade 3.

“The grade 4 boundary is like a cliff-edge, so it would be highly unfair for standardisation based on previous results to override teacher assessments. Announcing this would ease the concerns of thousands of young people who need their grade 4 results to progress successfully this autumn.”

Last night’s announcement has been criticised by school and college leaders for adding to the uncertainty surrounding this year’s results days for learners. NUS students’ union national president Larissa Kennedy said: “We called this week for the UK government to ensure any exam resits were free to the student, and we welcome confirmation that this will be the case.

“However, the rest of the triple-lock approach is wrong. The use of mock exams results risks making a mockery of the whole system, given the lack of a standard approach to mock exams and the fact they are not taken by all candidates.

“This is a botched attempt at a solution which does not fix the problem created by the classist, racist moderation system that students’ results will be based on where they live, not a true reflection of their own abilities.

“We still believe that England should follow Scotland in scrapping moderated grades. With its triple-lock policy, all the government has done is lock in inequality.”