Boris Johnson has been accused of “shamefully” trying to dodge blame this summer’s exam chaos after he told schoolchildren that a “mutant algorithm” was to blame.
In an address to pupils at a Leicestershire secondary, broadcast live on social media, the prime minister acknowledged that the botched announcement of this year’s A-level results had been “stressful” for thousands of teenagers initially awarded grades well below teachers’ predications, but insisted the problem had now been “sorted out”.
But Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green insisted that responsibility for the fiasco lay with “this Tory government’s incompetence”.
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And Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said it was “brazen of the prime minister to idly shrug away a disaster that his own government created”.
Ms Green said: “Boris Johnson is shamelessly trying to avoid taking responsibility for the exams fiasco that his government created.
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1/50 26 AugustGiant waves at Seaham in County Durham, as the bad weather continues
PA
2/50 25 AugustAn assistant at the Wallace Monument cleans the case which houses the William Wallace sword in the Hall of Arms room at the monument near Stirling as they prepare to re-open
PA
3/50 24 AugustRestored World War Two landing craft LCT 7074 is transported from from the Naval Base in Portsmouth to its final resting place at the D-Day Story at Southsea
PA
4/50 23 AugustJenny Nguyen and Tony Cao, from Vietnam, pose for wedding photos on Tower Bridge in London, as it remains closed to vehicles after it was stuck open on Saturday due to a “mechanical fault”. The landmark’s Twitter account confirmed only pedestrians and cyclists could use it on Sunday morning
PA
5/50 22 AugustEngland’s Zak Crawley hit 267, joining the exclusive Double Hundred club, on day two of the Third Test match against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton
PA
6/50 21 AugustHarri Teale gathers lavender during the annual harvest on the Wolds Way Lavender farm near Malton in North Yorkshire
PA
7/50 20 AugustParents and a student react after checking GCSE results at Ark Academy in London
Reuters
8/50 19 AugustTate Modern workers hold a strike outside the gallery in London, to protest the institution’s announcement that it would cut more than 300 jobs from its commercial arm, Tate Enterprises
PA
9/50 18 AugustTwo rescued brown bear cubs, Mish (left) and Lucy, cool off in a pool after arriving at their new home with the wildlife conservation charity Wildwood Trust in Herne Bay, Kent. The orphaned pair, who have been living in a temporary home in Belgium since they were found abandoned and alone in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains, will be acclimatised to their new life in the country before moving to a permanent home
PA
10/50 17 AugustA level students celebrate outside the Department for Education in London after it was confirmed that candidates in England will be given grades estimated by their teachers, rather than by an algorithm. The government U-turn comes just days after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson vowed there would be “no U-turn, no change.
PA
11/50 16 AugustWasp players take a knee as Northampton Saints stand prior to kick-off in their Premiership match at Franklin’s Gardens
PA
12/50 15 AugustPiper Colour Sergeant Lil Bahadur Gurung attends the VJ Day National Remembrance event, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Britain
Reuters
13/50 14 AugustPeople including students hold placards on Whitehall outside Downing Street as they protest against the downgrading of A-level results. The 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 yes
AFP via Getty
14/50 13 AugustBenita Stipp (centre) and Mimi Ferguson (left) react as students at Norwich School receive their A-Level results
PA
15/50 12 August 2020A train derailment near Stonehaven has left three people dead. Driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie, and a passenger were killed when the 6.38am Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street service crashed amid heavy rain and flooding
BBC
16/50 11 August 2020A woman hydrates in the sun after open water swimming at the West Reservoir Centre in north London
