The Scottish government has announced a huge u-turn that will see exam results withdrawn and recalculated after enormous pressure from young people.
Under-pressure Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney has just announced that all exam awards that had been controversially downgraded will now have their results re-issued based solely on the judgement of their teachers.
It is a huge victory for pupils across Scotland who had protested at what they said was a deeply unfair system in which some results were lowered based on how a pupil's school had performed historically.
With no exams being taken because of the coronavirus - a computer algorithm had created the results based on a number of different factors.
Mr Swinney was facing a vote of no confidence from other parties in Scotland but did not announce his resignation.
The screeching u-turn will now put all attention on UK Government Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ahead of A Level results day on Thursda y.
It is widely accepted that once again there will be major issues because of a computer algorithm which many fear will unfairly lower the results of pupils from struggling and deprived areas.
Labour is urging Mr Williamson to step in to avoid chaos and deep uncertainty for young people on Thursday and the following week when GCSE results come out.
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Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said: “It’s imperative the government acts now to reassure worried students, teachers and parents.
“Young people deserve to have their hard work assessed on merit, but the system risks baking in inequality and doing most harm to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, those from ethnic minority groups and those with special educational needs and disabilities.”
