CCEA explores solutions for school exams amid region-wide closures

  • CCEA and the Department of Education are exploring options to allow A-level and GCSE grades to be awarded despite the cancellation of examinations.

    Following the closure of schools across Northern Ireland, the status if this year's GCSE and A-level examinations is now uncertain. The coronavirus situation is evolving almost day by day and is a significant disruption to students' lives and educations. The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) has made a statement explaining that it will be exploring solutions for the cancellation of the summer exams:

    "CCEA welcomes the clarity from the Minister of Education regarding school closures and cancellation of the summer examinations timetable.

    We’d like to reassure learners, parents, teachers and school leaders that CCEA will continue to work urgently with the Department of Education and other stakeholders, to finalise a solution for examinations.

    We fully appreciate the uncertainty that students and teachers are experiencing and recognise the need for clarity, as soon as possible.

    CCEA has a range of tried and tested methods for awarding grades, which we will explore alongside other options with our counterparts across the UK.

    We will prioritise final solutions for A-level examinations, then GCSE terminal examinations, the AS qualifications and finally modular GCSE. In parallel, we will work with other awarding organisations so our approaches are similar. We will also work with vocational qualification providers to ensure there are solutions for those qualifications.

    In these unprecedented circumstances, we recognise that the decisions we have to take will be challenging. We can assure everyone that we will be guided by examination experts and will ensure that our solution is fair and reliable.

    As further information becomes available we will update schools and colleges with the guidance and via www.ccea.org.uk"

    Source: CCEA Statement

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