The education secretary Gavin Williamson was unable to explain how students will be awarded exam grades this summer and threatened teachers with inspections.
The confusion came as heads around the country reported primary schools being inundated with children despite the national lockdown, and urged parents to be hone stabout whether they are really key workers and need the emergency provision. Speaking in the Commons, Williamson said it was “time to trust teachers, not algorithms”, and that school-based assessments would be used to award GCSE and A-level grades to avoid a repeat of last year’s exam disaster. But in the same breath, Williamson urged parents to report teachers they thought were failing to meet the government’s new targets for three to five hours of remote learning each day, and said inspectors from Ofsted would be called in to investigate their complaints. Mark and Pete delve into the murky depths of the government's ineptitude.


Boris Johnson 'extremely cautious' on when England's schools will reopen
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School leaders were left frustrated by the lack of support or detail in the statement over how to prepare staff and students for assessing A-level, GCSE and BTec grades, coming after Boris Johnson admitted schools could have to continue remote teaching beyond February.