PUPILS in Wales will receive A-level and GCSE grades decided by their teachers, it was announced today.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said the u-turn on results was a "difficult decision" but would ensure "the balance of fairness" following similar moves in Scotland.
Northern Ireland announced similar changes earlier in the day, with England doing the same following the announcement in Wales this afternoon.
Qualification Wales have confirmed that any pupil who was given a higher grade last week than their teacher assessed grade will be able to keep the better result.
Follow our live coverage and reaction to the education minister's announcement here.
Several hundred students protested outside the Senedd building in Cardiff Bay yesterday, demanding a change in approach after 42 per cent of A-level results in Wales last week were downgraded by computer software after claims teachers' initial predicted grades were too generous and inconsistent between schools.
Both Delyth Jewell MS and Jayne Bryant MS attended the protest, calling on the Welsh Government to revert back to the grades given by teachers.
See the full announcement from Education Minister Kirsty Williams here.
They welcomed the u-turn decision.
Ms Jewell said "justice has prevailed".
Adding: “The Welsh Government should never have allowed such unfairness to stand in the first place and Labour have questions to answer for causing such unnecessary distress for so many students."
The right and proper decision. Our school children deserve no less. https://t.co/TBfpjvTMso
— Rhianon Passmore MS (@rhi4islwyn) August 17, 2020
Ms Bryant was "delighted" with the announcement.
She said: “Over the last few days I have listened to both teachers and pupils here in Newport. It has been heartbreaking to hear from young people about the uncertainty and anxiety that has been put on them."
See Delyth Jewell's full response to the results u-turn here.
Opposition parties have also backed the decision to move away from the algorithm that left so many A-level students disappointed last week.
Shadow Education Minister Suzy Davies MS said: "This has been an exceptional time, and this news will come as a very welcome relief for the thousands of A-Level students who last week were looking at grades lower than they were predicted to receive. It will also be a relief to pupils expecting results this week as well as an acknowledgement of quite how much effort teachers put into this."
See Jayne Bryant's reaction to the Welsh Government announcement here.
Pupils, teachers and headteachers have also expressed their relief at the decision.
One student, Poppy Stowell-Evans, said: "I am very relieved about it to be honest.
"I do not think there would have been a perfectly fair way to award results, but trusting the teachers who know us and our work better than anyone is a positive step."
A-level and GCSE students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be handed exam grades as predicted by their teachers instead of a controversial algorithm.
— Laura Anne Jones MS South Wales East (@LauraJ4SWEast) August 17, 2020
So absolutely delighted at this decision. It is the right decision. @southwalesargushttps://t.co/aHgsHK47Cz
While NAHT Cymru director, Laura Doel, said: “In the current circumstances it is right to trust the professional judgement of the people who know their students best, the teachers.
“NAHT Cymru made direct representations to the minister last week calling for her to revert to the centre assessment grades when it was first identified that there was a problem with the algorithm used by Qualifications Wales.
"Although we welcome the decision, we don’t yet know what this delay will mean for students who have already missed out on their first choice of university.
"This will undoubtedly load more and more difficulty onto universities and their capacity to meet all of the demand for places that will now inevitably come their way. For them, the problem is far from over."
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