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty
17/50 10 August 2020Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes part in an archery session as he visits Premier Education Summer Camp at Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ in Upminster
Reuters
18/50 9 August 2020People cycle through Cambridge as the heatwave continues in Britain
EPA
19/50 8 August 2020Healthcare workers take part in a protest in London over pay conditions in the NHS
Getty
20/50 7 August 2020Emergency services make their way along the seafront on Bournemouth beach in Dorset on one of the hottest days of the year
PA
21/50 6 August 2020Alison Murphy poses for a picture by husband Peter as she walks through a field of sunflowers in Altrincham, Cheshire
PA
22/50 5 August 2020Pakistan’s Abid Ali being bowled by England’s Jofra Archer during day one of the First Test match at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
PA
23/50 4 August 2020The ‘Timbuktu tumblers’ from Kenya perform their balancing act on the Southsea waterfront as Zippos Circus reopens in Portsmouth
Rex
24/50 3 August 2020Pelicans interact with a visitor in St James’s Park in London
PA
25/50 2 August 2020Lewis Hamilton drives with a puncture towards the finish line to win the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone
POOL/AFP via Getty
26/50 1 August 2020Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the FA Cup, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease
Pool via Reuters
27/50 31 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at a Bournemouth Beach
Reuters
28/50 30 July 2020An artist puts the finishing touches to a wax figure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in the entrance line at Madame Tussaud’s in London, as the attraction prepares to reopen to the public following the easing of lockdown restrictions in England
PA
29/50 29 July 2020A member of staff stands on Ai Weiwei’s ‘History of Bombs’ during a photocall for the Chinese artist’s new work on display at the Imperial War Museum in London
PA
30/50 28 July 2020Stuart Broad celebrates after taking the wicket of West Indies batsman Kraigg Brathwaite. It was a milestone wicket in his career, reaching his 500th Test Wicket for England. They went on to beat the West Indies in Manchester and therefore win the series 2-1
Getty/ECB
31/50 27 July 2020Demonstrators protest outside the Tate Modern in London over proposed job losses in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown. The group believe that the emergency money provided by the government to culture-based organisations should be used to retain all jobs and that any other use of the funding is unfair. The gallery on London’s South Bank, as well as the Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives, reopened today after closing in March due to lockdown measures meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus
Getty
32/50 26 July 2020Harry Maguire shakes hands with Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers after Manchester United beat the Foxes. The win meant they finished third in the Premier League and Leicester finished outside a Champions League place in fourth
Pool via Reuters
33/50 25 July 2020Women exercise using pool noodles during an aqua fit class at a gym in Sunbury-on-Thames after gyms and swimming pools were allowed to reopen
AFP via Getty
34/50 24 July 2020Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tries out a new Streetspace protected cycle lane in London at the launch a new online cycle training scheme
PA
35/50 23 July 2020A customer has her hair cut outside at Blade Hairdressers in Soho in London
Getty
36/50 22 July 2020Liverpool’s English midfielder Jordan Henderson lifts the Premier League trophy during the presentation following the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool. Liverpool on Wednesday lifted the Premier League trophy at the famous Kop stand at Anfield after their final home game of the season
AFP via Getty
37/50 21 July 2020Vivienne Westwood demonstrates outside the Old Bailey in support of Julian Assange in London
Reuters
38/50 20 July 2020Comet Neowise in the skies over the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire
PA
