Thousands to receive teacher assessed A-level grades across NI

By Rebecca Black, PA

Thousands of students across Northern Ireland will receive teacher-assessed A-Level results this morning.

A total of 25,468 students from 180 centres, mostly schools and further education colleges, entered for AS and A2 qualifications set by local exams body CCEA.

Some students undertook assessments by other exam bodies based across the rest of the UK.

Later, Education Minister Michelle McIlveen is expected to meet a number of students who received their grades at a school in Co Down

For the second year in a row, examinations were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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 results which sparked outrage after more than a third of A-level grades predicted by teachers were reduced.

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

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.

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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.

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

Grades can be appealed 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.

This year’s GCSE grades will be issued on Thursday.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has urged those receiving their results to use his department’s careers service.

“Careers advisers have access to up-to-date information on employment trends provided by the department’s economists and offer impartial advice and guidance on a range of career pathways, including further and higher education, training and employment including apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships,” he said.

The service can be accessed at: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/chat-with-a-careers-adviser.