GCSE results algorithm scrapped in Northern Ireland with pupils set to get teachers’ predictions as grades
Written by News on 17/08/2020
GCSE students in Northern Ireland will have their results decided based on teachers’ predictions, after the controversial moderating system was scrapped.
Just days before the grades were due to be published, the devolved government announced it wanted to “ease anxieties” among pupils and their families.
The move piles pressure on the government in England to follow suit, with several senior Tory MPs already saying results day this Thursday should be pushed back while a better system is worked up.
Former Conservative education secretary Lord Baker, who launched GCSEs in the late 1980s, has made a similar call – telling ministers: “If you are in a hole, stop digging.”
Politicians are scrambling to avoid another week’s fallout, following complaints last week that the algorithm meant to standardise grades benefited private schools and “baked in inequality”.
Northern Ireland’s Stormont Assembly is due to be recalled from summer recess to debate the furore.
Peter Weir, the education minister, promised the decision would not delay GCSE results and will also not affect A-Level students.
“These are exceptional circumstances and in exceptional times truly difficult decisions are made,” he said.
“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.”
Labour is calling for A-Level students in England to also have their moderated results reverted back to their teachers’ original predictions.
But shadow education secretary Kate Green said there was still time for the algorithm to be “tweaked” to be made fairer for GCSE students.
She told Sky News there had been a “completely chaotic response to this crisis”, urging Boris Johnson to “get off his holiday” because students “absolutely don’t deserve the shameful treatment they’re receiving”.
The prime minister has previously backed the “robust” and “dependable” system.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who is in charge of the issue only in England given it is a devolved matter, is facing calls to quit over the debacle.
The government could also face a legal challenge over the situation.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said he had instructing lawyers and expected to “initiate action” later on Monday.
An already confused crisis deepened over the weekend when Ofqual – the exams regulator – published its policy explaining on exactly what grounds A-Level students could appeal their grades, but then withdrew it hours later.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint head of the National Education Union, said she thought it was because Ofqual favoured teachers’ grades above mock exam results – a position at odds with Mr Williamson.
In Scotland, the government withdrew moderated grades and used teachers’ predictions instead after pupils in the most deprived areas had pass rates downgraded by more than twice that of those from the wealthiest parts of the country.
And in Wales, where many students still take AS-Levels at the end of their first year of further education, ministers have promised no student’s final A-Level grade will be lower than the ones they achieved last year.
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(c) Sky News 2020: GCSE results algorithm scrapped in Northern Ireland with pupils set to get teachers’ predictions as grades
