Education Minister must ensure robust appeal process is in place over exam results - Mullan

Ms. Mullan was speaking as concerns were raised that thousands of students across the north received grades lower than those they were predicted to get today.

The Sinn Féin education spokesperson said: “Thousands of young people across the north will get their A and AS level exam results this morning.

“This is a stressful time for young people at any time but this year it is even more so as exams had to be cancelled as a result of COVID-19 and results will be based on predicted grades.

“The controversial use of standardisation in predicting grades for some exams appears to have exacerbated the issue of educational under-attainment for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“It is not acceptable that our children have been made subject to a postcode lottery with regard to their exam results.

“We have continually warned that using such standardisation could lead to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds being further disadvantaged and called for its use to be scrapped in favour of other criteria.

“Educational inequality is a serious issue here in the north and by allowing this crude measure of standardisation to be used the Education Minister has demonstrated once again that he is not prepared to seriously address it.

“Peter Weir now needs to ensure a robust appeals process is in place for young people whose results have been effected by this standardisation element of the calculated grade system. The Minister should also now publish the modelling and calculation process used to determine grades.

“The professional judgement of teachers should be trusted and grades restored to what they would have been without the use of standardisation.”