Northern Ireland

Coronavirus: GCSE pupils warn Peter Weir over maths exam

Eoin McGlinchey, Year 12 at Dean Maguirc College
Eoin McGlinchey, Year 12 at Dean Maguirc College Eoin McGlinchey, Year 12 at Dean Maguirc College

PUPILS due to sit GCSEs in the new year have warned the education minister they risk underperforming due to being put under immense stress.

Eoin McGlinchey, a Year 12 at Dean Maguirc College in Carrickmore, has sent a letter to Peter Weir on behalf of his fellow students.

In it, he highlighted several concerns.

Some maths GCSEs are due to be held in early January.

Teachers and pupils have both voiced concerns, that while fewer papers will be taken in several GCSE subjects, no content has been omitted from maths.

Young people typically sit their first maths unit at the end of Year 11 and second at the end of Year 12.

As exams in the summer were cancelled, the January series is the first opportunity for Year 12s to take their first unit. The alternative would be taking them both next summer.

In his letter, Eoin said it was distressing that, having missed months of class time when schools were shut down, pupils were now expected to sit their maths exam in just a few weeks.

"By March 13, my last day of face-to-face schooling before lockdown measures were introduced to combat Covid-19, my class and myself were very well prepared to sit our maths exams, after hours of hard work, study and revision, and were quite confident," he wrote.

"This was eight months ago. Now, the (unit) M4 content has completely vanished from our memories, with no effective face-to-face education taking place during this period guiding us and supplying us with the knowledge and skills necessary to complete the course.

"Twelve weeks of teaching and learning via Google Classroom is still not near as effective as being in the classroom. Furthermore, the complete burden of the unknown, not knowing what will happen next with lockdown measures, or how this school term will pan out isn't making this difficult situation any better."

He added that upon return to school in August, students and teachers had no idea what we were supposed to be learning.

"The constant worry and anxiety around exams and how they would play out plagued our minds on repeat, stressing over if we would get a fair chance at exams and achieving those vital grades. To have our fears of undeniable pressure on us to sit an excess of exams coming to fruition is degrading and debilitating," Eoin said.

"How can you seriously expect us students to complete double the maths work in less than half the time, with countless amounts of students being removed from the classroom every day to quarantine at home for two weeks after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive, and have a fair chance of achieving vital grades compared to other year groups?

"The serious amount of pressure and stress on students would in fact lead to many children seriously underperforming and not achieving the vital grades they need to progress to university, which you promise won't happen."

A Department of Education spokeswoman confirmed Eoin's letter had been received.

"The current position is that learners should complete all assessments in the GCSE maths qualification," she added.