A-Level Results: Students deserve better than an algorithm

It has been a very difficult week for young people in Durham and across the country. In the City of Durham, it feels particularly painful as the constituency is home to so many good schools, an excellent further education college and a brilliant sixth form centre. Within them are countless hardworking and talented pupils and staff who have been badly failed by the Government.

My inbox has made for tough reading these last few days, with story after story of unfair grades, university places lost, and dreams shattered. It is clear that the Government has massively messed up on A-Level results, with their deeply flawed algorithm turning grading into a postcode lottery.

What I find most disgraceful about this fiasco is that despite the clear injustice of the system, the Government has stubbornly pushed ahead. You only have to listen to stories of grades being inexplicably slashed in order to fit with averages or school performance to see how cruel the process has been. The data supports this, with 39% of results downgraded, and the most-deprived areas being hit the hardest. If anything, this algorithm has only served to highlight the inequality of our education system, with the school a pupil attends, or the area they live in, disproportionately affecting the outcome of their education.

While the long-term causes of the inequality in education must be tackled, for now we must focus on the results injustice. My office and I have been working non-stop to support students and to push the Government to fix this disaster.

So far, I have written to the Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Education, to demand that the Government waive appeal fees and to adopt teacher assessed grades. Already, the Education Secretary has been forced to U-turn and cover appeal fees thanks to the pressure from pupils, parents and Labour MPs.

I have also written to the Vice-Chancellor of Durham University to ask that they treat applicants who have had their results downgraded with compassion and understanding due to the extraordinary circumstances students find themselves in. I will continue to meet engage with Durham University over the coming weeks.

Last week, I reached out to schools in the constituency to ask that they keep me updated on results day and I will be contacting them again to receive more detail on A-Level results at their individual schools, as well as to discuss potential challenges ahead of GCSE results being released on Thursday.

Finally, I have updated the Labour Shadow Education team with the situation in the City of Durham and will continue to update them so that they can effectively press the Government on this issue.

We need to be clear that not only does the blame lie at the door of the Government, but also that only the Government has the power to overturn this injustice and award pupils their teacher assessed grades.

I will continue to do everything within my power to stand-up for pupils, parents and schools against the Government. It is vital we keep the pressure on, as only then will we force further U-turns.