Thousands of teacher-assessed GCSE grades to be issued in Northern Ireland

Q Radio News/PA

Thousands of students across Northern Ireland will receive their teacher-assessed GCSE grades later.

It comes after formal examinations were cancelled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this week, record high teacher-assessed A-level results were issued in the region, with more than half of the grades awarded either A*s or As.

Thousands of students across Northern Ireland will receive their teacher-assessed GCSE grades later.https://t.co/TobP1douQS

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) August 12, 2021

Some 28,940 students from 246 centres, mostly schools, were entered for GCSE qualifications set by local exams body the CCEA.

The full total receiving GCSE results will be higher, with some students having entered for qualifications set by other exam bodies based across the rest of the UK.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen is expected to meet students receiving their results at a school in Co Down later.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen

In the absence of formal exams, grades were instead assessed by teachers and decided via a five-stage process. 

This did not include the statistical algorithm used last year to standardise A-level results which sparked outrage after more than a third of grades predicted by teachers were reduced.

An outcry from teachers, parents and students led to the original teacher assessed grades being issued.

The CCEA said it had a high level of engagement with principals, teachers, learners, parents, unions, the UK awarding bodies and assessment academics on the process for this year.

Students were described as being assessed on what they had been taught, taking into account disruption throughout schools due to the pandemic.

School leaders received training from the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors, as well as resources to train teachers to assess grades in accordance with CCEA grade descriptors, before an internal standardisation process within schools.

Centre heads, principals in most cases, were required to confirm the grades were a true reflection of student performance.

The CCEA then took samples from each centre to assess the effectiveness of the policy to produce reasonable grades.

Grades can be challenged without charge this year in a two-stage process of a centre review to rule out administrative errors and/or a CCEA review of the professional judgment of the teachers.