ISC statement on Year 13 results 2020

The ISC chairman said: “We must remember that Ofqual had an impossible job this year. Its staff believe in fairness and accuracy, so to be required to produce exam results when exams had not been sat was a tough ask, especially as teacher-assessed coursework (which could have been used) has been cut right back. Ofqual did its best to enable Year 13 students to progress to the next stage without too much disruption – and most have.

“The priority issue now is how to help the important minority whose results are clearly wrong. For many, the problem is that the historic data used was inappropriate for the specific school cohort; they must therefore appeal. In due course some may be able to appeal on the basis of mock grades.

“As important is the fact that users of these grades, particularly universities, have to understand a pretty large number of A-level grades are objectively ‘wrong’ - the student would have got a higher grade.”