Northern Ireland cancels GCSE and A-level exams

All GCSE, AS and A-level examinations in Northern Ireland will not go ahead this year due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Education Minister Peter Weir announced the decision in the Stormont assembly on Wednesday.

Speaking BBC's Evening Extra programme, he said plans for awarding arrangements to replace the exams would be finalised before the end of January.

Some GCSE exams were due to take place next week and more were scheduled for February, May and June.

They will not take place but it is not yet clear what alternative arrangements will be in place for awarding grades.

The news comes a day after transfer tests were cancelled in Northern Ireland.

Hours later a single Association for Quality Education (AQE) transfer test was scheduled for 27 February.

Strabane Academy in County Tyrone said on Wednesday afternoon that it had decided not to facilitate this additional test and would instead apply contingency criteria.

In a statement, the school said it understood the amount of time and effort invested in preparing for the exams.

"However, in these exceptional and unprecedented circumstances, we have taken this decision based on what we believe is the correct decision for children's welfare."

Why have the exams been cancelled?

Northern Ireland is under tight lockdown restrictions amid a sharply-rising number of Covid-19 cases.

Schools will remain shut until after the half-term break in mid-February, with the majority of pupils facing an extended period of remote learning.

Speaking in the assembly on Wednesday, Mr Weir said his department had been "preparing for all eventualities".

"I now feel we have reached a point where, while I still believe examinations are the most appropriate and fairest awarding methodology, with a further six weeks of remote learning having to be imposed, we cannot continue with exams in the way that was planned," he said.

The minister added that details about alternative arrangements would be brought forward as soon as possible but he did not commit to a timeframe.

Mr Weir does not have responsibility for BTec exams - they fall under the remit of the Department for the Economy.

Economy Minister Diane Dodds has said "further flexibilities" would be put in place for January's BTecs assessments and exams.

How have school pupils reacted?

Siblings Will, 17, and Rosemary, 16, who attend Lagan College in Belfast, said they were relieved and happy that the exams had been scrapped.

But they told BBC News NI that they wished the guidance had been issued sooner.

They said they hoped their grades would be formed by teachers' predictions.

Will and Rosemary say they are relieved they will not face exams this year

Will, who is in year 14, has missed seven weeks of school this academic year due to extended school holiday periods and having been identified as a close contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.

"I'm happy with the decision to cancel them because everyone is at such a disadvantage this year and like last year we couldn't have done anything else," he said.

Rosemary was due to sit her maths and english GCSEs next week.

"I'm relieved that after missing so much school I don't have to go in to any serious exams unprepared and hopefully they will find a better way of getting us our grades," said Rosemary.

"I don't think that the work we've done up to now will go to waste."

In other coronavirus-related developments on Wednesday:

• Northern Ireland's Nightingale Hospital - based at the in the tower block at Belfast City Hospital - is set to be expanded

• Travellers to the UK from abroad could soon be required to prove they have had a negative coronavirus test

• A financial scheme will open next week to support drink-only pubs in Northern Ireland, forced to close most of last year due to the pandemic

• Read about the latest changes to Northern Ireland's lockdown rules

Last year, Mr Weir had set out changes to how GCSE and A-levels would be assessed, with students able to sit fewer exams.

However, there had been calls for him to reconsider after the governments in England, Scotland and Wales announced that exams would not go ahead.

Sinn Féin described the decision to cancel the exams in Northern Ireland as "the right thing to do".

Karen Mullan, the party's education spokesperson, said students had been placed under extra stress due to the pandemic.

"We now need to see the education minister bringing forward credible alternative arrangements which avoid the debacle of last year and recognise the hard work put in by both students and teachers," she added.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said it was the "right thing to do but it's unacceptable that this decision wasn't taken sooner".

"Young people and their parents [were] given mixed messaging and left in limbo for far too long," he added.

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