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boris johnson He was in “killing mode” and wanted to sack his education secretary over exam grading irregularities during the pandemic, a Covid investigation has revealed.
former prime minister He acknowledged that the system his government had implemented to give examination grades to pupils who had not taken part in the assessment “clearly let many children down”, after many children Result His capabilities were not reflected during the pandemic.
And what he said was widely criticized The system, set up during the pandemic when students’ education across the country was disrupted for months, This is one of the things he “deeply regrets”.
appearance Before Covid-19 testMr Johnson was asked about the system in which GCSE pupils received predicted grades instead Test result,
criticism of the system These include that private schools gave more generous grades than state schools during the pandemic, while some students faced discrimination in their predicted grades.
Mr Johnson told the inquiry, “I was not enough of an expert to comment on whether it was viable or not, but clearly, it discouraged a lot of children whose grades did not reflect their abilities and their achievements.”
He said the riot had left him in a “murderous mood” in a WhatsApp message to his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings, shown at the inquest.
Mr Johnson said at the time that he was “back at Chequers and in complete murder mode”.
He said, “We need a plan for the Department for Education. We need a permit and we need better ministers and frankly we need a reform agenda. We can’t go on like this. I’m thinking of going to number ten and firing people.”
But, pressing for the implementation of the system, an angry Mr Johnson said: “All I would say is… you try to bring in a system to get fair exam results for people when they can’t sit the exam.
“It’s not easy… okay?”
He stressed that closing schools during the pandemic was a “nightmare” that he wanted to avoid at all costs.
The former Prime Minister said he had “personal horror” at the idea, fearing the impact closed classrooms would have on the least affluent.
Mr Johnson was shown a document prepared by the Department for Education in March 2020, which warned that the closure would mean around 9 million pupils could not be guaranteed an education.
The document warns that 1.3 million of the poorest children will not receive free school meals, while remote learning will cause many children to fail. It also warned that the most vulnerable children are safer in school, and that school closures would put many at risk of domestic violence or youth crime.
Mr Johnson told the inquest, “I had a personal fear of closing schools, I thought it would be a nightmare and I thought it would cause huge harm to those who will find it hardest to return and cope.”
Mr Johnson also denied that the government had failed to prepare for school closures, saying discussions had been taking place since the pandemic emerged.
Last week former Education Secretary Sir gavin williamson The inquiry was told that he did not ask DfE officials to prepare an assessment on the impact of school closures in early 2020, because at the time the advice was “not recommending closure” and No. 10 had not commissioned it.
In his written evidence, Sir Gavin described an “incredible 24 hours of sea change” from keeping schools open on 16 March to talking about closing them on 17 March and announcing they would be closed the next day.
On Tuesday, Mr Johnson insisted that plans for school closures had been worked out, saying: “If you look at the sequence from February, it’s clear that Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) is talking about the possibility, Cabinet is discussing it in March.
“Certainly I remember this topic coming up again and again.” And he praised Sir Gavin’s efforts as Education Secretary, saying: “I think, overall, given the difficulties we have faced, the department under Gavin has done quite a heroic job in trying to deal with them.” covid,
Mr Johnson said he had received a note from the DfE on March 15 asking for a meeting on the subject, at which they would discuss all sorts of things that would be required to close schools, including safety, testing and teacher training.
He said he did not expect the DfE to wait for direction from Number 10 before making closure plans and he was “surprised that the DfE Permanent Secretary did not feel it was important to look at what contingency arrangements we had in place”.
He said: “I think it was clear that closing schools had to be considered.
“I was very hopeful that we wouldn’t have to close schools. I thought it was a nightmare.”
Asked if he accepted there was no cross-government focus on schools until March 2020, Mr Johnson said: “No, I don’t really accept that.”
He added: “I think there were already conversations about the possibility of closing schools. And I felt like the DfE was preparing for that.”
But Mr Johnson admitted the “full enormity” of the pandemic was impacting “late on the government”.
“Don’t forget, we didn’t know what impact this disease would have on children. We didn’t know much about the spread of this disease. There were all kinds of things that were just unknown and difficult to plan for,” he said.