The Association of Colleges has welcomed the appointment of Dame Glenys Stacey as interim chief regulator at Ofqual and that of Amanda Spielman to oversee the regulator’s work in the coming months.

Tes revealed earlier today that chief regulator Sally Collier will step down from her post following the chaos of this summer’s GCSE and A-level results.

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Ms Collier is to replaced by her immediate predecessor, Dame Glenys Stacey, who will be acting chief regulator until December, and will be supported by Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman, who was Ofqual chair during Dame Glenys’ previous spell at the exams watchdog. She will chair a new committee of the Ofqual board to oversee the regulator’s work to the end of the year.

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Kirsti Lord, deputy chief executive at the Association of Colleges, said their appointment to lead a transparent review “is welcome”.

“At the heart of this issue is fairly recognising the achievement of students and enabling them to progress on to next steps. We must take the opportunity to reflect on inequalities in the system and ensure it works for everyone in the future,” she said.

“This has been a challenging year for students and teachers, and the Ofqual algorithm designed to standardise grades has had a disproportionately negative effect on college students and their progression.

“AoC called for a review of the systems and processes in place which impacted on 2019-20 results to be conducted independently and swiftly to ensure that these are not replicated in 2020-21.”