Unions blasted for A-level divide between state and private schools

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

72% : MP says lack of learning during pandemic has been a 'national disaster' for UK's poorer pupils as traditional state secondaries get half as many A-level A-grades as private schools
70% : Gavin Williamson has been accused of presiding over an A-level system that has 'baked in' inequalities that has seen private schools streak ahead of most state schools
70% : The gulf between private and state schools has widened during the pandemic causing a 'national disaster' for Britain's poorest students with fee-paying institutions accused of gaming the A-level system that handed teachers the power to grade their pupils with barely any moderation.
68% : As private schools pulled further away from state counterparts, Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Committee, warned the last year 'has been nothing short of a national disaster for our disadvantaged pupils'.
62% : students have historically been over-predicted on average and the nature of private schools means their teachers are more directly accountable to parents, increasing the risk of pressure to increase grades.'
58% : Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: 'I am not surprised that private schools have done better than ever compared to state schools.
57% : Ms Green said the problems of not having a standardised assessment system during the pandemic had been 'starkly exposed' by the gap in grades between private and state schools.
54% : The former catch-up tsar was asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether he thinks sending children to private school is an 'act of great privilege' or if it is justifiable.
49% : The number of teenagers getting top grades in A-Levels has risen across the board but private schools are pulling further ahead of state schools, almost doubling the number of As and A*s in the past two years since exams were postponed
48% : Sir Kevan Collins said it is 'undeniable' that private schools have more resources than state schools, possibly leading to higher-than-average A-level grades this year.
46% : Private schools have 70.1 of entries scoring A and A* grades this year, compared with 45 per cent across the UK - a gap of 25.1 percentage points, which is the highest since 2011.
45% : Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who has campaigned for a level playing field between comprehensives and private schools, told MailOnline state education was let down by unions and teachers during the pandemic, which was borne out in the results yesterday.
45% : But at private schools, an astonishing 70 per cent of A-level entries by fee-paying pupils were graded A or A
45% : The gap between private schools and academies is now 28.1 percentage points, compared with 24.6 points last year and 20.03 points in 2019.
41% : While the rise for private schools this year was 9.3 percentage points, it was only 5.7 points for academies, which are the largest players in the state sector.

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