Weir, Peter

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ORAL STATEMENT ON GCSE QUALIFICATION MARKET AND GRADING 28 JUNE 2016 PETER WEIR MLA MINISTER OF EDUCATION Mr Speaker, I wish to make an announcement on the GCSE qualification market andassociated grades awarded in Northern Ireland.GCSEs form a core aspect of post-primary education in Northern Ireland. They arenot the only qualifications to be taken, but they constitute a standard to which thegreat majority of our learners aspire at the end of compulsory education, with ahigher percentage of pupils in Northern Ireland consistently achieving 5 or moreGCSEs (including English and Maths), than their counterparts in England and Wales.It is essential that our young people, schools, parents and employers haveconfidence in the GCSEs available here. GCSEs must be understood andrecognised wherever they are taken. And they must support the attainment andprogression of our learners.For these reasons, I have reviewed the existing policies in respect of GCSEs in linewith my desire for a child centred education system.Schools need to have access to qualifications designed here in Northern Ireland,meeting the needs of our own learners and our own economy. That being the case,CCEA will continue to offer GCSEs with distinctive characteristics that are valued byschools here. We have a statutory curriculum of which we can be proud, and it isimportant that there is a GCSE offer that reflects the qualities of that curriculum, withits recognition of skills development and employability in the twenty-first century.It is equally important that teachers and school leaders are free to exercise theirprofessional discretion in choosing examination specifications that can help theirpupils enjoy learning and achieve, and that are relevant to the needs of our economyand society.Our qualifications system has worked well for the pupils of Northern Ireland down theyears, but in light of the changes in England, there are some concerns that havearisen, namely around the comparability and portability of our local GCSEqualifications, and the continuance of the open market in qualifications for schools inNorthern Ireland.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The overriding concern in the former is that no pupil in Northern Ireland runs the riskof being disadvantaged. In particular this relates to the top end of qualifications andthe issue of places on high demand, high qualification degree courses and to midrange qualifications which could impact on future employment in other parts of theUnited Kingdom. While the numbers potentially impacted are likely to be low,nevertheless these are real concerns that need addressed.Similarly, on probably the bigger issue of the impact of the qualifications market inNorthern Ireland, with the announcement of the withdrawal from the Northern IrelandGCSE market of exam boards AQA, OCR and Pearson, this restricts choice forschools and pupils, and leaves gaps in provision of some subjects which would haveto be filled very quickly by local development of new courses at a cost to the publicpurse.While others have been distracted by side issues, it is these issues of comparability,portability and the open market that I have concentrated on and sought outcomes toresolve.On the issues of comparability and portability, it is necessary to give some clarityaround grading.The new grading system in England is to be anchored to the alphabetical grades attwo points – the bottom of the grade 4 will be anchored to the bottom of the grade C,and the bottom of the grade 7 will be anchored to the bottom of the grade A. Theseshall provide the necessary points of reference.I am proposing that the alphabetical grading of CCEA’s GCSEs will remainconsistent with the alphabetical grading in the past with two exceptions.Firstly, in order to ensure that our highest achievers are able to demonstratecomparable excellence with their contemporaries in England, CCEA will realign theA* to reflect the level of attainment at grade 9 in the 9-1 GCSEs. Not only will thisrestore the distinction of the A* as a mark of outstanding achievement, but alsorestore the value of the grade A as a high-level achievement within the reach of ourmost able learners.Secondly, in England, it has been decided that the grade 5 shall be the benchmarkperformance measure for attainment at Key Stage 4. This grade is higher than thegrade C, which marks the boundary of the level-2 qualification within all GCSEs,achievement at which is a core element of our new PfG framework. In order not todisadvantage our young people, CCEA will additionally be asked to identify a newreference point on the grading scale to equate to the grade 5. This new grade C* willprovide additional information on the level of attainment.On the issue of the examination market, this includes choosing alternativespecifications to those offered by CCEA in certain subjects, as well as having accessto a range of specifications that CCEA does not offer. Rather than restrict schools intheir choice, they should have a wider range of GCSEs to choose from, includingthose being introduced in England under the recent reforms, which are graded 9-1.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I have therefore decided to lift the current restriction upon the accreditation of 9-1GCSEs.A small number of exceptions need to be made to this re-opening of the market.These exceptions reflect continuity with the statutory curriculum in Northern Ireland,and the views of key stakeholders including educationalists and the businesscommunity. Specifically, it shall remain the case that the assessment of speakingand listening must be included and contribute towards the overall grade in the awardof GCSE English Language. Also, consistent with the policy at A level, theassessment of practical skills must be included and contribute towards the overallgrade in the award of GCSE sciences.By re-opening the market in this way, our learners will be able to access GCSEcourses leading to both alphabetical grades and numerical grades. Depending uponthe decisions of schools, some young people will leave school with a record ofattainment that consists of a mixture of letters and numbers. This in practice is littledifferent from what happens now with the mixture of qualifications at level 2 withGCSEs, BTEC, Level 2 Certificates and Diplomas.I am pleased to inform members that in light of my decision AQA, OCR and Pearsonexam bodies have confirmed that they will make their GCSE specifications availablehere again with immediate effect.In conclusion Mr Speaker, I am satisfied that this revision of policy preserves thebest of our existing qualifications provision, whilst opening up the opportunity for ouryoung people to access a wider range of subject specifications. It addresses thechallenges of comparability and portability, to the overall benefit of our learners andthe economy.

Oral statement on GCSE qualification market and grading

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