39/50 19 July 2020Mods and rockers unite on Madeira Drive, Brighton, for a demonstration to call for the reopening of the road which Brighton & Hove City Council plans to keep closed permanently
PA
40/50 18 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at Painshill, an 18th century landscape garden in Cobham, Surrey
PA
41/50 17 July 2020Captain Sir Thomas Moore receives his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle
AP
42/50 16 July 2020Red Arrows do a flypast during the Graduation Ceremony of the Queen’s Squadron at RAF College Cranwell, Lincolnshire
The Daily Telegraph/PA
43/50 15 July 2020Jen Reid poses in front of a black resin and steel statue titled ‘A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020’, which is based on her by Marc Quinn, where it has been installed on the vacant Edward Colston plinth in Bristol city centre. The original statue was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during Black Lives Matter protests
PA
44/50 14 July 2020Fields of echium and borage in full flower near the town of Thaxted in Essex
PA
45/50 13 July 2020People ride a rollercoaster in a theme park next to Southend pier. Many businesses in tourism and hospitality have been able to reopen after some lockdown measures were eased
Getty
46/50 12 July 2020West Indies’s John Campbell and Jason Holder celebrate winning the test as England’s Rory Burns and teammates look on dejected
Reuters
47/50 11 July 2020Chicldren play in the water during a cricket match between Abinger and Worplesdon & Nurpham in Abinger Hammer, Surrey
Reuters
48/50 10 July 2020People gather for the funeral of Dame Vera Lynn in Ditchling, England. During World War II she travelled to the frontlines, including Burma, entertaining British troops and boosting morale. She died on 18 June at her home in West Sussex
Getty
49/50 9 July 2020Artist Anish Kapoor looks into his sculpture ‘Sky Mirror’ at Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, ahead of the opening of his largest UK exhibition of outdoor sculptures
PA
50/50 8 July 2020Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
AFP via Getty
1/50 26 AugustGiant waves at Seaham in County Durham, as the bad weather continues
PA
2/50 25 AugustAn assistant at the Wallace Monument cleans the case which houses the William Wallace sword in the Hall of Arms room at the monument near Stirling as they prepare to re-open
PA
3/50 24 AugustRestored World War Two landing craft LCT 7074 is transported from from the Naval Base in Portsmouth to its final resting place at the D-Day Story at Southsea
PA
4/50 23 AugustJenny Nguyen and Tony Cao, from Vietnam, pose for wedding photos on Tower Bridge in London, as it remains closed to vehicles after it was stuck open on Saturday due to a “mechanical fault”. The landmark’s Twitter account confirmed only pedestrians and cyclists could use it on Sunday morning
PA
5/50 22 AugustEngland’s Zak Crawley hit 267, joining the exclusive Double Hundred club, on day two of the Third Test match against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton
PA
6/50 21 AugustHarri Teale gathers lavender during the annual harvest on the Wolds Way Lavender farm near Malton in North Yorkshire
PA
7/50 20 AugustParents and a student react after checking GCSE results at Ark Academy in London
Reuters
8/50 19 AugustTate Modern workers hold a strike outside the gallery in London, to protest the institution’s announcement that it would cut more than 300 jobs from its commercial arm, Tate Enterprises
PA
9/50 18 AugustTwo rescued brown bear cubs, Mish (left) and Lucy, cool off in a pool after arriving at their new home with the wildlife conservation charity Wildwood Trust in Herne Bay, Kent. The orphaned pair, who have been living in a temporary home in Belgium since they were found abandoned and alone in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains, will be acclimatised to their new life in the country before moving to a permanent home
PA
10/50 17 AugustA level students celebrate outside the Department for Education in London after it was confirmed that candidates in England will be given grades estimated by their teachers, rather than by an algorithm. The government U-turn comes just days after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson vowed there would be “no U-turn, no change.
