Presenter Adil Ray slammed Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, as other comments she has made about A-levels have also been criticised. It has been a tough day for Keegan!
Adil Ray slams Education Secretary
On Good Morning Britain presenter Adil Ray told Keegan that Tory boasts about higher spending, is due to more pupils. So spending per pupil hasn’t actually changed since 2010.
A-levels
Then she put her foot in it about A-levels
“Somebody asked me, ‘What will people ask you in 10 years’ time?’,” Keegan told GB News.
“They won’t ask you anything about your A-level grades in 10 years’ time. They will ask you about other things you have done since then: what you have done in the work place, what you did at university.”
In response, Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Keegan’s comments were “plain wrong” and “downright rude”.
Phillipson wasn’t finished there adding: “She’s talking down England’s young people, and she needs to apologise.”
An opposition spokesperson added: “This is a nerve-wracking day for young people who’ve worked incredibly hard. The last thing that they need is the Secretary of State offering comments like that, and it really does add insult to injury coming from a government that completely failed to put in place the kind of support that our young people needed coming out of the pandemic after all of the disruption they’d experienced.”
A-level results
The proportion of A or A* grades is 27.2% – down from a peak of 44.8% during the pandemic.
The fall was steepest in England – 26.5% of exams got the top grade. In Wales, the figure was 34%, with 37.5% in Northern Ireland getting the top grades
Across the UK, 79% of those receiving results gained a place at their first-choice university, UCAS has said.
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