Leighton Andrews under fire for 'irresponsible' GCSE English regrade demand
Education Secretary Michael Gove has blasted Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews after he ordered exam board WJEC to remark GCSE English exams.
Mr Andrews asked the WJEC to carry out the re-grade following a Welsh Government review after thousands of students were awarded lower than expected grades in August.
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Michael Gove
Giving evidence to the Commons Education Committee today, Mr Gove ruled out ordering an independent inquiry into the grading fiasco and called on Mr Andrews to “think again,” saying he had made a “regrettable political intervention”.
“The other thing I would say in respect of Wales is that I believe that the children who have been disadvantaged are children in Wales,” Mr Gove said.
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“I think the decision by the Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews is irresponsible and mistaken and I think that he has undermined confidence in Welsh children’s GCSEs.”
At the hearing, Mr Gove admitted the crisis in England shows the need for reform.
“What happened with GCSE this year caused understandable concern for parents, teachers and students and I think it’s appropriate we examine what’s happened in a sober fashion and also in a rigorously analytical way.
“I think there are certain lessons to be learned which encourage me to believe that we need to reform qualifications.”
The Education Secretary ruled out instructing Ofqual to regrade papers from June which he said would "destroy the independence of the regulator."
He said that the difficulty was that the same exam, set by the same board was taken by children in England and Wales, with Welsh children performing “appreciably worse.”
“That reinforces what every international survey shows, which is that children in Wales have suffered as a result of education policies put forward by Labour politicians, which have abolished league tables, ended the objective assessment of children at the end of Key Stage 2 and ensured that there is less rigour in the approach towards education.
“Now, finding himself in a fix, and his education system in the dock, the Labour politician has attempted to shift blame.
“I think that’s irresponsible and the children who suffer are the children from Wales who, when they apply for a job in England, will hand over certificates which profess to be good passes and English employers will now say, ’I fear, through no fault of your own, I’m sure you’re the right person to be employed, I fear that I cannot count your exam pass as equivalent to this other exam pass’, and I think to have made the decision he did with the speed that he did, without appropriate consultation with Ofqual, was irresponsible and children in Wales will suffer.”
Comments
by Einon
Thursday, September 13 2012, 10:54PM
“You've got to laugh at some of the Labour donkey-apologists on here. The only answer they've got to Labour's failed education record after 13 years in Cardiff Bay is to blame the Tories. Who was in power in Westminster until 2010?
Labour has been in charge of education in Wales for 13 years. Let's put responsibility squarely where it's due, rather than engaging in the usual boring "anti-tory" rhetoric. And for all the gibes about England and English education policy, let's not forget that Penfold has also been quite busily trashing the higher education sector in Wales, and effectively subsidising English universities with Welsh taxpayers money by allowing Welsh students to claim an Assembly learning grant for studying in England.
Compare and contrast with Scotland, where the SNP administration has a policy that puts Scottish Universities FIRST. No wonder their universities are world class.”
by bobthepost
Thursday, September 13 2012, 8:43PM
“Well said seasolder , Leighton Andrews has done nothing for our childrens education and with all the schools he has allowed to close he will do nothing in the future. If we have to have a Welsh Assembly then it's about time for a change of education minister.”
by seasolder
Thursday, September 13 2012, 8:14PM
“I agree with the comments made by ( Carpmeister) what has Leighton Andrews actually done for our childrens education, other than supported and close so many schools.
As it is children, leaving school are facing a difficult time,with unemployment in our city amongst the highest anywhere in Britain.
Education is so important in childrens development and all this minister is doing is bustering around and throwing confusion as to the value of grades obtained.”
by PruPhneeda
Thursday, September 13 2012, 7:53PM
“brochadav
In 5 or 6 years time the school leavers of today should have work experience to enter on their CVs so, the GCSE grades will have less importance.”
by brochadav
Thursday, September 13 2012, 7:20PM
“OK so employers will know where you took your exams, a more valid point is, just who will remember this fiasco in 5/8/10 years time? And what if our exam grades are actually fairer as apparently the kids sat the same exams? C in England will be a B in Wales if the marks are upgraded which people are assuming they will be.
Maybe waiting for the outcome will be a wiser option then. None of us know the future. Mind you because of our education system a lot don't know the past either!!”
by PruPhneeda
Thursday, September 13 2012, 3:34PM
“hughevans
Yeh, yeh.
Meanwhile, in England
Academy schools put authority budgets and jobs at risk - 11 Sept.
Acute hospital care 'on brink of collapse' say doctors - 13 Sept.
Loads more that I could quote. In fact, I could fill several quality Sunday newspapers.”
by hughevans
Thursday, September 13 2012, 10:03AM
“Wake up Wales. Labour has destroyed a once fine education system and they are he'll bent on destroying health.”
by Neathboy234
Thursday, September 13 2012, 7:28AM
“carpmeister Wales does less well in education because England has many more free paying private schools. In fact if our populations were the same, England would have over 10 times the number attending a private school.”
by Angry_dunvant
Thursday, September 13 2012, 2:37AM
“why are mp's am's and all the other freeloaders so out of touch with reality? these cretins are governing the country, they aren't interesred in doing the right thing, just spout meaningless retoric that gets them votes to be able to stay in their soft pointless jobs, they couldn't agree on what time it was, let alone on a common sense issue!”
by PruPhneeda
Wednesday, September 12 2012, 8:05PM
“Sourchat
That would explain Daniel Kawczynski
http://tinyurl.com/8uo89oz”