PA
11/50 16 AugustWasp players take a knee as Northampton Saints stand prior to kick-off in their Premiership match at Franklin’s Gardens
PA
12/50 15 AugustPiper Colour Sergeant Lil Bahadur Gurung attends the VJ Day National Remembrance event, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Britain
Reuters
13/50 14 AugustPeople including students hold placards on Whitehall outside Downing Street as they protest against the downgrading of A-level results. The 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 yes
AFP via Getty
14/50 13 AugustBenita Stipp (centre) and Mimi Ferguson (left) react as students at Norwich School receive their A-Level results
PA
15/50 12 August 2020A train derailment near Stonehaven has left three people dead. Driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie, and a passenger were killed when the 6.38am Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street service crashed amid heavy rain and flooding
BBC
16/50 11 August 2020A woman hydrates in the sun after open water swimming at the West Reservoir Centre in north London
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty
17/50 10 August 2020Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes part in an archery session as he visits Premier Education Summer Camp at Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ in Upminster
Reuters
18/50 9 August 2020People cycle through Cambridge as the heatwave continues in Britain
EPA
19/50 8 August 2020Healthcare workers take part in a protest in London over pay conditions in the NHS
Getty
20/50 7 August 2020Emergency services make their way along the seafront on Bournemouth beach in Dorset on one of the hottest days of the year
PA
21/50 6 August 2020Alison Murphy poses for a picture by husband Peter as she walks through a field of sunflowers in Altrincham, Cheshire
PA
22/50 5 August 2020Pakistan’s Abid Ali being bowled by England’s Jofra Archer during day one of the First Test match at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
PA
23/50 4 August 2020The ‘Timbuktu tumblers’ from Kenya perform their balancing act on the Southsea waterfront as Zippos Circus reopens in Portsmouth
Rex
24/50 3 August 2020Pelicans interact with a visitor in St James’s Park in London
PA
25/50 2 August 2020Lewis Hamilton drives with a puncture towards the finish line to win the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone
POOL/AFP via Getty
26/50 1 August 2020Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the FA Cup, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease
Pool via Reuters
27/50 31 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at a Bournemouth Beach
Reuters
28/50 30 July 2020An artist puts the finishing touches to a wax figure of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in the entrance line at Madame Tussaud’s in London, as the attraction prepares to reopen to the public following the easing of lockdown restrictions in England
PA
29/50 29 July 2020A member of staff stands on Ai Weiwei’s ‘History of Bombs’ during a photocall for the Chinese artist’s new work on display at the Imperial War Museum in London
PA
30/50 28 July 2020Stuart Broad celebrates after taking the wicket of West Indies batsman Kraigg Brathwaite. It was a milestone wicket in his career, reaching his 500th Test Wicket for England. They went on to beat the West Indies in Manchester and therefore win the series 2-1
Getty/ECB
31/50 27 July 2020Demonstrators protest outside the Tate Modern in London over proposed job losses in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown. The group believe that the emergency money provided by the government to culture-based organisations should be used to retain all jobs and that any other use of the funding is unfair. The gallery on London’s South Bank, as well as the Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives, reopened today after closing in March due to lockdown measures meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus
Getty
32/50 26 July 2020Harry Maguire shakes hands with Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers after Manchester United beat the Foxes. The win meant they finished third in the Premier League and Leicester finished outside a Champions League place in fourth
Pool via Reuters
33/50 25 July 2020Women exercise using pool noodles during an aqua fit class at a gym in Sunbury-on-Thames after gyms and swimming pools were allowed to reopen
AFP via Getty
34/50 24 July 2020Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tries out a new Streetspace protected cycle lane in London at the launch a new online cycle training scheme
PA
35/50 23 July 2020A customer has her hair cut outside at Blade Hairdressers in Soho in London
Getty
36/50 22 July 2020Liverpool’s English midfielder Jordan Henderson lifts the Premier League trophy during the presentation following the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool. Liverpool on Wednesday lifted the Premier League trophy at the famous Kop stand at Anfield after their final home game of the season
AFP via Getty
37/50 21 July 2020Vivienne Westwood demonstrates outside the Old Bailey in support of Julian Assange in London
Reuters
38/50 20 July 2020Comet Neowise in the skies over the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire
PA
39/50 19 July 2020Mods and rockers unite on Madeira Drive, Brighton, for a demonstration to call for the reopening of the road which Brighton & Hove City Council plans to keep closed permanently
PA
40/50 18 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at Painshill, an 18th century landscape garden in Cobham, Surrey
PA
