Education: Return in January

Esther McVey Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

I join the hon. Lady in thanking all those in her constituency who have done so much to ensure continuity of education for so many children. The great city of Liverpool is one of the areas that have experienced very high infection rates. The teaching staff and communities making sure that schools stayed open and that children were able to get the benefit of education are a real testament to the hard work done by so many in the teaching profession.

Over 500,000 of the laptops have already been distributed to children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Many hundreds of thousands more will be distributed in the coming weeks. That will benefit the hon. Lady’s constituents, mine and the constituents of us all.

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

Those who are due to sit their A-levels and GCSEs in 2021 have suffered, and continue to suffer, far more disruption than those who were due to sit them earlier this year. Will the Secretary of State accept that the only sensible and fair course of action is to cancel these exams too, to ensure that those students’ prospects are not damaged by taking exams that will have been rendered virtually meaningless?

[Gavin Williamson]

That is why we took action to ensure that the generosity of grading mirrors that of 2020 and have announced the exam subjects with advance notice, so that teachers and students, in the final months in the run-up to the exams, can focus on the topics and areas that will be examined. We believe that unless there are exceptional circumstances, exams are the fairest and best form of assessment. All the evidence points out that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds and children from black and ethnic minority communities are most disadvantaged by non-exam assessment and are given the greatest advantage when they sit exams.