QUESTIONS over the “utterly disgraceful” delay in publishing vocational and technical qualification grades remained unanswered today as secondary school students received their results.

Exam board Pearson decided on Wednesday night not to issue Btec results at the same time as GCSE results.

The 11th-hour move affects around 200,000 Btec Level 1 and Level 2 students seeking places in further and higher education.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green condemned the delay as “totally unacceptable” and “utterly disgraceful.”

Universities and colleges are already struggling to cope with the impact of grade changes on their admissions processes after a last-minute government U-turn allowed A-level and GCSE students to accept predicted grades given by teachers or sit an exam in the autumn.

The move followed a huge backlash after the grades of A-level students, mainly at more deprived state schools with bigger class sizes, were massively downgraded through “statistical moderation.”

Commenting on reports that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had misled the public about who was responsible for the shift to the use of predicted results, shadow universities minister Emma Hardy said: “It is the latest sign of this government’s stark incompetence that they cannot be clear about who made the decision to U-turn on A-Level and GCSE grades. 

“The focus and priority for the Secretary of State must be on students and not his own career.”

The National Education Union (NEU) has written to Mr Williamson to demand an independent review of the assessment methods used to award GCSE and A-level qualifications in England, along the lines of that announced by the Scottish government.

NEU joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said the decision not to issue Btec results “compounds the upsetting and chaotic experience for students.

“Government must put an end to this incompetence and work quickly to ensure every young person gets the grades they deserve to move on to the next stages of their lives.”

Defending the use of teachers’ predictions, Dr Bousted added: “Teachers know their students better than any model or algorithm and it will be a relief to many [students] that the grades they receive are now a fairer reflection of their achievements.”

She also said that the material assessed in next summer’s exams should be “further reduced” as students have lost out on many months of school-based learning.

The University and College Union called for more funding for further and higher education, saying that the “last thing this cohort of students needs is a substandard experience in colleges because the government fail to fund the sector.”

General secretary Jo Grady said: “We need to stop turning education into a marketplace, end the absurdity of private providers assessing results and put students first.

“Students are paying the price for a decade of cuts and privatisation. We now need to fund further education properly as part of a national recovery plan.”