News

He said he had "enormous sympathy" with the pupils who sat GCSEs this summer, but he refused to intervene to order Ofqual to regrade the papers. He said "I cannot and should not do that. Ofqual, the regulator, is independent. If I start telling them what to do they are no longer independent and exams are no longer robust."

The Cabinet minister is facing calls to come to Parliament to explain why GCSE grade boundaries changed half way through the academic year.

Teaching unions have threatened legal action over the issue and claim thousands of teenagers who were expected to obtain a C grade pass in English were awarded a D grade after the grade boundary was raised at the last minute.

Headteachers claim those who sat the exam in June were put at an unfair disadvantage over those who sat them earlier in the year in January.

Ofqual was asked to investigate and acknowledged in its report into the GCSE English crisis that January's assessments were "graded generously", but the June boundaries were properly set. It has rejected pleas to regrade the papers and has said resits will be allowed earlier than normal in November.