Pupils caught up in crumbling concrete disaster ‘will not get one-off exams assist’

Pupils who suffered disruption due to dodgy concrete in their schools won’t get exam help, the head of the regulator has said.

Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, rebuffed calls for a one-off uplift to results for teenagers in schools affected by collapse-prone reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac). He said it would be difficult to offer help and not make adjustments for other factors like teacher shortages and “inadequate” facilities.

Some 234 education settings in England were identified as having crumbling concrete, according to Department for Education (DfE) figures. Of these, 94 are secondary or all-through state schools, while 11 are colleges.

The Ofqual chief said he would be “surprised” if Raac disruption faced by schools and colleges in England affected overall exam results this summer. It comes as hundreds of thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to receive their A-level results on Thursday.

Sir Ian told PA: “It’s very difficult to know how you would draw a line and maintain fairness if you were going to say that it would be right, for example, to give a 10% uplift to one set of circumstances, but not to a range of other circumstances that other people might argue have impacted the quality of education in the schools that they’re running, or they’re working in, or attending.

“So the importance of fairness I think does mean that we have to apply the same rules, the same principles to everybody across the piece when it comes to formal public exams that give those qualifications and grades that will stay with students all the way through their lives and act as proof of what they knew, understood and could do at the point where they were assessed.”

Ahead of A-level results day, he said: “I would be surprised if there was an impact that was significant enough to impact results figures as a whole.” He said he was optimistic that universities “will be as flexible as they’re able to be” in taking Raac disruption into account for would-be students.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said heads were worried pupils had not had enough support – and their results would suffer. He said: “Schools and colleges affected by Raac have worked extremely hard to support students whose studies have been disrupted by this issue, and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for all they have done.

“We don’t feel that they were adequately supported by the previous government in this task, and we are concerned about the potential impact on exam performance.”

A Department for Education spokesperson: “High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.

“We know that Raac was disruptive for school and colleges. Alongside Ofqual we have asked awarding organisations to agree longer extensions for coursework and non-exam assessment, where possible.

“The Joint Council for Qualifications have also published further guidance on how established arrangements for special consideration may apply to schools and colleges affected by Raac.”