North Wales student criticises Welsh Government’s handling of A-level controversy following U-turn

A North Wales student has voiced his opinions on the Welsh Government’s U-turn which will see A-level and GCSE results awarded by teachers’ predicted grades.

The change of heart was announced by ministers following criticism of the 42 per cent of A-level marks which were lowered after the application of an algorithm.

Jonathan Powell, member of the Welsh Youth Parliament for Wrexham, has campaigned to change the government’s approach to determining grades, stating their handling was “utterly shambolic.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, he said his stress levels had decreased after hearing about the U-turn and expressed his hopes for justice for other students across the country.

However, he criticise First Minister Mark Drakeford’s comments on the original system.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Drakeford apologised to students regarding the “uncertain period”, but claim the process had been fair.

He said: “I wanted to defend the integrity of our system, which is a different system to other parts of the United Kingdom.

“A fairer system more based on evidence, but once others moved away from their system to teacher assessments our young people compete with those other young people for places in university and for other possibilities in their lives, and they would have not been in a fair position if we had not made the decision we made today.”

He defended it further by stating “the system would have delivered the best A-level results ever,” with “more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university than ever before.”

In response to his comments, Mr Powell said: “I think he’s one of the only people in Wales who was putting his head above the parapet and saying that the system was fair because it wasn’t fair, it was unjust, and it was unfair.

“I think the fact that they’ve had to cave in under the pressure shows that this was not a fair system at all. Rather it prioritised statistics.

“It prioritised the value of the system over individual students, and that was, quite frankly, awful.”

The Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee was urgently recalled following the controversy, inviting the WJEC, Qualifications Wales and the Welsh Government to provide information on the latest developments and answer questions.

The committee has a key role in holding the government and other public bodies to account and will help determine the measures put in place to help those concerned about their results.

Ian Morgan, WJEC’s chief executive, has said he was “disappointed” about the U-turn as he believes the appeals process would have dealt with any anomalies.

He said grade averages would have undergone the usual annual increase whereas a “significantly” bigger increase will be seen following teachers’ predicted marks.

https://twitter.com/JonathanWYPM/status/1295351378299301889

In his closing comments, Mr Powell directed a number of scathing comments at the government.

He said: “The main thing I want to say is that we all, not just me, but the young people of Wales – we want the Welsh Government to listen up.

“Stop playing politics with young people’s lives.

“Just put an end to it now, accept you got it wrong – the algorithm’s wrong, the whole way they’ve gone about this is wrong.

“That’s the only way we can progress and the only way we can guarantee justice and fairness to all young people across Wales.”

By Jordan Adams