41/50 17 July 2020Captain Sir Thomas Moore receives his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle
AP
42/50 16 July 2020Red Arrows do a flypast during the Graduation Ceremony of the Queen’s Squadron at RAF College Cranwell, Lincolnshire
The Daily Telegraph/PA
43/50 15 July 2020Jen Reid poses in front of a black resin and steel statue titled ‘A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020’, which is based on her by Marc Quinn, where it has been installed on the vacant Edward Colston plinth in Bristol city centre. The original statue was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during Black Lives Matter protests
PA
44/50 14 July 2020Fields of echium and borage in full flower near the town of Thaxted in Essex
PA
45/50 13 July 2020People ride a rollercoaster in a theme park next to Southend pier. Many businesses in tourism and hospitality have been able to reopen after some lockdown measures were eased
Getty
46/50 12 July 2020West Indies’s John Campbell and Jason Holder celebrate winning the test as England’s Rory Burns and teammates look on dejected
Reuters
47/50 11 July 2020Chicldren play in the water during a cricket match between Abinger and Worplesdon & Nurpham in Abinger Hammer, Surrey
Reuters
48/50 10 July 2020People gather for the funeral of Dame Vera Lynn in Ditchling, England. During World War II she travelled to the frontlines, including Burma, entertaining British troops and boosting morale. She died on 18 June at her home in West Sussex
Getty
49/50 9 July 2020Artist Anish Kapoor looks into his sculpture ‘Sky Mirror’ at Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, ahead of the opening of his largest UK exhibition of outdoor sculptures
PA
50/50 8 July 2020Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
AFP via Getty
“Responsibility for this shambles lies squarely with Downing Street and the Department for Education, who set out how they wanted the algorithm to work and were warned weeks in advance of issues, but repeatedly refused to address the problems they had created.
“It is this Tory government’s incompetence that is to blame for the exams fiasco.”
Mr Johnson’s comments came just a day after Sally Collier resigned as chief of exams regulator Ofqual for her part in the fiasco, and hours before it was announced that Jonathan Slater was stepping down as top civil servant at the Department for Education.
The PM told students he recognised they had missed out on a lot during 159 days of lockdown, adding: “You couldn’t sit your exams, which you yearn to do.
“And I’m afraid your grades were almost derailed by a mutant algorithm. And I know how how stressful that must have been for pupils up and down the country, and I’m very, very glad that it’s finally been sorted out.”
The prime minister’s six-minute address to a group of Year 11 students in the library of Castle Rock High School in Coalville was designed to reassure young people and their parents on the safety of schools, a day after his dramatic U-turn on the use of face-coverings.
Mr Johnson made no mention of the last-minute climbdown on requiring masks in certain situations at school. But he could not resist taking a swipe at the BBC over the Last Night at the Proms row, telling the 15 and 16 year-olds that their teachers would be able to provide them with answers to questions like: “Is it politically appropriate to sing Rule Britannia? Yes.”
The PM thanked the children – who were socially distanced around large tables but not wearing masks – for their part in bringing coronavirus “under control”.
Schoolchildren and others whose lives have been disrupted since the start of lockdown in March deserve credit for the fact that numbers of deaths and hospital admissions from coronavirus are “way down” and “tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands” of lives have been saved, he said.
“I just wanted to say thank you … to all of you for your patience and your efforts, because it has been worth it,” said the prime minister.
“And, of course, we’ve always got to be vigilant we’ve got to follow the guidance about beating Covid – number one, wash your hands. But it’s thanks to you that we have the disease under control.”
Sporting a Castle Rock school tie, Mr Johnson told the pupils – on their first day back after their school reopened its doors at the end of the summer break – that they were at greater risk if they stay away from classes.
“The risk to your health is not from COVID – because after all statistically speaking, your chances of suffering from that disease are very, very low,” he said.
“The greatest risk you face now is of continuing to be out of school.
“And that’s not just because school is safe – though it is – or healthy – though of course it is.
“It’s not just because you have your friends and activities and sport here at school. It’s because from now on, getting back into school, in the hours and days and weeks of this new term, you will experience things with an intensity and clarity, believe me, that is seldom repeated in your lives.”
While recognising that children have been studying online during lockdown, he said that the learning experience which young people need “can only happen in school”.
“That’s why education is the great equaliser, it’s the liberator it’s the transformer of society and it’s the single most important way in which we can unite and level up across this whole country, and deliver social justice,” he said.
“And that is why we must in the next week, in the succeeding days, we must have every pupil back in school in the way that you’ve come back to school.“
Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk