On Any Questions (a BBC lead podcast), Ed Davey, the MP for Kingston and Surbiton, said that exams should not go ahead due to the “question of fairness” to students, while simultaneously bashing the government’s approach.

The question which was posed by Sylvia Mitchell Wright was: “Should England follow Wales’ lead and replace current school and college examinations with a properly accredited alternative system”.

Sir Ed Davey’s reply to this was “I hope Gavin Williamson will follow my Liberal Democrat friend Kirsty Williams in the way she’s done that”. Kirsty Williams is the current education minister in Wales and has seemingly had quite a proactive approach towards exams, biting the bullet quickly and efficiently through their cancellation. It was determined that mock grades will be used for Welsh GCSE and A Level examinations in early November.

Ed Davey goes on to say the reasons for England following the Welsh lead are that it’s become “increasingly difficult for teachers to teach the whole syllabus” and that there is “a question of fairness”. He said, “We’ve seen very different experiences of Covid and study for different people from different parts of the country, from different income backgrounds”.

Davey continues, “So for fairness which surely ought to be a key part so we have equality of opportunity, that’s supposed to be enshrined, we ought to follow the Welsh lead, and if they don’t I’d be really horrified”. This response is completely valid considering pupils have had varying access to education so how would it be just for everyone to take the same examinations. Do you think this is the right approach?

Davey is not finished here and barrels on the question the valence of the government. He said, “We don’t have a clear policy from the government. Poor headteachers, poor exam boards. They’re not getting any clarity from the government about exams in England this coming summer”

Later on in the podcast he says, “When I spoke to headteachers in my constituency they say they’re not consulted by the government, they don’t know what the policy is, they hear it on the radio first”. “The lack of collaboration with the teaching profession has been shambolic”.

Unsurprisingly Lucy Frazer (Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire) was quick to chime in and defend her government.

She said that “there is a very clear answer to Sylvia’s question and that is no”. Continuing, she states that “exams are the fairest and most accurate way to measure a pupil’s attainment”. However, if England were to work in parallel with Wales, mock grades would be used and that (although admittedly more informal) is still an examination in timed conditions.

Frazer says that “Ed talked about fairness within those pupils who’ve had more time to do work at various schools than others but the government’s given them support, £650 million catch up premium to help schools and pupils make up lost time”. This means that theoretically each state school in the uk has received approximately £26,700. However, more or less will be applied where needed. Do you think this amount is adequate to fix 14 weeks of perhaps inadequate teaching?

Or do you believe the English government is going to roll over in the end as they did last summer, after weeks of denial, eventually following the Welsh lead.

Davey has made it clear that he is in support of exam cancellation, opposing the government’s apparent view on what will happen this coming summer.