Lessons to be learned over exams fiasco

THE decision by Education Minister Peter Weir to backtrack on the GCSE & As/a-level examination results is to be welcomed, but this fiasco should not have arisen.

I think the original policy of the Department of Education and the exams body CCEA was clearly formulated to prevent a perceived “grade inflation” year-onyear, an understandable, yet unnecessary, aspiration by officialdom to protect the integrity of the results process. Regrettably, this was championed by senior civil servants and ministers in the Executive to the detriment of the thousands of young people affected by the flawed decision.

Someone should have realised that comparing data for this year against 2019 would be flawed and ultimately unnecessary, because of the exceptional circumstances created by Covid-19. The simple fact is that you cannot compare results by written examination against an unprecedented “no-exam” format.

A decision should have been taken at a very early stage to defer comparative analysis for 12 months and run with the predictive grades of teachers, rather than adopt an untested, flawed algorithm, which has caused great stress and anxiety to many candidates.

To be fair, this has been a fiasco for all component parts of the body politic UK and it is critical that lessons are learnt from the shambolic handling of the process.

It is bewildering that politicians across the UK did not foresee the ramifications of blindly pursuing this solution, given that all these young people will, within the next two years, be eligible to vote and their voting intentions might be influenced by the experience they have endured.

This may have triggered the decision of Nicola Sturgeon for an immediate volteface in Scotland, but did not connect with Peter Weir.

The recall of the Assembly demonstrates the seriousness of the crisis and two specific questions need to be addressed. How did the original policy meet the Section 75 Equality Assessment Impact criteria? And what consideration, if any, was given to the potential mental health impact on candidates through the adoption of the algorithm?

As the late editor of the Sunday Express, Sir John Junor, would have said: “I think we should be told.”

RICHARD MOLYNEAUX Crawfordsburn, Co Down