A former Conservative education secretary has hit out at this year’s A-level awards in England, accusing ministers of overseeing a system which will see students’ results downgraded based on background and school circumstances. Justine Greening, who was education secretary between 2016 and 2018, described the awards process this year as “levelling down in action” – a pointed reference to the Conservative government’s “levelling up” agenda. She said: “It’s been bad enough for students losing months of education but A-level students now face their grades being downgraded essentially because of background and circumstances of their school. That’s levelling down in action and it’s totally unacceptable when it hits getting into university too.” Her intervention came as pressure mounted on the Westminster government, and the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, to address widespread concerns about the fairness of this year’s A-level results, which are due to be published on Thursday, followed by GCSEs next week. Analysis seen by the Guardian suggests that nearly 40% of A-level grades submitted by teachers in lieu of summer exams are set to be downgraded, amid concerns that disadvantaged students are likely to be hardest hit. “Everyone understands how challenging it has been for grading exams this year,” said Greening, “and teachers have worked very hard to provide grade assessments. But it’s important Ofqual now take seriously all complaints from schools, particularly in less privileged areas and on behalf of less privileged students to ensure the maximum fairness in grades.” She warned it would be a significant undertaking. “On the economic crisis, the Treasury said it would do ‘whatever it takes’. We need the same approach towards Ofqual to enable it to handle complaints and requests for regrading promptly and to avoid an unnecessary levelling down grades crisis.” Following the cancellation of exams due to the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers in England were told to submit the grades they thought each student would have received if they had sat their papers, alongside a rank order of which students they believed would do best within each grade for each subject. The data was then subjected to a standardisation process, including a school’s prior attainment, to try to ensure fairness across the system. But analysis seen by the Guardian of the algorithm and data used by the exam regulator Ofqual to distribute grades found that a net 39% of assessments of A-level grades by teachers were likely to be adjusted down before students received their results. That would mean nearly 300,000 A-levels issued would be lower than the teacher assessment of the more than 730,000 A-level entries in England this summer. The former higher education minister Jo Johnson warned that schools would face large-scale and legitimate demands for additional information from disappointed students. “Transparency is critical to maintaining trust. I welcome the decision to publish the algorithm on Thursday, but schools and colleges that have not been allowed to tell students their centre assessment grades and positions in the subject rank orders before results day will now face a barrage of requests for this information from disappointed students. “I’m not sure it’s sustainable to have each school come to an independent decision on whether to release predicted grades and rank orders in an ad hoc way after results day. The government needs to provide guidance to help schools and colleges handle what will be large-scale and legitimate demands for information from students wanting to understand whether and why any downwards moderation has affected their grades.” The Liberal Democrat education spokeperson, Layla Moran, called on ministers to make the appeals process straightforward and accessible. “Young people have already had their education derailed by the coronavirus crisis. They shouldn’t be further penalised by inaccurate grades. “The Liberal Democrats have been clear that ministers need to make the appeals process for A-Level grades straightforward, with individual pupils able to appeal directly to the relevant examination boards free of charge. They must also make clear the process for resits, again at no cost to pupils.”