NORTHERN Ireland has followed Scotland’s lead on exam results, announcing GSCE students will be awarded the grades predicted by their teachers.
Just days before the results are published on Thursday, Stormont's Education Minister Peter Weir has scrapped a plan that would have had grades calculated using a mathematical model that took into account the past performance of schools.
It comes after John Swinney announced that tens of thousands of pupils in Scotland would have their results upgraded.
READ MORE: Exam results U-turn shows impact of votes for 16-year-olds, MSYP says
In England, Boris Johnson is also under pressure to intervene to end the deepening A-levels crisis, amid growing anger among pupils and teachers and warnings of unrest among Tory MPs.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on the Prime Minister to take "personal responsibility" for fixing the issue, accusing him of having been "invisible" throughout the turmoil.
The Conservative former education secretary Lord Baker of Dorking urged ministers to delay the publication of GCSE results, due this week, until the problems with A-levels had been resolved.
Johnson had been expected to be in Scotland this week on a camping holiday with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, and their baby son Wilfred.
But with Labour demanding he hold a press conference to explain how he intends to right the "historic injustice" suffered by pupils who had had their grades marked down, Downing Street was unable to say whether the trip would go ahead.
The Department for Education (DfE) has said it is continuing to work with the regulator Ofqual to build as much "fairness into the appeals process as possible" to help what it described as the "most difficult cases".
READ MORE: English exams chaos as ministers refuse to budge and students plan court action
The major policy shift in Northern Ireland comes amid a raging controversy in Northern Ireland about the system used to allocate A-level grades. The move affects grades issued by Northern Ireland exams body, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).
CCEA accounts for 97% of all GCSEs taken in the region. Students who were due to sit GCSEs set by awarding bodies in England or Wales will still be graded according to the approach taken by those organisations.
The Stormont Assembly is set to be recalled from summer recess to debate the furore caused by the standardisation formula used for A-levels.
More than a third of A-level grades issued last Thursday were lower than teacher estimates.
READ MORE: 'England must follow Scotland': NUS calls for grading U-turn
Weir has so far resisted calls to void the disputed results generated by the A-level algorithm and replace them with teacher predictions. However, he has now taken that decision for GCSEs.
The CCEA standardisation systems for A-levels and GCSEs were different. While the A Level model took into account pupils' previous exam results, the GCSE algorithm did not factor in any data from students' past academic performance.
Instead it used data related to the performance of previous GCSE classes in the schools the pupils attended.
Critics of the process argued it would have been highly unfair for pupils' grades to be influenced by what former GCSE students attained.
Weir said his decision would not delay the publication of grades on Thursday. "Having received advice from CCEA and listened to the concerns of school leaders, teachers, parents and young people, I have decided that all GCSE candidates will now be awarded the grades submitted by their centre," he said.
"Standardisation is normally a key feature of awarding qualifications in Northern Ireland and across the UK. However, these are exceptional circumstances and in exceptional times truly difficult decisions are made.
"I am conscious that for GCSEs, unlike at A-level, we do not have system level prior performance data for this group of young people.
"I want to encourage as many young people as possible to remain in education or training post-16 and to know they have another opportunity to engage with education. I am also mindful that unlike A-level, many GCSE pupils will not have access to previous public examination outcomes to inform any appeals process.
"I have, therefore, acted now in advance of the publication of GCSE results to ease anxieties, reassure young people and their families and ensure that every individual candidate receives a grade that recognises the work they have done."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel