The outspoken chair of the exams regulator Ofqual has been asked to serve a further term.
The watchdog announced today that the education secretary, Damian Hinds, has reappointed Roger Taylor to serve a further three-year term, from January 2020.
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Mr Taylor has said that higher exam stress is likely to be down to young people being “more mentally fragile”, rather than because of GCSE and A-level reforms.
He also said that Labour’s plans to abolish Sats wouldn’t be sensible because a strong primary education system needs to assess the quality of schools through testing.
In an interview with Tes earlier this year, he said that he had “enormously enjoyed chairing” Ofqual and would be “very happy to continue doing so if that was felt to be a good idea”.
Commenting on his reappointment today, Mr Taylor said he was “honoured” to has been asked to serve a further term “and look forward to working closely with the Department for Education to achieve the very best we can for all learners in England over coming years”.
Ofqual also announced the appointment of three new board members, who will each serve for three years.
Susan Barratt is an audit partner at Deloitte, where her work focused on the public and not-for-profit sectors. She is also a marker and examiner for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Matt Tee is chief executive of the the Independent Press Standards Organisation. He previously held a number of senior level roles in government and in the NHS, and was permanent secretary for communication in the Cabinet Office.
Mike Thompson was involved with apprenticeships for seven years through his role as director of early careers at Barclays Bank and as chair of the Financial Services Trailblazer Group.