The head of England’s exams regulator has been criticised over his “embarrassing” claim that teacher-assessment grades were “likely to give a much more accurate” reflection of students’ capabilities than exams.
One former policy adviser even suggested the comment might break Ofqual’s own legal duty to maintain standards in qualifications. The watchdog has since clarified that Lebus was only speaking about this year.
A-level students across England will receive their teacher assessment grades tomorrow, following the cancellation of exams for the second year in a row. GCSE results will be issued on Thursday.
Asked about fears of grade inflation and the validity of the results, Simon Lebus, interim chief regulator at Ofqual, told the Today programme exams were “a bit like a snapshot, a photograph you capture, an instant, it’s a form of sampling”.
Teacher assessments, on the other hand, allowed staff to “observe student performance over a much longer period and in a rather more complex way, taking into account lots of different pieces of work and arriving at a holistic judgement”, Lebus said.
“And I think from that point of view we can feel satisfied it’s likely to give a much more accurate and substantial reflection of what their students are capable of achieving.”
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