Things became rather tense quite quickly on Naga Munchetty’s BBC Radio 5 Live show on Tuesday, when Minister Michelle Donelan told the presenter not to “talk down” student’s A-level results.
As the pair discussed the amount of students awarded an A and A* today, they seemed to have an evident disagreement on whether student grades are considered to be stronger this year compared to previous years.
Trying to get to the bottom of it all, Naga asked the Minister of State for Universities her opinion on this and whether students this year should be allowed to get into top universities.
But Michelle seemed to not like Naga’s questioning and told her to not belittle student’s grades.
Naga asked: “For a university assessing a student for a highly prized place this year, who is the stronger candidate?
“A student with three A* A-levels this year or a student with perhaps that was deferred for a year and had three A* last year?”
Michelle replied: “Well I think that’s an academic question. A student that would have applied with results last year have already been awarded their place.”
But as Naga tried to interject, Michelle raised her voice slightly and said: “Well let’s not talk down the results of this year.”
Naga then interrupted her and sniped: “I’m certainly not doing that, I’m asking how fair the system is, and how well placed these students who have 45% higher grades in A* and A’s, how fair this system is going to be for them and for those who received those grades before.”
Michelle responded: “At the end of the day, an A* is an A* because these are based on evidence. It’s based on what a student has done.”
Ending the conversation, Naga said: “Michelle Donelan thank you very much for your time here this morning, our Minister of State for Universities.”
Sixth-formers across the country have been celebrating their A-level results today and according to statics, results are at an all time high this year.
After exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic, almost half of grades awarded were at A* or A.
BBC Breakfast airs weekdays at 6am on BBC.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
