Exam regulator Ofqual chiefs had no prior education experience

The exam regulator Ofqual is run by a former journalist who flunked his A-Levels and a career civil servant who had no experience in education before taking up her post.

Roger Taylor was the senior figure who first apologised for the A-Level fiasco yesterday.

But the Ofqual chairman did not mention that he too suffered underwhelming A-Level results – albeit mainly through his own lack of hard work.

He and chief executive/chief regulator Sally Collier have been trust into the firing line amid the fury over the exam grades handed out to students. 

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has attempted to deflect the blame for the situation onto Ofqual as he said the Government had been assured that the algorithm ‘would stand scrutiny’ and that the regulator ‘didn’t deliver’.

Meanwhile, he also appeared to hint that the regulator’s boss, Ms Collier, could be made to carry the can for the debacle as he failed to express confidence in her performance.

One Tory MP told the Telegraph the ‘vultures are circling’ but the Education Secretary is a ‘master of finding someone else to chuck under a bus’. 

Tory MP and chairman of the education select committee Robert Halfon called the situation with exams a ‘mega-mess’ after he had warned of the risk that disadvantaged pupils could be negatively affected.

Asked who is to blame for the problems in the exams system, the Conservative MP told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘We need to find that out.  

‘I’d like to see the minutes of everything that has gone on.

‘I also think we should find out how much this has cost the taxpayer just so that we make sure that this never happens again.’

‘What has happened has been a mega-mess and I really feel sorry for all the pupils and students and parents across the country who’ve had so much anguish over the past week through no fault of their own.’ 

Neither of the two top figures at Ofqual can boast a long career in education. 

Former Financial Times journalist-turned businessman Mr Taylor has been in the post since 2016. Last year he told the Times Education Supplement that ‘lack of application’ among other issues saw him flunk A-Levels including Latin and Greek at the £39,000-per year private King’s School in Canterbury.

But he was handed a reprieve when he was handed a place at Oxford anyway, after passing its entry exam.

After leaving the FT in 2000 the jazz pianist set up Dr Foster, which produced a guide to hospitals based on death rates. The Department of Health brought a £12million stake and he later sold it.

Before becoming Ofqual chairman he sat on its audit and risk assurance committee.

Last year he led a study which warned that algorithms had the potential to cause ‘real harm’.  The study was carried out by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI), which he ran.

Ms Collier has spent her entire career within the public sector. Before joining Ofqual in April 2016 she worked as chief executive of the Crown Commercial Service, managing director of the Government Procurement Service and director of procurement policy and capability at the Cabinet Office.

In her first speech in post she told the audience: ‘I have been in office eight weeks … and most of you in the room have probably been in this sector a lifetime or parts of lifetime …

‘Many of you will know I don’t come from the education sector; I was a CEO of a large commercial buying organisation, of which there are more similarities than you might think actually.’

And the £200,000-per year executive wrote an open letter to students, parents and teachers in April, saying:  ‘Please be reassured that the grades you get this summer will look exactly the same as in previous years, and they will have equal status with universities, colleges and employers, to help you move forward in your lives.’