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A-level and GCSE results in Wales will be based on teacher predictions as controversial algorithm scrapped

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Image: Exams were cancelled this summer due to coronavirus
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A-level and GCSE students in Wales will get their exam results as predicted by teachers instead of an algorithm, after the controversial system was scrapped.

It follows the earlier announcement in Northern Ireland that GCSE marks due to be released on Thursday will be graded in the same way, while A-level pupils will have to keep the marks they were handed by the system.

Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams said the change was happening "given decisions elsewhere" and will also affect AS-levels, skills challenge certificates and the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Students hold placards as they protest outside of the constituency office for Gavin Williamson, Conservative MP for South Staffordshire and Britain's current Education Secretary, in Codsall near Wolverhampton, central England on August 17, 2020, to demonstrate against the downgrading of A-level results. - The British government faced criticism after education officials downgraded more than a third of pupils' final grades in a system devised after the coronavirus pandemic led to cancelled exams. Although the newly released results for 18-year-olds showed record-high grades and more students accepted to university courses, exam boards downgraded nearly 40 percent of pupils' grades in England. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Image: Student protesters want Gavin Williamson to make a similar move

"It is clear that maintaining confidence in our qualifications whilst being fair to students requires this difficult decision," she said.

"These have been exceptional circumstances."

No student who received their marks last week will get a lower grade as a result of the announcement, Ms Williams added.

These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos
These students were predicted to get As - but an algorithm threw their futures into chaos

The move piles further pressure on the government to act in England.

More on Education

Some senior Conservative MPs and the Tory architect of GCSEs in the 1980s want the publishing of results to be postponed while a better system is worked out.

How other countries in Europe held their exams
How other countries in Europe held their exams

Anger has broken out into the open, with former minister Stephen Hammond telling Sky News the situation is a "shambles" and party whips having to urge MPs to stay quiet.

There was even public disquiet from the frontbench, paymaster general Penny Mordaunt tweeting she had made her views known to the Department for Education.

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Tory MP sets exams regulator a deadline amid row

Labour is also urging ministers to "bring the exams fiasco to an end".

"The government must now allow young people to use the grades their teachers predicted at both A-level and GCSE," shadow education secretary Kate Green said.

Downing Street is hoping to avoid another week's chaos following complaints that the algorithm meant to standardise grades benefited private schools and "baked in inequality".

Boris Johnson has previously called it "robust" and "dependable".

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From Thursday: PM defends A-level results as 'robust'

The prime minister's spokesman was asked to repeat those defences on Monday but declined.

He did say Mr Johnson has full confidence in Gavin Williamson, the education secretary for England, and exams regulator Ofqual.

Asked if England could follow the lead of the three other UK nations, the spokesman told reporters: "It is a devolved issue, our focus remains on working hard to introduce the fairest system possible for pupils."

Sky News understands the UK government will make an announcement on exam results later on Monday.

Students hold placards as they protest outside of the constituency office for Gavin Williamson, Conservative MP for South Staffordshire and Britain's current Education Secretary, in Codsall near Wolverhampton, central England on August 17, 2020, to demonstrate against the downgrading of A-level results. - The British government faced criticism after education officials downgraded more than a third of pupils' final grades in a system devised after the coronavirus pandemic led to cancelled exams. Although the newly released results for 18-year-olds showed record-high grades and more students accepted to university courses, exam boards downgraded nearly 40 percent of pupils' grades in England. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Image: Student protesters want Gavin Williamson to make a similar move

Pupils in Mr Williamson's South Staffordshire constituency who are angry at the situation marched from their high school to his office.

They carried placards saying "sack Gavin", "your algorithm doesn't know me" and "stop playing postcode politics".

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