Welsh Education Minister Lynne Neagle has congratulated students picking up their A-level results today. She repeated explanations from exam bosses that grades were lower than the previous few years to steer the system back to more normality after Covid.
She said It was important there was confidence in the value of Welsh qualifications. England returned to pre-pandemic exam systems, with no extra support for students, last summer.
Speaking to WalesOnline the minister said she would be looking at releasing more detailed data on exam results, and other education performance measures, around Wales. Some, but not all local authorities, have published overall results today, but not school by school grades. You can read the full details of Wales' A-level results and why they fell here
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On a visit to Coleg Cambria in Wrexham, Ms Neagle met students collecting their results. She said: “It is really important the qualifications of young people in Wales are considered as valuable as others across the UK; and England went back to pre-pandemic arrangements last year.
“We already publish a lot of information on My Local School and Statistics Wales. There is transparency. We are working on a new information system. We are looking at how best to do it and it’s not just about GCSE and A-level results. There is already a lot of information published. We are looking at the information provided as part of a wider piece of information.” For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
The minister said an announcement on this would be made in the autumn. And she pledged her mission was to raise standards. “Today is a big day for everyone receiving their results across Wales,” the minister added, “I want to congratulate all the students, as well as our fantastic teachers and school and college staff, for all their hard work leading up to today.
“This year’s exams mark the final step to pre-pandemic arrangements. This year, for the first time since the pandemic, A-level and AS-level exams and assessments took place with the same arrangements as pre-pandemic. The results are what we hoped to see and are broadly similar to pre-pandemic outcomes. Each and every one of those receiving results today should be tremendously proud of their achievements.” Join our WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone.
