Northern Ireland

CCEA confirms pupils cannot appeal predicted grades themselves

Summer exams were cancelled
Summer exams were cancelled Summer exams were cancelled

THE north's exams board has confirmed that pupils will not be able to appeal their predicted grades this summer.

All GCSE, AS-level and A-level exams have been cancelled.

Instead, teachers have predicted the grades they think pupils would have achieved. Schools also ranked pupils in each subject.

Because there will be no exam scripts marked, it will not be possible to review the marking process post results as in previous years.

The CCEA board carried out a two-week consultation on its new "appropriate and robust appeals process".

It received 753 responses with 55.1 per cent coming from parents and students; 42.3 per cent from educationalists and the balance from interested individuals.

Overall, the majority (82.9 per cent) agreed that CCEA should be able to run a different appeals process.

CCEA Chief Executive, Justin Edwards said under normal circumstances, after the issue of results, a school could request the marking of a script to be reviewed.

"If after the review of marking, the school or college feels that the issue is not resolved it can use the appeals process," he said.

"With no examination scripts to mark this year, this process will not be possible."

In line with other awarding organisations, CCEA confirmed that appeals will only be accepted from exam centres (schools/colleges) and not directly from students.

It was felt that centres would be the best informed to register an appeal on behalf of a student.

"It was a very valuable exercise and the findings further reflect CCEA's goals of maintaining fairness for all students and consistency across the cohort whilst protecting the integrity and standards of the process," Mr Edwards added.