School exams and Covid: what could the UK have learned from EU?

Amid the coronavirus crisis, most countries avoided the rows and recriminations experienced in Britain

• Coronavirus - latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

School leaving exams were cancelled, postponed or adapted because of the coronavirus crisis in countries across Europe, but most have avoided the rows, recriminations and abrupt about-turns experienced in the UK.

In a few countries, school-leaver exams were maintained or only slightly delayed. Germany's 16 states, which decide education policy, were initially divided over whether the Abitur exams that are required in order to be accepted for university should go ahead.