Northern Ireland

'Another bumper crop of top GCSE grades' expected today

GCSE results are due to be released today. Picture by David Jones/PA Wire
GCSE results are due to be released today. Picture by David Jones/PA Wire GCSE results are due to be released today. Picture by David Jones/PA Wire

THOUSANDS of pupils will today receive their GCSE results with "another bumper crop of top grades" expected.

Pupils will be awarded grades based on assessments by their teachers, which are expected to result in another record-breaking year.

It comes after summer exams were cancelled for a second year in a row due to disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, almost 40 per cent of grades awarded were A or higher.

There were massive increases across all grades at both grammar and non-grammar schools.

The proportion achieving the top A* last year was 12.4 per cent, up from 8.1 in 2019 - and girls outperformed boys significantly.

Results are being provided earlier than usual this summer to allow pupils time to appeal grades with which they are unhappy.

It has been claimed that parents could get behind a campaign to scrap GCSEs permanently if even more top grades are awarded this year.

It will be hard for ministers to "put the genie back into the bottle" and go ahead with formal exams after two years of teacher assessments, a report said.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, suggested more top grades could be handed out.

"Plentiful top grades make pupils and parents happy, but they are less helpful for those using the grades for admission to the next stage of education or recruitment to employment," he warned.

"With another bumper crop of top GCSE grades, the future of exams at age 16 is likely to come under threat.

"There is already a pressure group to ditch them and if parents get a liking for plentiful top grades they may become involved."

GCSEs have been criticised as being a terrible use of time and money. Critics argue they put an unacceptable burden on pupils and teachers and narrow the curriculum.

Requiring 16-year-olds to sit up to 30 hours of high-stakes written tests - when most stay in education for at least another two years - is disproportionate and unnecessary, they claim.

The grades fiasco of last summer has given greater weight to calls for reform.

Once recognised as a challenging qualification of which to be proud - and which alone could lead to employment - GCSEs are now mostly considered a warm-up act ahead of more career-defining A-levels.

Many experts suggest now is the time for a greater shake-up rather than the tinkering of the past two decades.

Prof Smithers added that schools and teachers did not like GCSE exams because they were judged on their pupils' results in league tables and inspectors' reports.

"With teacher assessment, they are in control," he said.