Coronavirus: CCEA to consult on appeals process

Pupils sitting examsPA
By Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Education Correspondent

The Northern Ireland exams board CCEA will consult on how GCSE, AS and A-level results can be appealed in 2020.

But pupils may not be able to appeal simply on the basis they are unhappy with the grade their teacher has given them.

Calculated grades provided by teachers and schools will be used to provide students with grades this year.

That was because GCSE, AS and A-level exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Teachers are being asked to provide predicted grades for pupils based on past work and to rank each pupil in each subject area.

'Narrowing' of appeals

MLAs on Stormont's education committee questioned Justin Edwards, CCEA's chief executive, about those arrangements.

Mr Edwards said that CCEA would consult publicly on how result appeals could be made "in the next few weeks".

But he said there may be a "narrowing" of the process due to no exams being held this year.

CCEA chief executive Justin Edwards said there will be a "narrowing" of grounds pupils can appeal results

"It is my intention in the next few weeks to come out with a consultation document on how we would see the appeals process proceeding," he said.

"Given the nature of how we're approaching this examination series there will be a narrowing of the range of areas where you can appeal because you can't appeal on the basis of an exam component - there isn't an exam that has taken place.

"There are things that are not available within that appeals process for consideration."

'Need to protect professional judgement'

Mr Edwards was pressed by Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler on whether appeals would only be made by schools rather than by parents or pupils.

"Perhaps the grievance might actually be with the teacher's award, so I'm just wondering how that would work in terms of an appeals mechanism?" Mr Butler asked.

Mr Edwards said that teachers and schools should not provide their predicted grades or subject ranking to pupils or parents who ask for them now.

"I think we need to give teacher professional judgement protection that's needed, so that they can come to that conclusion fairly," he said.

"One of the factors we will have to consider is whether a challenge can be made on the basis of teacher professional judgement and the data being provided by schools."

He added: "I think that there are challenges involved in considering it in the appeals process and I'm sure the teaching unions will also have particular issues if it were to be included in the appeals process post the issue of results."

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The Education committee heard that approximately 3,800 substitute teachers had lost work due to schools being closed

The English exam regulator Ofqual has already said it would not be appropriate for pupils to appeal on the basis of their school's judgement of their likely exam performance or on their position in the ranking order.

Instead, grades will only be appealed if the school or exam board has made mistakes during the process.

A number of MLAs asked Mr Edwards why AS grades given to Year 13 pupils would not count towards A-level marks.

AS-level results normally make up 40% of a final A-level mark.

'Not enough data'

The committee chair, Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle, said it was the "biggest question" he was receiving from pupils and parents.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan also said that the AS arrangements were causing "considerable anxiety and stress".

In response, Mr Edwards said he could understand those concerns but that CCEA would not have enough data at AS-level to give each pupil a reliable score to go towards their final A-level mark.

He also said CCEA had considered rescheduling AS exams for autumn 2020 but that would have disadvantaged pupils hoping to use AS grades to enter further education or make decisions about which A-level subjects to proceed with.

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Teachers have been advised not to tell pupils of their predicted grades

The committee was also told by the Department of Education's permanent secretary Derek Baker that around 3,800 substitute teachers had lost work due to schools being closed.

He said the department had drawn up a scheme to compensate substitute teachers in that position but it would cost around £12m.

Mr Baker said it would be up to the Department of Finance to provide money to fund that scheme.