Summary

  • AS and A-level students in NI will now receive highest predicted grades, education minister announces

  • Peter Weir makes the announcement hours after announcing GCSEs would be based solely on teacher predictions

  • Some students at schools and colleges in NI have not yet received BTec results which were due last Thursday

  • Local lockdowns might be needed to combat rising levels of coronavirus infection, says chief scientific adviser

  • The Consumer Council in NI says it has recovered £400,000 in flight refunds for consumers since March

  • One coronavirus-related death was reported by the Department of Health on Friday; its total number of deaths is now 558

  • Nisra records show there were 859 deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate by 7 August

  • Thirty-nine new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in NI on Monday - 6,430 people have now tested positive

  1. 'No solution is water-tight' - education ministerpublished at 09:04 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    Education Minister Peter Weir says his decision for teachers to grade GCSE exams but not AS or A-levels is "justified" and an "unprecedented step".

    "There’s no solution which is water-tight or ideal," he told Good Morning Ulster, however, he highlighted that a lack of "prior data" on GCSE pupils meant that any appeals process would be "extremely difficult".

    He says GCSEs "effectively have an internal market" in Northern Ireland, with more A-levels set by bodies elsewhere in the UK.

    There is a "need to ensure there is comparability with the rest of the UK market", he adds, suggesting the best approach for AS and A-level is "the very wide, robust appeals process that we've put in place".

    Peter WeirImage source, NI Assembly

    “We’ve got to ensure that whatever is happening in the wider context, particularly between ourselves, England and Wales, have a level of compatibility between each other, or we’re going to be advantaging some pupils at the expense of disadvantaging others," he continued.

    “Clearly, if a national decision was taken, I would want to make sure that our pupils are not disadvantaged and therefore I think that would lead inevitably to a level of change and I think that would also result in terms of the issue of comparability between those students who are doing English board examinations and Northern Ireland board examinations.

    "So there’s got to be a very close link between what we do in Northern Ireland and what happens particularly at an English level."

  2. Methody pupils 'strongly encouraged' to wear face coveringspublished at 08:46 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    Robbie Meredith
    BBC News NI Arts and Education Correspondent

    Pupils at Methodist College Belfast (MCB), one of Northern Ireland's biggest grammar schools, are to be "strongly encouraged" to wear face coverings when they return to class.

    Staff will also be provided with visors to wear in school.

    Another school, Belfast Royal Academy, had previously made face coverings mandatory for its pupils and staff.

    Methodist CollegeImage source, Brian Shaw

    Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DE) has provided guidance to schools on how to record attendance.

    This applies if they cannot admit pupils full time.

    About 1,800 pupils at MCB are due to return to school on 1 September.

    The school has provided detailed return-to-school protocols for pupils and staff, which inform them of how the new school day will operate.

    Read more.

  3. £400k flight costs recovered for consumers since Marchpublished at 08:26 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    Richard Morgan
    BBC News NI business reporter

    The Consumer Council says It has recovered an "unprecedented" £400,000 in flight returns for consumers since March.

    Thousands of flights have been cancelled due to coronavirus and some airlines have been criticised for offering vouchers instead of cash refunds.

    Consumers are entitled to a full refund if their flight is cancelled.

    Airport

    The Civil Aviation Authority, the regulator in the UK, says a review found airlines were not performing adequately.

    It says carriers have provided commitments to improve their performance and the time taken to provide refunds, without requiring enforcement action.

    The Consumer Council, which provided evidence to the review, expects the figure to continue to rise in the coming weeks.

    Find out more here.

  4. Parties back Stormont recall over exam resultspublished at 08:14 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    Jayne McCormack
    BBC News NI political reporter

    A majority of the Stormont parties have backed a move to recall the assembly to try to address the dispute over exam results in Northern Ireland.

    The SDLP had proposed the recall motion, which needed 30 signatures in order to be successful.

    It calls on the education minister to award A-level, AS-level and GCSE students the "highest" results from the three criteria exam board CCEA used.

    Stormont

    The motion says it should happen due to "exceptional Covid-19 circumstances".

    However, it will be up to the assembly Speaker Alex Maskey to determine when the assembly debate should take place.

    Find out more.

  5. GCSE move 'a huge surprise' - principalpublished at 08:07 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    The principal of St Pius X College in Magherafelt says the announcement that GCSE grades will be determined by teacher assessments in Northern Ireland came as a "huge surprise".

    "I very much welcome it," Peter Friel told Good Morning Ulster.

    Referencing the dispute over A-level and AS-level results, Mr Friel adds: "It's a direction of travel I hope the minister now takes regarding the results last week as well, to put this sorry situation to bed once and for all".

    Exam

    He adds: "I hope it is a relief to the young people involved.

    "Considering what has been going on in a global pandemic over the last few months I can't help wonder was there not some things we could have done to mitigate this level of anxiety and concern?

    "I know an awful lot is beyond the minister and all of our controls, but some of the controllables could perhaps have been controlled a little better."

  6. Analysis: GCSE decision a 'U-turn for minister'published at 07:54 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    Robbie Meredith
    BBC News NI Arts and Education Correspondent

    The minister has basically taken the exam board CCEA's role out of the entire GCSE process this year.

    Those grades provided by schools alone will be used to give GCSE results this year.

    That is likely to see a massive spike in results overall, which were already pretty high in Northern Ireland.

    ExamsImage source, PA Media

    Last year, over four in every five GCSE entries was graded at A* to C, what would be regarded as pass grades.

    This move will come as a substantial relief to many pupils and schools.

    I don't think you can paint this in any other way than saying it's a u-turn for the minister.

  7. GCSEs to be based solely on teacher grades - Weirpublished at 07:44 British Summer Time 17 August 2020
    Breaking

    Firstly, this morning we've some breaking news.

    GCSE results in Northern Ireland will be solely based on grades provided by teachers, the education minister says.

    There was controversy last week after more than a third of A-level and AS grades provided by schools were lowered by the exams board CCEA.

    Schools were asked to give predicted grades, but then other data was used by CCEA to standardise the results.

    Peter Weir said GCSEs taken with exams body CCEA - which provides about 97% of GCSE exams in Northern Ireland - would be covered by the decision.

    ExamImage source, PA

    He said: "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."

    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."

    Read more here.

  8. Good morningpublished at 07:42 British Summer Time 17 August 2020

    Good morning and thank you for joining our live coverage of the latest coronavirus developments in Northern Ireland.

    We'll have all the latest updates but you can also keep up to date on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Newsline throughout the day.