Influential Westminster think tank calls for Gavin Williamson to resign over exams crisis

Call comes after two senior officials lose their jobs in wake of exam grading fiasco

An influential Whitehall think tank has taken the highly unusual step of calling for the resignation of education secretary Gavin Williamson, saying that the “rolling debacle” in England’s schools is down to decisions made by politicians, not the civil servants who have so far lost their jobs.

In a damning blogpost, the director of the Institute for Government said that Boris Johnson’s government has developed “a record of blaming officials rather than itself” and warned that unless ministers face consequences for their actions, democratic accountability will become “meaningless”.

Bronwen Maddox said that Mr Williamson’s mistakes on education were avoidable and were “some of the worst the government has made since the start of the pandemic”, damaging children’s chances, widening achievement gaps and delaying parents’ return to the workplace. And she said that the prime minister, as well as his cabinet lieutenant Michael Gove and senior adviser Dominic Cummings may share in the blame.

The Institute for Government is regarded as a highly authoritative and non-partisan research body, with deep links within the top echelons of government and the civil service and a board packed with senior figures from all sides of the political spectrum, including Tory former deputy prime minister David Lidington.

Ms Maddox’s trenchant judgement will be seen as reflective of widespread unease in Whitehall over the sacking of Department for Education permanent secretary Jonathan Slater - the fifth senior mandarin to lose his job since Mr Johnson’s election victory in December - and the resignation of exam regulator Ofqual chief Sally Collier.

It adds weight to the anger expressed by unions and opposition parties that the casualties for botched government policies have so far been officials, not politicians.

The removal of Slater - who is a member the IFG’s board - and Collier came in the wake of the government’s humiliating U-turn over exam results which sparked fury after thousands of students awarded grades far below their teachers’ predictions.

But Ms Maddox said that the exam grading “catastrophe” was only one in a list of misjudgments dating back to the first weeks of lockdown in March, on which Mr Williamson had remained largely silent, in an “evasion of the responsibility that has been his throughout”.

These included:

- A focus throughout on physical safety ahead of the value of the education pupils have lost.

- Ordering schools to close with “no clear direction or guidance” on how to conduct distance-learning during lockdown.

- Trying to reopen schools to all students in June without explaining how this could be done with social distancing.

- The decision to prioritise the avoidance of grade inflation in exam results.

- Lack of regard for the injustices that Ofqual’s exam grading algorithm would cause and failure to set up an extensive appeals process

- A U-turn on exams which left some universities with more students than they had funding for and others unable to fill places.

- Failure to provide clarity on if, how and when exams will take place in 2021.

Ms Maddox said: “The misjudgements in education have been some of the worst the government has made since the start of the pandemic. They were avoidable, given the time available to plan.

“While they have not added to the total of those who have died because of the virus, they are serious in their impact on children’s education, the gap in achievement between social groups and the ability of the nation to get back to work.

“At the heart of these misjudgements are decisions that could only be made by politicians, not civil servants. That is not to say the department and Ofqual, the exam regulator, are without blame – the extent of which will be scrutinised in the coming weeks – but it was not their role to make the key decisions that have produced this rolling debacle.

“The government, which has a record of blaming officials rather than itself, should accept that responsibility. Unless there are consequences for ministers of the decisions that are their responsibility, the UK’s principles of democratic accountability will become meaningless.”

While none of the decisions facing Johnson and Williamson were easy, the government had the advantage of time, with five months after the cancellation of A-level and GCSE exams to prepare for how to handle the results announcement, she said.

“It is clear already that the problems began with a failure to put education high enough among other priorities, and to acknowledge the damage to children done by the absence of social contact at school as well as the impact on parents not able to return to work,” she said.

“There must also be a question about whether the importance put on avoiding grade inflation stemmed from the weight put by Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings on this, given that they had created the new, tougher exams when at the Department of Education.”

Ms Maddox said it was “clear” that Mr Johnson himself was responsible for the abortive instruction to have children return to school in June, she said. But she said that Mr Williamson could have challenged the idea as well as the decision to cancel exams, and interrogated Ofqual on the likely impact of their grading model and devised a fairer plan.

“Even now, he could be directing schools through the vast uncertainties of the coming year, and above all, encouraging parents in the importance of sending children back to school,” she wrote.

“Instead, largely, there has been silence. That itself represents an evasion of the responsibility that has been his throughout.

“If there are no consequences for ministers when the performance of their department is found wanting, the system of democratic accountability that underpins government in the UK will be undermined. He should go.”