A teacher has defended schools’ decision to not publish A-level results after coronavirus-enforced grading changes resulted in a national ‘downgrading’ controversy.

Epping Forest District councillor Stephen Murray, also a teacher at Roding Valley High School, backed Essex headteachers’ “entirely reasonable decision” after they collectively decided against publishing overall results this year.

Headteachers from across Essex came to the decision before schools broke up for summer.

“As a local councillor and secondary school sixth form teacher myself my heart goes out to all those local students who have been affected by this shambolic government performance”, said Cllr Murray.

“Using OFSTED criteria their performance clearly requires improvement and if I was awarding the current education ministers a grade today, they would barely scrape a pass.

“Many of my teaching colleagues across the country are absolutely besides themselves with anger.”

A-level results have been a point of controversy this year after exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic an alternative method of grading was introduced – with exam boards handing out marks.

Thousands of pupils across the country had their results downgraded – nearly two in five pupils’ grades in England, according to data from Ofqual.

Exam boards moderated these grades to ensure this year’s results were not significantly higher than previously and the value of students’ grades were not undermined.

In England, a total of 35.6 per cent of grades were adjusted down by one grade, 3.3 per cent were brought down by two grades and 0.2 per cent came down by three grades, figures from Ofqual show.

Helen Gascoyne, head of Debden Park High School, explained schools felt there was “no purpose” in releasing overall results as "none of the usual benchmark data or headline figures which lend themselves to comparisons between this year and other years, or between schools, have any validity this year.”

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