Parents and teachers have lost faith in Gavin Williamson’s competence to lead a safe return of pupils to England’s schools within two weeks, trade unions and senior MPs from across the divide have warned. Following the education secretary’s role in the exam results fiasco, Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the education select committee, said the prime minister must personally lead the back-to-school campaign in order to ensure confidence. Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said parents and teachers needed to see improved plans if parents were to feel safe about 9.5 million children going back to school. On Monday the government announced it would reinstate teachers’ recommended grades for A-level and GCSE pupils after an algorithm downgraded up to 2.3m marks and left disadvantaged students worst hit. Two days earlier Williamson had promised “no U-turn”. In a series of halting interviews on Tuesday he appeared to concede he had not been fully apprised of issues with the standardisation algorithm until after A-level results were published on Thursday.
Bousted said: “I don’t like to kick someone when they’re down, but Gavin Williamson does not have the confidence of parents or the profession, and that’s the truth. Everybody wants schools to reopen. Children and young people have been out of education over five months. Is he a competent pair of hands that parents are going to put their trust in? I think that’s unlikely. Would you?” The government launched its “back to school safely” drive over the weekend. Halfon said the best way to regain confidence was for parents to see ministers had a firm grip on English schools reopening to all children in September for the first time since they were closed amid the Covid pandemic in March. “We have to reassure parents to get our kids back into school. The PM should lead this. The best way of restoring confidence in the country is if we deliver now on that promise to get our children learning again,” he said. “We must have a proper campaign – as good as stay home, save lives, protect the NHS – to make sure parents feel safe and confident sending their children back to school.” Some Tory MPs suggested Williamson was being lined up as the fall guy for any mishandling of the schools reopening programme. “He will be used as a human shield and will be the face of it. Lots of Tory MPs feel he can’t go on much longer but as a matter of pragmatic politics he will be kept on for GCSEs and school openings then most people think that will be the end,” one senior Tory said. “There’s no expectation he would be able to stay on for another exam cycle.” Labour and the Lib Dems said Williamson should not front any campaign designed to restore parents’ confidence. Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said: “The incompetence and chaos surrounding exam results will leave parents, school leaders and teachers with little or no confidence in this government’s ability to protect the interests of children across the country. The delays, incompetence, and chaos of exam results cannot be repeated in our schools.” Ed Davey, the acting Lib Dem leader, said Williamson should resign: “If the government are serious about getting children back to school next month, there needs to be an education secretary in place who people can trust.” A No 10 source said Johnson – who is holidaying in Scotland – would take the reins alongside Williamson as the government geared up for schools returning. “There is barely an issue he has been more personally associated with,” the source said, adding that the PM had “full confidence” in Williamson. A taskforce of university chiefs met the universities minister, Michelle Donelan, on Tuesday to discuss the implications of the U-turn on the sector amid a scramble for places. One vice-chancellor said there were no answers to questions about extra support and only “platitudes”. The government was pressed for more teaching grants to expand student numbers on high-cost courses, such as medicine. The taskforce will meet daily for the rest of the month. Donelan said after the meeting: “We are supporting universities, including by announcing our intention to remove temporary student number controls and working with them to help them prioritise students and uphold their first choice either this coming year, or as a last resort the following year.” Another vice-chancellor said: “I would be happy to see Gavin Williamson resign. He’s fucking useless.” Another said: “This is the worst debacle I’ve ever seen in higher education. There seems to be a blame game going on – the responsibility lies squarely with the minister.” Most agitated Tory MPs have been partially pacified by Monday’s government climbdown but several told of chaos on internal WhatsApp groups over the course of the weekend. The schools minister, Nick Gibb, usually well-liked, has also been the target of some colleagues’ ire. “Nick Gibb is obsessed with grade inflation, he would have thought this system would lead to dumbing down and so you have to wonder – were the right questions asked of Ofqual by Gibb?” one MP said. “There are so many villains in this piece, Williamson, Gibb, the civil servants, the permanent secretary, Ofqual … it’s like a Ben-Hur movie.” Tobias Ellwood, a former minister who is chair of the defence select committee, said: “Moving forwards in the long term, ultimately we need to see the cabinet as a whole occupied by people who have the talent and drive to lead their departments and freedom to express their views privately.” Another senior Tory MP said Williamson should have seen the problem coming and the fiasco was a wider sign of a cabinet devoid of experience and clout. “This really worries [the party]. There are already rumblings on our WhatsApp groups. Letters of confidence won’t go in but there will be lots of concern about decisions and the way government works. Boris will be hurt by this.” The exams regulator Ofqual, responsible for the design of the algorithm, is also in the crosshairs. Halfon said ministers should have “proper control and accountability” over qualifications, rather than an independent body. “It is worth considering abolishing Ofqual in its current form and bringing it back within the Department for Education (DfE). It is not fit for purpose,” he said. “All the minutes and internal documents between Ofqual and the DfE now need to be published to find out what’s gone on, how much this has cost the taxpayer and what questions were asked by the department and what actions were taken by Ofqual to ensure a level playing field for all students. “Why was the appeals system not set up properly with a much wider base for appeal from the beginning, as recommended by the education select committee? Why wasn’t this all decided in advance?” Williamson refused to back the head of Ofqual, Sally Collier, on Tuesday, saying only that Collier – who has not spoken publicly since students’ results were published last Thursday – had worked hard. The Office for Statistics Regulation announced a formal review of Ofqual’s statistical model after a complaint by the Royal Statistical Society that it ignored offers of help. • This article was amended on 19 August 2020. A previous version used “appraised” when “apprised” was meant.