POLITICAL parties have joined forces to welcome the Governments about turn on exam results announced today.

 

Responding to the major u-turn from Welsh Government that all A Level and GCSE grades will be based on teacher assessments rather than on algorithms, Plaid Cymru Shadow Education Minister Sian Gwenllian MS said, “This is a very welcome if not a seriously overdue announcement.

 

“Pressure from Plaid Cymru, students, teachers and parents will now mean that our young people will have the grades they should have been awarded all along. The real victory belongs to the young people of Wales who have demonstrated better leadership and decorum than their government.

 

“Whilst it is regretful that this U-turn have come last week instead of putting students through so much unnecessary uncertainty and anxiety, I offer my congratulations to the young people who have led this campaign so ably.

 

“There should be a full investigation into this debacle and the Welsh Government should apologise to students, teachers and schools for what they’ve put them through over the past few weeks.

 

“Never again should the professionalism and integrity of our teachers and the hard work of our students be called into question. For today, let us celebrate that justice has prevailed.

Shadow Education Secretary Suzy Davies MS has also commented on the announcement saying: “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.

 

“It is reassuring that the Minister has listened to the Welsh Conservatives and other parties in the Welsh Parliament, but especially pleasing that she heard the voices of young people up and down the country.

 

“These students – at A, AS, GCSE, Skills Challenge Certificate, and Welsh Baccalaureate level – will now have the confidence to plan their future education or career aspirations, and reach their potential.”

 The National Education Union has also welcomed the decision to use assessed grades for A level and GCSE's this year. Speaking today David Evans, Wales Secretary for the National Education Union Cymru said:"NEU Cymru hugely welcomes this decision from the Education Minister. Students will be heartened to hear that their teacher assessed grades will be used for both A level and GCSE - giving justice to our students who have had a very difficult time in recent months."Wales was already in a more sensible place than England - with students still taking AS levels, and grades being more reliant on course work. But this is great news for young people, and the teachers and lecturers who have supported them. "This all goes to show that we need to trust teachers and lecturers. We believe they know young people best, and shows what a loaded system exams are. We congratulate the young people on joining together and seeking justice. We hope now that universities can be flexible, and help support the young people to ensure they have a future based on their potential - not the calculations of a biased computer programme.”The move has also been welcomed by the NAHT whose director Laura Doel said: “In the current circumstances it is right to trust the professional judgement of the people who know their students best, their 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.“Everyone knew that this was going to be a difficult time and there is no perfect method by which to award grades, however, this decision will mean students expecting their GCSE results can have confidence that they will not experience the same unfairness or disadvantage as their older peers."